Hey, this is chapter 19. Thx for the reviews, I think I might not do the Sasuke Retrieval arc, and have Sasuke stay in the village instead.

XXX

As Sinon and Shikamaru stood in front of each other in the arena, the 'Kazekage' spoke, "Who knew the girl was the Yondaime Hokage's daughter... I never knew he had a daughter."

Hiruzen chuckled, "They never did reveal of their child or Kushina's pregnancy. Sadly, they both died on Hikari's birthday."

The Sannin in disguise nodded as he thought, 'I heard Sasuke-kun is interested in the girl, maybe I can use her as a means to get him to me. It could get the Akatsuki off my back.'

In the fighters' stands, Hikari shivered as she felt a weird feeling coming from the Kage stand. Asuna asked, "Hikari-chan, is there something wrong?"

The blonde shook her head and smiled, "Its nothing, Sinon-chan's match is starting."

The girl nodded as Suguha wondered, "I wonder what new tricks she has?"

Asuna smiled, "Whatever she has, Sinon-chan will definitely win."

Hikari nodded before she giggled, "But, its Shikamaru she's up against."

The two girls just nodded as they watched the match. At the side, Gaara was watching Hikari with a weird expression. He knew she was like him, the Shukaku had confirmed she was the Kyuubi's Jinchurikii, hell she even admitted it out loud. But Gaara, for the life of him, couldn't figure out why she was so... normal, for the lack of a better word.

As the youngest sibling of the Sabaku siblings got lost in his musings, Kankuro whispered to Temari, "Hey, Gaara has been staring at her for a while, you don't think he actually likes her?"

Temari looked at him incredulously, "Its Gaara we're talking about, its either he wants to kill her or something interests him. But then, I'm curious, she stated she's the Jinchurikii of the Kyuubi, she seems normal."

Kankuro nodded, "Eh, maybe they sealed it a different way. Plus its a different bijuu, no one knows."

Temari nodded as they watched the next match.

Down in the arena, Kirito looked at both fighters, "Are you two ready?"

Shikamaru sighed, "Yeah, let's just get over with it."

Sinon nodded as Kirito spoke, "Very well, then... BEGIN!"

He leaped away as Sinon quickly drew her bow, notching an arrow as Shikamaru jumped away flashing through handseals.

Sinon released arrow after arrow, not intending to allow Shikamaru to stop on the ground long enough to establish a link with the shadows.

The girl slowly moved forward as she shot the arrows at the Nara, making him dance like a monkey. Sinon wasn't too worried about ammunition, or at least not now, she had at least a thousand arrows stored in the seals on her and her bow, thanks to her summons some time ago.

Now, Shikamaru cursed, he had expectednthe archer to use her arrows carefully, which would allow him to use his shadows. The Nara had thought of many scenarios, one of which included her firing arrows non stop where she would run out of ammo, and allow him to win.

He certainly did not expect this. Shikamaru quickly hid behind one of the few trees in the arena and used the shadows to protect him.

The Nara started to think. Sinon seemed to have a limitless amount of arrows, and he didn't know how she could draw them so quickly. His chakra levels were around high chunnin level, which wasn't saying much, especially when his jutsu required high levels of chakra, for him anyway.

Shikaku had done everything to raise his son's chakra levels as high as he could, and with the techniques Shikamaru used, it was only barely enough in one match. Plus Shikamaru was using shadows to protect himself now, which in itself was slowly draining his reserves.

As Shikamaru raced through his mind for ideas, Sinon saw that he wasn't doing anything. The girl decided to take a different approach and put away her bow.

The Nara was slightly confused when the attacks stopped, thinking she had ran out of ammo. The teen peeked out and paled.

After Sinon put away her bow, she bit her thumb and smeared her palm with blood as she sped through a series of handseals. The girl then slammed her palm on the ground, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

Smoke clouded the air, which quickly dispersed to reveal a white cat the size of a lion. Sinon spoke, "Shirone-san."

The cat nodded to her summoner, "Sinon, so, your match huh?"

The archer nodded, "Shikamaru seems to be hiding, you know where he is?"

The cat grinned, "You called me out just for this? Surely you already know where he is."

The archer smiled, "Of course, let's begin."

The cat nodded as she turned to the tree where Shikamaru was hiding. The cat's grin widen as she spotted his pale face. Then she pounced.

Shirone reached the teen in no time and grabbed him by his face before he could back away into the shadows. Then she flung him out of the shadows into the walls.

The Nara groaned as he regained his bearings. Then he saw a paw in front of his face. The lazy ninja barely dodged it as he ran away.

Shikamaru cursed, his stamina wasn't that good. He had no way of winning against a cat that big, especially if Sinon started to shoot him.

The next thing happened was not within his expectations. Shikamaru was slowly moving away from the walls, with the huge cat following. As the Nara heir considered his options, at the corner of his eyes, he spotted Sinon charging.

But what caught his eye, was not the girl charging him. It was the fact that she didn't hold her bow, but wielding a pair of tanto (which are essentially daggers tbh).

If it was a month ago, Shikamaru would have been slaughteres easily. But because of Shikaku and Yoshino's training, Shikamaru had improved quite a bit. The Nara jumped up to avoid the attack and for a few minutes, he was holding his own with a pair of his own kunai.

Then Shirone decided to intervene. The cat pounced on the Nara, pushing him onto the ground and growled at him, "Give up, now."

Sinon stood behind Shirone just in case Shikamaru tried anything. She was facing a Nara after all, regardless of how lazy they were, they were highly intelligent.

Shikamaru sighed. His chakra was a quarter gone, mostly due to hiding in the shadows. It was really taxing on his reserves since he had not mastered it yet. Plus Shirone didn't need Sinon's orders to move, so even if he could trap the archer, the cat would just rip him to shreds, nor could he trap Shirone and Sinon at the same time.

The Nara looked at Kirito, "I give up."

Kirito nodded, "By forfeit, Asada Sinon is the winner."

The crowd boo'ed, since in their eyes, Shikamaru gave up too easily. Shikaku however knew better, his son had made a tactical retreat and knew when to back away. He was simply unlucky to have faced Sinon.

Yoshino, however, was mad, "That little... He gave up?!"

Shikaku sighed and just prayed for his son. The woman was simply just too repulsive, but he couldn't blame her. To be honest, Shikamaru made a mistake in choosing to hide. Instead of playing on defense, since both were mid-long ranged fighters, he should have pushed on.

But eh, everything was over so nothing mattered anymore. Then he heard Yoshino say, "I bet a thousand ryo on him!"

Okay, that mattered. He was going to give his son a little talk on strategy and a step up on training.

At the kage stand, Hiruzen chuckled, "Ah, so he gave up. Too bad, if he had advanced, I would have had him promoted."

The 'Kazekage' nodded, "Unfortunately, he lost. So, will yoy promote the girl?"

The Hokage shrugged, "Maybe, depends on how she does later on."

The sannin in disguise nodded as they watched on. Then, Kirito spoke, "Okay, so for the next match, Sabaku no Temari and Yuki Asuna, please come down."

The auburn haired girl smiled at the other girls who gave her thumbs up as they went down. Temari merely nodded to Kankuro as Gaara spoke softly, "Good luck, Temari."

The eldest sibling of the trio blinked and nodded, "Got it, Gaara."

The fan user then jumped down to the arena and stood opposite of Asuna.

Kirito looked at the two girls and asked, "Are you ready?"

They both nodded and Kirito backed away, "Then, BEGIN!"

Asuna quickly drew her rapier and charged the fan user. Temari was surprised by the speed Asuna had, as she wasn't too used to facing opponents like that.

The blonde quickly raised her fan and blocked a stab from Asuna. Temari tried to counter, but Asuna was faster. Quickly recovering from the recoil of the sudden stop of her sword, Asuna turned and swung her sword at Temari's head.

It was an unusual style of using a rapier, but Asuna's Lambant Light was unlike a normal rapier. Unlike the normal rapiers, Asuna's sword had a wider blade with sharp edges. So she could slash with it, though it wasn't encouraged.

The daughter of the Kazekage cursed and tilted her head just enough that the sword was a mere inch above her eyes as it passed by. Quickly thinking, Temari immediately thrust her fan into Asuna's chest, sending her stumbling a few steps back.

Temari smirked, "You're not bad."

Asuna smiled not so kindly, "You too."

Temari spoke, "Let me show you, my true power."

She quickly spread open her fan and swung it hard, "Fuuton: Kamaitachi no Jutsu!"

A huge vortex of wind shot towards the girl. Asuna cursed, she couldn't possibly dodge an attack of that scale. Sheathing her sword quickly, she bit her thumb, smearing her palm with blood as she flashed through hand seals.

Asuna slammed her palm on the ground and yelled, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

A cloud of smoke covered her, but the wind blew it away. Temari's eyes widened as she saw ab orca the size of a horse floating in front of Asuna, seemingly blocked the attack.

The orca glanced at Asuna, "So soon?"

The girl smiled sheepishly, "Sorry, but summoning you was the first thing that came to mind, Blue."

The whale nodded, "I guess it can't be helped. On a side note, you could have used a water wall."

Asuna nodded, "I know. You can talk later, we need to defeat her."

Blue nodded, "Fine. Its been a while since I fought above water anyways. This can be a nice workout."

Asuna nodded as they both charged. Temari quickly responded by swinging her fan, sending yet another wall of wind at them. This time, Asuna and Blue were ready.

The whale shot a huge torrent of water from his blowhole, which struck the ground, forming a wall of water. The wall stopped the wind as Asuna burst out of the water and aimed a stab at Temari's chest.

The blonde instinctively closed her fan and blocked the stab with the metal part of the fan. But Asuna wasn't done, quickly pulling her sword back, she spun and gave a back kick to Temari's abdomen, sending her stumbling back.

The daughter of the Kazekage cursed, she hadn't signed the Weasel contract because she thought it was not necessary yet, and now it was biting her back in the ass.

Temari let chakra flow through her fan once again as she swung hard, sending a huge wall of wind at Asuna and Blue.

The whale shot more water to block the wind before he yelled, "Asuna, now!"

The girl nodded as she sheathed her sword. Then she sped through a series of hand seals, "Suiton: Dabakufu no Jutsu!"

The water on the ground and the water Blue had spat out swirled and formed a huge vortex of water. The vortex shot towards Temari who swung her fan and sent a vortex of wind.

The two attacks collided and caused a huge explosion of water that doused the whole arena. Temari was slightly surprised by the explosion and didn't see her opponent charge.

Asuna kicked the fan out of Temari's grasp before she sweeped her off her feet. The daughter of the Kazekage cursed as she tried to get up, cursing herself for getting distracted.

But before she could move a muscle, Temari felt the tip of a cold steel blade at her neck as well as water holding her arms and legs in place, courtesy of Blue with his water manipulation.

Asuna looked at her opponent in the eye, "Yield?"

Temari glanced at Baki who was in the stands above. The Suna Jounin nodded ever so slightly, but Temari caught it. The girl sighed, "Fine, I give up."

Kirito nodded and announced, "Due to forfeit, Yuki Asuna is the winner of the match."

The crowd cheered for Asuna's victory as they went up to the stands. As the two girls went up, Temari spoke, "The next time we fight, I will win."

Asuna smiled and nodded, "I welcome your challenge."

Temari smirked as she went to stand beside Baki in the audience. The Suna Jounin spoke, "Not a bad fight. You just faced one of the worst opponents you could have faced."

Temari nodded, "Thank you, Baki-sensei."

Baki nodded, "But don't get careless. After this, when Gaara starts, its the real thing."

The girl nodded, though she thought inside, 'I'm fine with the invasion. But they're just using Gaara as a weapon. I don't like this. And I just can't help but think this will go wrong.'

The daughter of the Kazekage looked down at the arena as Kirito spoke, "The next match will be Sabaku no Kankuro vs Kirigaya Suguha. Can these two participants come down?"

The two jumped down and Kankuro smirked at the girl, "Get ready, I won't hold back."

Suguha smiled slightly, "Yeah."

Kirito chuckled at their enthusiasm and spoke, "Are you two ready?"

They nodded and Kirito backed away, "Then, HAJIME!"

Suguha drew her katana in an instant and shot towards the puppeteer. Kankuro leaped away as he loosened the bandages on the Karasu, revealing the puppet as he quickly attached his chakra strings to it.

Suguha swung her sword down and clashed against the puppet's own blade. The girl tch'd as she jumped away to avoid senbon from the Karasu's mouth.

Kankuro grinned, "Not bad, you dodged that."

Suguha stayed silent as she thought, 'That puppet is really in the way. I need to cut the chakra strings.'

Channeling chakra into the Tempest, Suguha charged. Once again, Kankuro willed the Karasu to step in front of Suguha. But this time, the girl was ready.

She quickly leaped to the right and got to the side of the puppet. Then she swung downwards. In an instant, the puppet fell limp to the ground.

Kankuro cursed as Suguha immediately turned her attention to him, charging straight at him. The puppeteer cursed as he dodged the swings one by one. He couldn't keep up for so long, he glanced at Baki who nodded.

The eldest son of the Kazekaga grinned as he landed on the ground, "Sorry, but this is where it ends. I'm using everything I've got."

Kankuro took out a scroll from his coat and and unrolled them, "Behold! My greatest puppet to date! The Salamander!"

The scroll released a huge amount of smoke, which quickly cleared to reveal a huge puppet that looked like a reptile.

Suguha grinned, "If that's what you want, then I'll go all out too."

The girl maintained her stance as she focused, natural chakra entering her body from the air. It wasn't perfect yet, and she could only maintain it for 10 minutes. But it was enough.

Suguha's hair started to grow to waist length and turned blonde. Her eyes turned to a light green as her ears turned slightly pointy. The girl sheathed her sword as she took out a rubber band and tied her hair into a pony tail.

The girl stared at Kankuro straight into his eyes. At that instant, the puppeteer felt like she was staring staring straight into his soul. He felt fear.

In the audience, most Jounin were surprised by the change, curious as to what she did. But some of them knew. Tsume blinked, "That... Looks like a sage mode."

Shikaku nodded, "Indeed it does. I wonder where did she learn that."

Shikamaru looked at his dad, "Sage mode?"

Shikaku nodded, "Yeah. You know Jiraiya-sama, right?"

The Nara heir nodded as his father continued, "He has a mode called the sage mode. Its a mode where the user absorbs chakra from the nature and increases their abilities several times. But for now, according to Jiraiya-sama, only those with summons can learn them, provided the summon has one and allows you to. "

Shikamaru looked at the girl at the arena, "Sage mode, huh?"

At the kage stands, Orochimaru was yelling in joy in his mind, 'Finally someone young who has control over sage mode! I must get her body! Even if I don't transfer to it immediately, it can serve as a spare or the next one I use.'

Down in the arena, Kirito thought, 'This feeling, you've become stronger, Suguha-chan.'

He then felt a strange feeling from the kage stands and glares at it, somehow feeling negative intent from the stands.

With Hiruzen, he thought, 'Not bad, to have learned sage mode at such a young age. But Orochimaru, you're too careless, you've pratically revealed yourself. Even Kirito knows you're here.'

Back at the match, Suguha charged forward, closing the gap between her and Kankuro in mere seconds. Before he knew it, Suguha was right in his face, sword poised to strike.

The puppeteer quickly substituted with the Karasu as Suguha swung her blade. The head of the puppet feel to the floor as she turned to Kankuro reestablish his link with the larger puppet.

The Salamander responded and blew fire at Suguha. The girl saw the flames coming, but she stood still as she steadily let out a breath. The girl raised her katana as she chanelled wind chakra into it. Then she swung.

In an instant, the flames split into two, moving past Suguha harmlessly as they struck the ground behind her, causing a huge explosion.

The crowd was in awe at how she cut the flames apart. Hell, even Kankuro was scared. Never in his life had he seen anyone cut fire in half like that. To be honest, he was scared. The puppeteer thought, 'This is ridiculous! She can cut flames in half?! Screw the invasion!'

Before Suguha could charge again, Kankuro dropped the puppet and yelled, "I give up!"

Suguha blinked, "Eh?"

Kirito was also surprised, he had thought Kankuro would fight to the end or something, given his vigor when the match started. But no one could blame him, Suguha had just cut flames into two, which, given the correct technique and equipment, anyone could do. But Kankuro didn't know that.

Kirito nodded, "By forfeit, Kirigaya Suguha is the winner of the match."

The crowd boo'ed at Kankuro for giving up as the puppeteer went to the audience's stand where Baki and Temari were standing. Temari stared at her brother, "You know you didn't have to reveal the Salamander."

Kankuro chuckled sheepishly, "Well, I was thinking of going all out and winning, but the power she exerted was too huge and I still need to save my energy."

Baki sighed, "What's done is done. Just stay sharp."

The two siblings nodded as they watched on, ready to move at any moments' notice. Meanwhile, a few seats away, Kabuto, disguised as an Anbu, stood by the walls as he thought, 'Finally, I got away from those fiends. I couldn't find any info of Kirito, but that can wait. I don't think this will actually work, but Orochimaru-sama wishes for it. Now, where are you, Sasuke?'

Down in the arena, Kirito spoke, "The next match will be Sabaku no Gaara vs Uchiha Sasuke. Can these two come down?"

Gaara wordlessly Shunshin'd down to the arena in a swirl of sand. The Ichibi Jinchurikii stood there and waited.

Kirito sighed and looked around after a few minutes, 'Seriously, Kakashi... Where the fuck are you?'

Some distance away, in a random cafe, Kakashi was having tea with Sasuke. The cyclops eye-smiled, "Well, I think its almost time, let's go."

Sasuke nodded as they stood up and headed for the stadium.

Back at the arena, Kirito sighed and looked up at Hiruzen. The Hokage nodded as Kirito spoke, "As Uchiha Sasuke is not here, he is dis-"

Before he could finish, a huge wind blew as a huge swirl of leaves appeared in the middle of the arena, revealing Sasuke and Kakashi. Gaara just stared at them emotionlessly.

The copy ninja asked, "We're not late, are we?"

Kirito sighed, "He was just about to be disqualified... Ya think?"

Kakashi eye smiled, "Well, he's here now, so can we get the match started?"

The proctor looked up at the Hokage again who sighed and nodded. Kirito nodded and spoke, "Fine, get out of the arena Kakashi, we'll begin."

Kakashi nodded and leaped up to the audience as Sasuke stood in front of Gaara. Kirito asked, "Are you two ready?"

Gaara and Sasuke both nodded wordlessly. Kirito then announced as he stepped back, "Then, BEGIN!"

Sasuke immediately charged forward with surprising speed and sent a kick at Gaara, only to strike a sand wall.

The Ichibi Jinchurikii commented, "Hmm, your speed, its similar to that green spandex."

Sasuke smirked, "With his weights on, yeah, I still have ways to go. But its enough for you!"

Gaara silently willed the sand to attack Sasuke. The Uchiha jumped up to dodge the attacks as he punched and kicked the sand away.

On the stands, Gai was surprised. The taijutsu master asked his eternal rival, "Kakashi, how did you increase his speed by that much?"

The cyclops eye smiled, "Well, I did it the same way you did."

Gai stared at him in surprise, "But to increase his speed by that fast... It has to be at least 50kg per weight!"

Kakashi nodded, "Exactly. To beat Gaara. He needs at least that amount of speed."

The taijutsu specialist sighed, "You're crazy."

Kakashi chuckled, "I don't think you have the right to call me crazy, yoy taught a Gennin the Eight Gates."

Asuma chuckled at the side, "He got ya there."

Kurenai just sighed and shook her head while watching it. Meanwhile, Yugao was just smiling, ignoring them and just happy that all of her students had won their first matches.

Back at the match, Sasuke landed on the ground after dodging several streams of sand. He flashed through handseals and roared, "Katon: Goryuka no Jutsu!"

He blew a huge torrent of flames at Gaara. The youngest son of the Kazekage instinctively raised a wall of sand to block the flames, but to his surprise, the sand turned to glass.

Sasuke panted slightly and grinned as he turned a portion of Gaara's sand to glass. It had taken an eighth of his high Jounin chakra levels, which Kakashi had helped him increased.

The Ichibi Jinchurikii was even more surprised, when Sasuke turned and ran up the walls of the arena. Stopping near the edge of the walls, he started to go through several handseals.

A familiar loud sound of birds chirping reach Hikari's ears in the participants' stand. The daughter of the Yondaime Hokage's eyes widened, "Kakashi-sensei taught him that?"

The girl looked at Kakashi in the audience and he just eye smiled as she saw the other Jounin talk to him.

Sinon asked, "Is that?"

Hikari nodded, "The Chidori."

Asuna and Suguha just stayed silent as they watched on, already thinking of ways to fight Gaara and Sasuke if they needed to.

On the kage stands, Orochimaru was practically drooling, 'He even knows the Chidori?! Thank you very much Kakashi!'

Down at the arena, lightning gathered in Sasuke's palm as Gaara broke out of the glass. The Uchiha then moved, his Sharingan glowing as he ran down the walls, building up speed as he charged Gaara.

The Ichibi Jinchurikii quickly raised a sand wall, but he was too late. Before the sand could fully form the wall, Sasuke was already in front of him. Then the Uchiha slammed his arm into Gaara's shoulder.

Gaara looked at his shoulder, shocked by the pain, "Is this... my blood?"

Before he could continue, Sasuke roared as he pulled and flung Gaara straight into the wall.

Sasuke panted as he smirked, "How's that?"

Gaara was shocked. For the first time, he had been wounded. For the first time, his sand had failed. For the first time, someone actually managed to separate him from his sand.

The redhead started to laugh as he shakily stood up. Gaara stared at Sasuke, "FINALLY! UCHIHA SASUKE! YOU WILL PROVE MY EXISTENCE! THEN, UZUMAKI... NO... NAMIKAZE HIKARI! YOU ARE NEXT!"

Sand swirled around Gaara, quickly forming a dome around him. But before the dome formed, Sasuke and most of the Jounin, including Kirito, caught a glimpse of red chakra at Gaara's shoulder.

In the audience, Kabuto, still disguised as an Anbu, sighed, 'I guess he lost it. Whatever, let's get started.'

He flashed through a set of handseals and casted a large scale genjutsu on the arena.

Back at the arena, Kirito blinked as he saw feathers falling from the sky. Then he started feeling sleepy before he quickly dispelled the genjutsu.

He looked around to see many of the civilians asleep while most of the shinobi were awake. A huge explosion erupted from the kage stand as a huge barrier formed on the roof, with Hiruzen and Orochimaru standing there.

His attention was torn back to the arena as the sand dome burst to reveal a semi transformed Gaara. Then, many Suna and Oto shinobi appeared and started attacking the Konoha shinobi.

Then, suddenly, Gaara roared and charged Sasuke. Sasuke quickly jumped away before Gaara screamed in pain, the transformation dispelling as the sand fell to the ground.

Temari, Kankuro and Baki jumped down near Gaara before Sasuke could attack.

Baki spoke, "Temari, Kankuro, lead Gaara away. Proceed with the plan, we cannot have him transform here."

Hikari, Asuna, Suguha and Sinon jumped down to him. Sasuke looked around and asked, "What's happening?"

The girls also looked curious as Kirito stood in front of them, facing the Suna shinobi. The swordsman drew the Elucidator and the Dark Repulsor, "The Chunnin Exams are over, its an invasion."

XXX

Done. Review please. So, should Kirito help fight Gaara? Or should he fight Baki? Or should he help fight Orochimaru? Should Hiruzen live? Tell me your opinions and ideas. Until the next chapter.