Harbinger

by tigerowl

Naruto's friendship with his teammates Gaara and Haku is put to the test as they prepare to deal with the threat of the Akatsuki. The secrets Jiraiya has kept come to a head, and Naruto must shoulder the responsibility of protecting much more than the Leaf Village. Continuation of Forlorn. AU NaruHina, GaaSaku, NejiTen, ObiRin, OCs *Taoism, Self-Indulgent World Building, longfic

36. The Gambit

Note: Summoning Jutsu! Side characters! Manly tears! Comedy! And there will be a small Key and Peele reference that some eagle-eyed readers may find. The matches featured in this chapter include: Neji vs. Sato, Chouji vs. Hinata, Matsuri vs. Lee, progression to the Second Round, and hijinks thereafter.

Chapter Soundtrack: "One Day They'll Know (ODESZA Remix)" by Pretty Lights

& More, See Bottom of Page

Chapter 36- Part Two: The Gambit

"I'm not joking this time." Sato warned him, "Stay out of my way."

Neji was having an uncommon moment of patience. He stood there without an ounce of hostility trickling in his blood, and regarded Sato who was plainly enraged and unaware of the plan for Leaf Genin to selectively proceed or abstain from future rounds.

Maybe it was because he was in a very pleasant mood thanks to Tenten, or maybe because he did harbor authentic empathy for Sato's pain. In either case, Neji was not ready to spring into a fight if it could be avoided. Had Naruto been watching, he may have fainted from the shock of Neji not itching to brutalize someone.

"No one is in your way, Sato." Neji pointed out innocuously, "Did Hinata-sama speak to you before this match?"

"Yeah, and I apologized to her in advance for kicking your ass."

"I see. So you have not been informed of all Leaf Finalists agreeing to advance and withdraw based on logical progression." Neji noticed the start of a whirlwind of downy feathers, both real and illusory, floating around the arena.

"Logical progression-? You mean me having the chance to avenge Tama, because she's the person I love most and anyone here could understand that?" Sato snipped, "If so, sure, I accept your surrender."

"You've misunderstood." Neji assured him, "Leaf Finalists agreed that my team should be those who advance to defeat Huo."

Sato hated the sound of that so he drew his second chakra sabre.

Neji kindly reminded him, "What you are feeling is completely justified. If you think on it, you'll understand that wasting energy confronting each other is not the best way to go about this."

"Right. So you can give up now or accept that we are about to waste energy trying to beat each other." Sato retorted, "Your choice."

Being nice never was his forte, Neji thought. His peers would have to hand it to him for trying and being considerate of his opponent's distress. But his comments were falling on emotionally deaf ears, and perhaps the kindest way to go about it was to knock Sato out of contention physically. Neji pulled the sash of his jian free of his back and drew Mo-Ye from its scabbard. By then, Sato was already rushing straight for him.

His Byakugan was entirely necessary as Neji quickly realized Sato was far faster and more dexterous than Tenten, with a more unorthodox swordsmanship style to boot. The Feather Caper Illusion had disguised (in the absence of Neji's Kekkei Genkai) several of Sato's Fire Clones, which Neji had taken the time to hack apart and not disturb with Wind Release. Meanwhile, the real Sato had whipped Neji in the chin with the hilt of a White Chakra Sabre, and came careening in with a second swing aimed for Neji's neck. He barely parried with Mo-Ye, whirling, his free hand using the sturdy scabbard he still had to jab Sato in the stomach and push him away.

A Fire Clone ignited behind him in unison with a Tar Clone's leap, hoping to trap and burn Neji while his back was turned. He tossed Mo-Ye's scabbard aside and shot a nature-less Air Palm at the combined clone effort, knocking the fire and tar residuals to the ground in a heaping mess. In the same motion, Neji turned again to parry another flurry of Sato's swordstrikes. His jian was ground to a halt within one of Sato's swift combinations.

With Mo-Ye securely caught between his chakra sabres, Sato twisted himself into a leaping kick that caught Neji in the side of the head. As Neji keened sideways, he watched carefully as Sato acrobatically launched himself again, white chakra shimmering along his short swords as he swung and slashed at a retreating opponent. Once Mo-Ye was free, Neji dipped into an abrupt Wushu form below Sato's reach and propelled himself forward, caroming his jian against a chakra sabre and sliding it up the blade— nicking Sato's hand just enough for him to drop it. Before Sato could somersault to collect the discarded weapon, Neji deftly kicked it away.

Angrily, Sato spun again, feathers everywhere, clanging his sword against Neji's weapon— aiming for the head, face, neck, chest, and sides at a great rate of speed. The audience went bananas while watching the veritable sword duel, as optional techniques fell completely to the wayside for a long while.

When Sato's second Tar Clone came creeping in to snatch Neji from the rear, the Hyuga was caught in a blade-on-blade pushing match as Sato steered him in the direction of the oozing clone. With no other choice, Neji hurled himself into a Rotation that flung the Tar Clone aside, as well as the real Sato, and all weapons flew from their hands and fell, stuck hilt-up in the dirt a considerable distance away. Sato rolled backwards and sprang up just as Neji darted forward in textbook perfect Gentle Fist form to shut an abundance of tenketsu. His hands poised mere inches above Sato's chakra points, it occurred to Neji that his opponent had completed hand seals and was molding an insane, hair-raising amount of chakra right under his face.

Neji had charged into a counterattack.

Sato's Chidori had drastically transformed its shape, brimming with Yang chakra that had flattened and stretched into three-dimensional segments, into panels of a huge wing, "Yōton: Light Wing Chidori!"

And it shot through the right side of Neji's chest, shoulder, and neck with a force that blindsided the Hyuga heir, impaling him up on the chakra wing's climb, and tossed Neji like a ragdoll as Sato withdrew his hand and cut off the jutsu. Neji struck the ground once in a bounce, streaking blood across the dirt, and then landed flatly on his back without a sound. For a long moment, the stadium was hushed and then began to jabber again after the unexpected assassination technique.

Shikamaru descended within a heartbeat and held a hand up to Sato, cautioning him to stand back. He stood over Neji and held in a gasp as the white Hanfu the man wore was dyed in his own blood. Shikamaru shut his shirt microphone off in case he needed to curse. Kneeling down, he brought his face close to detect a very faint breath as Neji inhaled, to his relief, "Holy fuck-! Neji, you okay? Can you hear me-?"

Neji was in fact hearing a garbled mixture of sounds, ranging from the audience's concerned oohs and tittering, to Tenten's petrified shrieks above on the balcony. As politely as possible, Neji reached to push back against Shikamaru's vest and sit up. Shikamaru could hardly believe he was still conscious.

"It's a timeout, officially. That was—" Shikamaru glanced over his shoulder back at Sato, who had not moved since the attack, "I'm honestly in awe you aren't dead right now."

"That makes two of us." Neji had to take a moment to ponder how on earth he could still move and think after the assault. He struggled to stand despite Shikamaru's protesting.

The Yōton Chidori had been the hottest, fastest mortal experience he'd ever had in his life, and Neji had experienced Tenten's empowered Hiyumi Fire Release— child's play, by comparison. But Sato had not aimed for any vital organs with the assassination technique, which was perhaps out of camaraderie or pity, Neji guessed. The technique had cauterized the wounds it caused, which explained why the bleeding had quickly ceased. Had Sato pierced him just a few centimeters to the left, through rib, lung, or liver, Neji would not be relaying such information to Shikamaru right that moment.

His cheek and jaw were seared and a good portion of hair from the end of his ponytail had been vaporized, Neji assessed as he stood fully. Shikamaru was having a minor conniption, advising him against continuing the match. Though the injuries were survivable, Neji was astonished by how stingingly painful they remained, feeling as if he were being continually zapped.

"Kakashi didn't teach him that one." Shikamaru noted glumly, "I don't know about this. I really don't think I can let you go on in good conscience. What if he does it again?"

"He will." Neji surmised, "But not before his loss is assured."

"Neji—"

"I will continue."

"I'm not—"

"Disqualify me, if you must." Neji maintained.

Shikamaru relented, "I don't have you down for any technicalities. You're standing and speaking."

"Then end the timeout."

"If being insubordinate and churlish counted as a technicality, I'd Frisbee your ass out of here, Hyuga." Shikamaru muttered before turning the microphone back on, "The match will continue!" He retreated promptly.

Using his Byakugan once again, Neji quickly detected the Genjutsu that Sato has snuck in— tricking Neji's plain eyesight to follow an illusion while Sato ran at the single-degree blind spot at his opponent's back. He had retrieved his chakra sabres by that time. Showing off the bending evasion that Wong Leung had imparted on him, Neji did not turn to face Sato as he slipped and stepped, dodging sword swipes that he kept in his field of vision. Mo-Ye was still stuck up in the dirt several meters to his right.

When Sato managed an unexpected sliding tackle, momentum sending him skidding over the ground, he nearly cut Neji's legs out of from under him. The Hyuga made a timely leap and shot a nature-less Air Palm at the whelp. Sato rolled out of the way, tossing his sabres that he had twined with trick wire, and formed hand signs while his hands were free, "Yōton: Spark Flash!"

Neji had to assume some things— fill in the blanks while his brain and senses acknowledged complete flash blindness. Even the Byakugan was utterly scrambled, overwhelmed by light particles. He assumed that Sato had used trick wire to pull his short swords back after using the jutsu. Neji also assumed that Sato would be sixteen degrees to the left, judging from the dirt crunching, running footsteps and heavy breathing. Neji further assumed Mo-Ye was where he had last seen it, off to his right approximately a seven to eight meter sprint away.

He was not going to speculate when or if his vision would return. As it stood, Neji had been accepting and internalizing Wong's lessons for months to not merely "see with his eyeballs" or so Lee had translated it. So Neji took a chance and dropped into a Wushu crouch that fully evaded Sato's swordstrike at the precise moment it came arcing for his head. Neji heard the blade whistle by as he pivoted, slipping up from a sequential Wushu form, and made a tightly estimated dash towards Mo-Ye. Hopefully.

Sato gave away his pursuit positioning by his angry cursing. Neji would think it'd be elementary to take advantage of an opponent's blindness by not producing sound, but whatever.

There! He felt the tassel of Mo-Ye at his fingertips and then firmly took the hilt in his hand. Neji turned again, barreled backwards by a strong blow from Sato's sabres that pinged sparks off of his jian. He landed on his back with a wuff, his Chidori wounds throbbing, and felt the pressure of Sato bearing down onto Mo-Ye with both of his short swords. Neji caught Sato's stomach with his feet and rolled back, tossing Sato ass-over-tea kettle to the dirt.

Vague shapes were returning; all sights illuminated in silhouettes of white and pale shadow. The slight bit of vision Neji had regained allowed him to choose between Sato and a paper-bomb swathed Fire Clone, and he swung and thrusted with Mo-Ye as the startled Hatake began to realize his Flash was wearing off. Not that it had mattered— even without sight Neji had been able to keep up, and it was steaming Sato to no end. When the Fire Clone detonated, Neji strafed sideways to avoid the blast, and Sato dove forward to draw Neji's attention again. From behind, Aroo the screech owl furled his claws into Neji's ponytail and pulled sharply.

Though it was a small gesture, Neji was surprised. His head tipped back and he swung once at the distracting bird, the same moment in which Sato used a second Spark Flash.

Neji was not surprised Sato took that moment to disarm him, and let his two minion owls Aree and Aroo make off with Mo-Ye (though it was a heavy item for them to steal away with.) A white chakra sabre mercilessly nicked Neji in the torso wound the Chidori had burned through him, and a yowl of pain escaped him as he bent away from the blade point, blind and weaponless.

He'd had about enough of the preposterous effort Sato was making to proceed to future rounds. Without a doubt, Sato would waste more energy in the hope of winning this match than he could possibly use against Huo. Why didn't he see that? Neji wondered.

Freshly bleeding and furious, Neji stood and braced himself in a low Jyukken stance, able to hear Sato's advancing footsteps a stone's throw away…and fired a vacuum wave swirling with Wind Release chakra.

That attack was probably not advisable, Neji thought a moment later. Wind Release Air Palm had cut down a forest on his first attempt, and killed a man on his second attempt. As Neji could not see the result and things had gone quiet after the whirlwind, he was uncertain if Sato evaded the technique or was currently disassembled on the arena floor. But he had a feeling that Sato was most likely alive, based on the clamoring of the stadium's spectators.

He got the impression that the air and space within the arena seemed more congested, as if something large had suddenly appeared and stuffed itself in the ringed building. Neji took an educated guess that Sato had summoned an owl that had, somehow, defended against a deadly Wind Release attack. And it was a towering behemoth of an animal. And he couldn't see it at the moment.

"You're not in good shape, Neji." Sato's voice sounded distant, as if it were coming from atop the giant bird's head, "Give up so I don't have to hurt you any worse!"

Defiantly, he held his Gentle Fist posture, keeping his eyes shut to rest them. With any luck, Neji would have his vision back in a minute or two— and he could dedicate more effort to stopping Sato's Spark Flash jutsu.

Neji overheard Sato giving orders to his monstrous bird, which he called Haneheika, and heard Sato direct it to stomp Neji or otherwise do as it saw fit. In retaliation, Neji shot another Wind Release Air Palm that made contact, but only seemed to ruffle the feathers of the gigantic beast. He took a running tumble to the right to avoid the crash of giant talons and scaly foot, gouging up the ground where Neji had once stood. When a cloak of the owl's feathers came sweeping by like curtain, Neji repelled them with a Rotation to avoid getting swept by the broom-like motion.

Another stomp of a clawed foot smashed down to his immediate right and Neji tumbled, getting a sense of the speed of the animal and how it positioned itself. As Haneheika brought his face down to snap at Neji with a hooked beak, Neji was successful landing one Air Palm on the owl's nares and a second, rapid follow up squarely between Haneheika's eyes. The owl reeled back with a reverberating hoo-reeeee of pain.

Vision incrementally improving, Neji wagered that as the giant owl retreated and took flight with a storm-inducing flap of its wings, Sato was probably on the ground and poised to strike again. Right about then, a glowing sabre slashed near his face and a second attack grazed his shoulder. Neji spun and relied only on intuition and instinct, reaching out where he estimated Sato's wrist would be, but caught his upper arm instead. Rolling with that, Neji closed a chakra point there and then bent low, slamming Sato with a Wushu high kick to the ribs. The Hatake was flung backwards, and Neji could estimate where he'd fallen. Neji rushed at him.

Sato had mixed feelings about what was happening. He was rather impressed that Neji could be blind and still thrash an opponent. It also grated terribly on his pride that Neji's blind Taijutsu, which was now some hybrid of Jyukken and Wushu, had utterly compromised him and his dancing evasive maneuvers. Sato had to get away from it. Neji had the advantage in close-quarters without vision, and could still guess where chakra points were on Sato while Neji kicked and felt his way around.

He stuck Neji in both shoulders with his sabres, and then Sato kicked him away with a roar. Finally parted, Sato stowed away his short swords and summoned his most faithful, oversized owl, Kutaiku. The truck sized bird took off with his summoner on board.

In the moments that followed, Neji had some peace and was not assaulted by any jutsu, clones, or other nonsense. His vision gradually cleared up, though a bit fuzzy, and the Byakugan was adequately functioning again as he looked up. Neji estimated that Haneheika was in a flapping hover between two and three kilometers above the stadium. Kutaiku graciously dropped Sato off on Haneheika's head and then soared away until he would be needed again.

Well. Sato probably felt confident that Neji couldn't reach him up there. And he'd be right about that. With that fact in mind, Neji wondered how Shikamaru would want to go about calling the match with one of the two combatants sky high.

Except that Shikamaru didn't drop in to call anything. Neji had a few seconds to marvel at the debris and scatterings throughout the arena dreamily drifting up and up, floating miraculously. His brain quickly worked out that no, random objects were not flying away into the wild blue yonder. They were being attracted to a new center of gravity. He too, then, felt his feet slipping against the ground.

Neji anchored himself with chakra and reevaluated. How much did this match mean? Not a whole lot. Sato seemed to think so, but Sato also was too stubborn to acknowledge he was not a proper adversary to take on Huo. Neji wasn't so sure he wanted to fight anyone at this point, from an objective point of view…but Sato had pissed him off. And, admittedly, he was not entirely cured of his own bloated pride. Naruto, Tenten, and Wong Leung had not completely beat it out of him yet.

'He's used such a seal at the previous Chunin Exam, to manipulate gravity.' Neji noted, guessing the paper seal was strung from the rope Haneheika was dangling from his claws like a fishing line, seemingly unaffected by the technique. It was certainly a Forbidden Jutsu Sato had been permitted to hold onto, and that was just as likely totally legal in the Exam's Rulebook, at least according to the anything goes comment Kakashi had made earlier.

Then, the chunk of ground he was attached to by chakra ripped up and began floating away. It was surreal— Neji making a grab for any earthbound material to hold onto, crumbling at his fingertips as he too was whisked up with speed…and shot up weightlessly to where gravity prevailed skyward. The Sealing Corps barrier protecting the audience, apparently, did not have an actual top to deflect jutsu above the stadium.

Below, Shikamaru was fretting that this was going to be a brawl he could not realistically interrupt. He looked to Tsunade in the VIP booth who had leaned over to exchange words with the Hoshikage, probably the only other person in the stadium who could fly. 'Maybe she'd-?' Natsuhi shrugged at Tsunade and then Tsunade shrugged back at her. They remained in their seats. 'Great. Guess Hoshikage-sama isn't going to be rescuing any flyaway Finalists today…'

Many audience members were not cheering so much as freaking out, with rogue cries of fright piercing the excited buzz. Tenten and Lee were among the anxious, vocalizing spectators.

In the clear summer sky, Neji had rightly predicted that Sato wanted him defenseless and tumbling so that he could pierce him again with another Light Wing Chidori. It was a very "fool me once" type of gimmick. Neji shot a Wind Release Air Palm at the paper tag as he came within a dozen or so meters of it, shredded the seal, and had just enough reach to snatch the tip of Haneheika's flapping primary feather. Which— surprise!— feathers are not at all sturdy or easy to hold on to, and the bird's motion flipped him, whizzing through the air uncontrollably, until Neji landed on the broad, muscled wing on the gigantic creature's opposite side. It felt like his heart had plunged into his stomach, and Neji supposed maybe he was not a fan of heights quite like these.

Sato was a fan of heights. And Sato was also slashing at his head again.

Vision fully restored, Neji fought in earnest, a bit petrified of the new venue being a living animal thousands of meters in the air. About the only thing he could do to defend himself against Sato's relentless sabre maneuvers was to knock him a-tumbling with vacuum waves. Neji unwisely used a Rotation once, which snarled the giant owl's feathers and caused it to keen into a near barrel-roll. The young men held on, wind lashing their faces, and charged at each other again when Haneheika leveled off, circling above the stadium.

Neji managed to disarm Sato of a sabre, bowing his head to duck a swing of the second sword, and closed what few chakra points he could before he was kicked in his wound again. Reeling, Neji staggered back and fell through the flimsy overlap of wing feathers. Sato blinked in shock, and then crept over to watch as Neji plummeted down. He sheathed his remaining sabre and quickly followed in a dive.

'Ah.' Neji thought to himself, falling back-first so he could plainly see Sato taking a leap off of Haneheika's back, 'Sato would be so generous as to save my life right now, and then he'd ask me to quit…I bet.' Neji did a double take. Sato had made hand signs for the Chidori again on his way down, narrowing himself like a spear to fall faster. Neji scowled up at him. 'I was mistaken…'

His Byakugan surveyed the area and determined that Kutaiku, though close by, was still beyond his reach. Not that another one of Sato's summoned owls would be any safer, but it beat striking the ground and dying in Neji's book. Rapidly, his brain made some deductions. Sato's Chidori had transformed again into the large, sharp planes of a Light Style wing. Neji estimated he was falling at maybe fifty-six meters per second…and the stadium's top was less than a kilometer below him by then. Sato was a bullet— plummeting at maybe eighty or ninety meters per second with a devastating technique in hand, sizzling the air around him with heat.

Of all the predicaments he could have gotten into today, this was not one that had popped into Neji's imagination. Since he only had a few seconds to decide how he was going to try to survive this, he went with his gut instinct.

He flushed chakra out of all his tenketsu, more than double he normally would for a traditional Rotation, and Neji whipped himself into a defensive spin that maybe, just maybe, would protect him from the Yōton Chidori. He forced more chakra into his neat, full spherical defense, and laced it with as much of his Wind Nature as he could consciously tap into. Wind wouldn't protect him from any type of Light based piercing jutsu, but it would drain away the drippings of Lightning style from Sato's attempted attack.

Then the strange variables lined up, and Neji noticed a subtle trade in winds around them as Sato was a mere breath away from his Rotation shield… Chidori heat had spun wind counterclockwise above the stadium, cool air below them was whirling clockwise, and the clashing forces slammed into each other to form a funnel, pulling down wisps of cloud that were drifting by. Dirt, miscellanea, and Sato's owls Haneheika and Kutaiku were thrown into a spin as soon as the accidental tornado formed.

Shikamaru wisely chose to stay sheltered as a, 'Huh, looks like a tornado.' Clash of chakra natures rattled the interior of the Sealing Corps barrier. Spectators felt a rushing breeze at most, and safely watched as the wind funnel hurled Haneheika across town, where the giant owl retreated in a puff of smoke. Likewise, Kutaiku unsummoned himself to avoid injury. Neji and Sato, on the other hand, had reduced their speeds but still fell, flung against the arena's walls and upended floor before crashing painfully to the ground. The Yōton Chidori had pittered out before ever contacting its intended target.

The two of them ended up face-first on the dusty floor, about ten meters apart. Since the tornado had dissipated, Shikamaru plopped into the arena to figure out if either of the stubborn idiots had survived. To his surprise, Sato stirred and clambered up after a severe coughing fit. He hacked and wheezed, dusting dirt from his face and person. He shook his head and flecks of rock and debris scattered from his hair. Within that same timeframe, Neji had slowly pushed himself up to his knees. He appeared to be significantly more exhausted. His wounds, Shikamaru also noticed, were bleeding anew.

Shikamaru rubbed the back of his head, considering it, 'Not that I expected this, but…Sato really got the best of him. I should call it before Neji keels over and bites it…'

Suddenly, Sato was barreled over and off of his feet, and he frantically sprang up again to discern how he'd been ambushed from the rear. His face fell in horror. A clone of Neji had closed in behind him and slapped him with a Gentle Fist assault that suggested it was a truly solid doppelganger, 'That's a Shadow Clone! Shit— he must have made one when we touched down-!' Sato dodged and wheeled away from the Kage Bunshin, his last chakra sabre drawn, and supposed Tenten had taught Neji more than just swordsmanship, 'Just quit already, damnitt!'

A tendril of Wind Release chakra sliced his cheek open, and Sato was steered away from the real Neji as he ordered himself and stood. The highly inconvenient Shadow Clone lambasted him with Air Palms. Thankfully, Sato was able to capitalize on the clone's slicing ranged technique, rolled to the side and countered with a Fire Jutsu with the last scraps of his chakra, "Katon: Lighter Thread!" The wire thin ignition flame sparked off of the indiscriminate Wind Release, and it engulfed the Shadow Clone in a blaze before it could protect itself with a Rotation.

Sato charged through the fire, hoping to take advantage of his last few moments of strength, 'This is over! It's over! He has no chakra, no jutsu left at his disposal— Neji isn't meant to go on the way I am!' With a running leap, Sato passed over withering flames and tumbled stones in the arena, spotting Neji who had also scrounged up enough naked ambition to stand and lunge for chakra points. And he drilled them shut— thirty-two tenketsu in Sato's hands, arms, and chest before pain was vibrating the neurons in Neji's brain, pleading with his limbs to stop moving. After all, Sato had jammed his sabre back into the same wound on Neji's right flank, and there was no describing how terrible it felt.

Exhausted, jelly legs buckled, and Neji was unconscious before he landed on the ground on his back, dust softly flitting up and settling on him. Sato had half a coherent moment more as he stumbled and folded up, vision spinning from the attack and chakra exhaustion. He landed front-ways again, his arms tucked around his trunk as fatigue and the sting of Jyukken knocked him out of the woken realm.

A lot of expectant rumbling was coming from the watching crowds as Shikamaru did a wellness check on both Sato and Neji, his microphone off— snapping his fingers, calling their names, belittling their foolishness. Shikamaru remained beside Neji, frowning at how a sword was still protruding out of him, and the rate he was bleeding out was worrisome. Shikamaru didn't even have to radio up to Tsunade about what the result was. He announced over loudspeakers, "Both participants are unable to continue. This match is officially a draw!"

Many people were unhappy with that result. Neji had been a popular bet for gamblers…and that money was the house's now.

---

While a chorus of boos sounded, Hinata was glancing around at the modicum of chaos that ensued. Tenten and Lee had descended into the arena, collecting Neji's scattered jian and scabbard for him, and then anxiously inspected him from over the shoulders of Tournament-assigned medic nin. Shino had gone ahead without her to evaluate Sato's well-being.

She felt rooted to the spot. A horrible, nauseating feeling had clawed its way up from her stomach, and she felt a sheen of sweat on the back of her neck. Her breathing uneven, Hinata fumbled around for a hair tie in her pocket and pulled her hair up. She leaned on the balcony's rail and watched.

'Why did they…do that?' She believed she may have been able to prevent it. Hinata had not found Sato before his match to explain the plan that their Leaf companions had agreed on. But he had purposefully avoided his teammates for the match, and bull-headedly challenged Neji until the two of them were completely out of commission, 'Neji-niisan knew better than that too…but now…without them...' The plan was Swiss cheese now. Neji and Sato had shot holes through it, leaving it up to their friends and teammates to figure out what to do about Huo in subsequent rounds.

"Hinata?"

She peeked over her shoulder at Sakura, who had come to stand next her.

"You don't want to go down there?"

"I…" Her voice fluttered with sadness, "I would rather not be out there for all to see…if I…" Hinata swiped a knuckle under her eye to dry a tear, "I just wish they hadn't done that to each other."

"You can say that again." Sakura agreed morosely, "What are we supposed to do now? We all thought Neji should…" She sighed and looked back to Ino, Kiba, and Chouji. How quickly their numbers had dwindled…

"Change of plans." Ino spoke up at length, folding her arms, "Let's all do our best in our matches and not fight that crazy bastard. How does that sound?"

"We can't just let him get away with what he did." Kiba growled.

"We won't be letting him get away with it." Chouji disagreed, "We'll be playing it safe."

"We still-!"

"Are you actually going to lay all of this on Tenten and Lee? Well here's some news for you, Lee hasn't won his match yet. Looks like we have no idea how to call matches, considering how this one went down in flames." Ino reminded them sharply, "With that said, what good is Matsuri going to do us later, hm? Sakura, Chouji, and Hinata— think you can soften Huo up for later matches? I mean really people! Are we being realistic now?"

Kiba and Chouji quieted down. Sakura locked gazes with Ino, "Maybe we could."

"Don't—" Ino grimaced at her.

"Ino, I've been—"

"Yeah, yeah, you have some secret jutsu the Hokage taught you that you didn't waste on me. Is that it?" Ino surmised, "Forget it! There's no point in us risking it, just like Lee's grandpa said! And you know what-?" She continued furiously, "This year is shit. Where is Naruto's team? Well? Do we know? He's off training somewhere with the Hermit Perv, Gaara's ineligible, and where the fuck is Haku? Has anyone actually seen him for the last seventeen months?" She stomped her foot and screeched, "We kind of need them!"

"That's a good point." Kiba yielded.

"Wondering that won't help us now." Chouji patted her arm until Ino inhaled again, lowering her voice as she went on.

"I know it won't help." Ino acknowledged, "But I know I can't be the only one who thinks it's sketchy as hell that at least Haku didn't show up. What, is he like working in a dungeon for Gaara in the Torture and Intel Corps? Is he some spineless daycare worker retired from ninja life, or did he run off and go rogue?"

"Ino, stop." Sakura rested her hands on her hips, annoyed, "Even Gaara hasn't told me exactly what kind of work he has Haku-kun doing. It must be confidential."

"Confidential. My wax appointments are confidential!" Ino ground her teeth, "This is stupid. No one seems to care about all the shady shit that's going on. Never mind we're shorthanded while Sato and Neji, those dumbfucks, thought a double-knockout would be cool! Why is Huo so hell bent on hurting us in the first place? Care to question that asshole's M.O.? Ask the questions, people!"

Chouji was chuckling by then. Tenten and Lee had returned in time to hear Ino's outraged speculating.

"I guess you could call them dumbfucks." Tenten agreed with a shrug.

Lee did not feel that way, "That seems much too harsh a description..."

"I don't know." Tenten held her chin and took the spot on the wall she had occupied earlier, Mo-Ye sheathed and leaned beside her, "Right from the start, Neji was injured severely. I thought he'd probably just avoid the hassle and surrender. Sato could've continued to future rounds, no problem. I don't think Sato would be effective, but we could've let him have his way."

Shino had turned up promptly from the stairwell and evaluated her opinion, "Allowing him to have his way is the same as permitting his indifference to the thoughts and feelings of others. Sato did not consider what we thought at all. We will be affected by this in future rounds." He amended, "Though, Hinata and I did not have the opportunity to speak to him prior to the match."

"Ah, well, Neji explained our plan pretty concisely for him. Sato still didn't care." Tenten sighed, "Even so, I expected a bit more prudence from Neji…"

"And yet his obstinacy still seemed characteristic of him." Lee observed.

She grumbled in the affirmative.

Ino clapped her hands to gather attention again, "Alright…so how about we come up with a new idea?"

"I've got one." Sakura proposed, turning to Hinata and Chouji on her left, "You guys have at it and be fair to one another." She looked to Lee, "Lee-kun…I really do like Matsuri and want to look after her…but we need you to defeat her. Neji kind of fudged our hierarchy for facing Huo."

He nodded enthusiastically, "I am confident I can!"

"Because we have one less person advancing to Round Two, that means no one will be getting a bye. The seeds will be even, meaning…" Sakura glanced at Tenten and smiled worriedly, "You and I will be facing each other at the beginning of Round Two."

The older kunoichi shook her head in amusement, "Here we go again. You did a number on me at the last Exam."

"I still can." Sakura pointed out.

"Yeesh! Stop being scary, Sakura." Tenten yipped.

Sakura went on with her mental-bracketing, "After that, Huo will be seeded against Shino." All eyes fell on Shino and he stood motionless, as if he were still processing that fact. "Shino. Think on it for a while. I know we all want to do our part, but if we're going to take another shot at fighting him, we should at least be sure those that do can escape unharmed or surrender."

He nodded solemnly.

"And the third match of Round Two could be between either Chouji or Hinata against either Lee or Matsuri." Sakura concluded, tapping her lip with her thumb, "That match doesn't seem so bad. Since we're all mature, we can agree that maybe that victory should be given to Lee if he's made it that far."

Many heads nodded in agreement.

"And then semi-final rounds will be terrifying so let's not think that far ahead right now." Ino suggested.

Sakura was going to protest and continue prognosticating, but Shikamaru made the announcement for the next match, asking Chouji and Hinata to report to the arena.

To avoid Sakura's persnickety remarks, Ino offered to walk Chouji down to the ground floor. Chouji thanked her but descended the stairs on his own, as Sakura yanked Ino back and told her to face the music and prepare for what was coming.

Shino snapped out of his thoughts and looked to Hinata beside him. Her shoulders were slouched, and she stared ahead as an onslaught of thoughts and worries distracted her from the moment.

"Don't let what we discussed just now cloud your judgement and abilities. Focus on your match and consider all the rest later." He advised in a soft voice.

Hinata pursed her lips and looked up at him, able to see through his glasses to warm, considerate eyes, "I…I don't want you to fight H—"

"We can debate that after your match."

"Shino-kun." She cleared her throat to speak more clearly, "I will. Sato-kun asked us to fight as hard as possible today, for Tama-chan. I think for now…I can. But later on we should both be very careful."

"I agree." He replied, "Sato will regret not being able to watch your match. It will be artful and won quickly."

"Shino-kun!" Hinata reverted from her fretful state straight back to bashful.

"Go, before you're tardy." Shino gently tugged on her sleeve and she was off. He then became aware of Ino and Sakura regarding him; they'd been watching the exchange.

Ino laughingly grinned at him, "Gosh. You are just so nice."

Shino said nothing.

"I feel like I never knew! How did I not know how nice and smart you are?"

"Maybe because you don't like giving decent people the time of day?" Sakura sniped, "I've known for well over a year now that we can trust Shino with anything."

Off to the side, Kiba agreed that belatedly he had also discovered Shino was cool.

"Hm, that's great Sakura." Ino knocked shoulders with her pinkette friend, "You are an excellent judge of character, aren't you?" Sakura took that jibe much too personally and continued smashing shoulders with Ino, "But really, it's fab that Shino's compassionate and a bonafide strategist…but amazing that he's more handsome than pretty much every guy here."

Kiba and Lee silently wilted at the proclamation, and Tenten barked a reprimand at Ino.

"Like seriously, Shino, watch out. You won't be able to leave this stadium without turning a few girls down today." Ino predicted.

"We are getting off the subject." Shino advised.

"A-aaand…we're off it." Ino kindly acquiesced.

---

About three and a half minutes into her match, Hinata was feeling a fair amount of guilt. Not only did her highly tuned empathy radar detect that Chouji was not at all interested in hurting her, but he had not bothered with food pills or any sort of advanced jutsu for their match.

Pitting two gentle people against one another made for quite the lackluster fight. Granted, she did sweat a little dodging Chouji's Multi-Size swipes. When a huge fist or gigantic roundhouse kick came too close for comfort, Hinata whirled in a Rotation to shrug him off.

Though the audience's mood was tepid, Sakura and Ino were doing a whole lot of extremely loud cheering.

Hinata supposed that the Hokage was already pleased with how much they had grown as shinobi. If this match was going to be brief and border on non-violent frolicking, she may as well turn it into a spotlight performance on her newfound strength. Even though Naruto couldn't be there to watch her, Hinata imagined her father would delight in seeing her wield the techniques he had trained her in.

So she did. She struck Chouji while he was tumbling full-tilt with his Human Bullet Tank jutsu, firing a precise and chakra-dense vacuum wave she had been practicing for weeks. It blasted her kind-hearted adversary back, and Chouji skidded flatly across the ground before coming to a stop. It knocked the wind out of him.

Hinata apologized under her breath as she battered Chouji with another Air Palm as soon as he stood again. Dazed, Chouji tried righting himself and getting his bearings, easily dispatching a circling Shadow Clone with a super-powered jab to the chin. But as he had settled his eyes on her doppelganger for only a few heartbeats, Hinata had launched herself at Chouji's right side just beyond his peripheral, and shut what chakra points she could. To halt her, a mammoth Multi-Size hand closed around her. Hinata reacted in a panic, and flushed herself with chakra again for a Rotation.

Chouji soared with a cry, not expecting such a retort, and he hit the arena wall— putting a sizeable dent in it. Hinata brought her hands to her mouth, peeping in surprise. 'Chouji-kun! Oh why did I do that? I was scared for a moment. I thought he would crush me…'

She could feel her father's eyes on her. This meant a lot to him. He had been waiting to see this for so long. Hinata put aside her anxious feelings about what lay ahead in the Tournament.

She rushed again, lithely ducking under Chouji's last-ditch swing, and spun cleanly into a Gentle Fist barrage that sealed thirty or so chakra points before Shikamaru's voice came from behind her.

"Eh-hem. Did you hear me? Time out, Hyuga Princess." He grumbled. Shikamaru motioned for her to step aside and he silenced his microphone to speak to Chouji.

"I think you can continue, but…" Shikamaru sighed at his best friend, "You weren't taking this match seriously."

"I don't want to hurt Hinata." Chouji sighed, "But, uh…she kinda blocked all of my chakra just now."

"Not a good idea to go easy on her, was it?" The proctor sniffed.

"Oh heck no. I'll never do that again."

"You out, Chouji?"

"I'm out."

He switched his microphone back on, "With Akimichi Chouji's forfeiture, the winner of this match is Hyuga Hinata!"

Cordially, Hinata helped Chouji up and exited the arena side-by-side with her fellow mild spirit. She offered to open all of the chakra points she had tampered with, and Chouji gladly took her up on the offer in the first floor treatment room. With no other injuries that needed tending, they were free to return to the Finalist Viewing Area.

On the way up the stairs Chouji mused, "Neji and Sato will probably be in the hospital for a while. Maybe a couple of days…"

Her head drooped at the thought, "Yes, they will."

"Guess we're going to have to catch them up on what happens today at the Tournament." Chouji went on, "That will be the first place I go when this is all over. Just to check on them. Tama-chan too…I want to know if she'll be okay."

"Yes, yes— me too!" Hinata agreed, hurrying up the stairs a bit faster at the thought, "Or if anyone else should get hurt…the hospital is a sensible first stop after this."

Back at the viewing area, the other Leaf finalists had clearly enjoyed Hinata and Chouji's super-courteous match.

"That was like watching the polar opposite of Neji and Sato's smackdown." Kiba described it.

"Thank goodness for that." Sakura breathed easier at the thought.

Chouji pointed out that since he had no expectation of advancing, he would be happy to pick up snacks from the concession stand for anyone who needed something. Lee's match, after all, was one they ought not to miss.

"Oh! Get me that thing that Tenten just finished drinking." Ino pointed out the emptied bubble tea cup in the older kunoichi's hand, "It's got to be good."

"It is. You know Finalists get snacks and drinks for free?" Tenten informed them, "But visitors pay full price, poor things."

At the mentioning of free concession treats, Chouji hurried up the orders from Kiba and Sakura, confirming no one else wanted anything. Then he set off excitedly.

After that the gaggle of kunoichi had reassembled, commending Hinata on a job well done. She blushingly waved off their congratulations.

"Tragic, though…that Naruto wasn't here to check you out in this ensemble." Ino fiddled with the bowed obijime of Hinata's outfit, "It's satisfying to see you win in the Finals, but even better to see you look hot doing it."

Hinata sucked her lips shut in embarrassment, her face tomato-red.

"Come to think of it, Naruto hasn't seen you with long hair yet." Sakura smiled at their shy friend.

"N-No…he hasn't…"

"You have to wear this for him at least once when he gets back." Ino asserted.

She was making small, tinkling I-can't-handle-this-topic-right-now sounds. Nearby, Tenten did nothing to stop it as she tried to suck the last remnants of tapioca out of her cup through a straw.

"Whew! Naruto has got to be taller." Sakura continued teasing Hinata, glancing over at Shino, Lee, and Kiba chatting amongst themselves at the balcony's rail, "Look at all of these knuckleheads, they're almost full grown I'd wager! It happened so fast."

Hinata peeped in agreement.

As a side-note, Ino added, "Yeah, and after watching Gaara hit the town with you he turned out pretty fine didn't he, Forehead?"

Sakura gave her a diabolical, naughty grin that telepathically confirmed to Ino that he was very fine. Tenten quirked an eyebrow at the obvious signal.

"So it's kind of like the law of averages that Naruto will be eye candy for you when he gets home." Ino continued to unnecessarily reassure Hinata, "You know, unless he's developed some serious toad warts or other unfortunate condition."

"He looked healthy—" Hinata immediately caught herself and fell silent.

Sakura and Ino still deciphered the huge, unbelievable blunder. Tenten was working on her cup disinterestedly.

"What did you just say?" Ino transformed into an interrogator. A gorgeous interrogator. Her vocal register dropped and took on a knife-edge.

Sakura also leaned in for the scoop, "We heard that right…didn't we? You've seen him, Hinata?"

"N-N-N-No, no, no, no, no, no-!"

"Yes, yes, yes you did say it!" Ino seized her by the shoulders, "Keeping secrets from the sisterhood, eh? Unacceptable."

"Hinata! But how-?" Sakura was smirking and intrigued.

"I-I-I-!" She was shaking her head defensively.

"Whatever you do, don't make her cry." Tenten warned the youngsters, "I'll shave your heads if you upset Hinata."

"She—" Ino said pointedly of the stuttering girl trapped in her arms, "Has had a secret rendezvous with a man, Tenten! I know you heard it too."

"So? Who here hasn't?" Tenten shrugged it off and tossed her cup in a trash bin across the room.

Ino smirked wickedly at her, "You haven't."

The girls went quiet.

"Say…" Tenten straightened and seemed much taller, looming over the insolent blonde girl, "Remember when I said I'd shave you? I didn't mean with a safety razor. I meant with the biggest, sharpest sword I've got, without suds to save your scalp."

"You don't scare me, frustrated virgin." Ino tittered at her. Sakura and Hinata were mouthing at Ino to cease and desist.

"I will be neither frustrated nor virtuous as soon as this Tournament's brouhaha is over and Neji can, you know, function." Tenten insisted, relenting sullenly and disposing with her threat.

Ino snickered at the word function.

"And I have had secret meetings with him…hmph!" Tenten was muttering indignantly.

"Yeah, and Neji probably didn't lay a finger on you." Ino pressed.

"Ino-chan!" Hinata squealed, "Stop talking about that! He's my big brother! He's very decent."

"Unfortunately." Tenten agreed. Sakura laughed at her.

"Ah that's right, I've digressed." Ino turned back to Hinata, "So did Naruto sneak back home while our backs were turned? Well, Hinata? Confess."

"N-No, of course he didn't." Hinata defended.

"I think I know what happened." Sakura spoke up slowly, as if to minimize the severity of the cross-examination.

Hinata gave the pink haired kunoichi a pleading look.

"Naruto is training on Mount Myoboku right now." Sakura explained, "So Hinata could have used her, uh, special ability to speak with him while he's in range. I'm going out on a limb here, but I guess that could happen."

"What ability?" Ino was flummoxed.

Hinata was not too keen on elaborating, "May we please talk about something else?"

"No."

Sakura interrupted, "Ino, let's give her a break. Her Byakugan can let her overlap her chakra and consciousness with someone else's. There's nothing vulgar or scandalous about it. She's even tried it on me."

Tenten shrugged, "I don't blame her for wanting to reach out to her boyfriend. Do you? It's normal."

"As someone who can also peek into the minds of others for a quick hello," Ino sniffed imperiously, "I am telling you it absolutely can be scandalous."

"Well that's none of your business and you can't make her talk about it here." Tenten seethed with a smile, "I'll take your shit, Miss Princess, but it's time to leave Hinata alone."

"Seems I've hit a couple sore spots on you, Old Lady." Ino smiled back, "Fine. Some other time."

"Hey! Have you noticed how nice your hair is?" Tenten reminded her, "My threats aren't idle, blondie."

Hinata sighed heavily as she listened to the bickering. While the verbal sparring continued, Shikamaru announced the final match of the first round. Tenten held a hand up to Ino's face to shut her down, and then strode across the way to Lee.

"You were having a very animated conversation." He pointed out, thankfully unaware of the subject matter, "You do not need to interrupt it on my behalf—"

"Lee, I am so done with that conversation. Talking to you is always better than girl-drama." Tenten informed him, and they shared a chuckle, "How are you feeling?"

"Capable."

"Don't pull a Neji, okay?"

"What does that mean?"

"It means don't lose to someone because you underestimated your opponent's will to fight."

"I do not often do that." Lee looked upward as he considered it, "Rest assured I shall be as judicious as possible!"

"Just like Grandpa said."

"Just as he said."

And also, Tenten switched to Hanwen, You are like family to me. Please don't get hurt. I really need you today.

I know. He was smiling.

Neji can be stupid sometimes.

He meant well! Things still surprise him now and then.

Tenten shook her head, exhaling roughly, I'm still scared. I don't want anyone to see me getting nervous or unsure. I don't want to fight Sakura…

It is alright to feel that way. Lee consoled her, Discuss it with Sakura. She seemed to indicate she may wish to advance to future rounds…and maybe it is safer if you do not?

I have no idea, anymore.

Lee hugged her tightly, I promise I will be back soon.

Kiba snarked at them, "Hey, what are you two talkin' about over there? No fair that you just up and switch languages."

Shino gave him a rebuttal, "The language of friendship should need no explanation."

"Yo! Stop being wise and crap, alright?" Kiba grumbled back at him.

Lee set out down the stairwell and Tenten turned in a small circle, unnerved by the absence of her team. She then shuffled back to the flock of kunoichi. The girls had settled down.

Hinata sidled in beside Tenten at the rail, and Ino and Sakura took the space between them and the remaining men. Chouji had the good timing to return with snacks prior to the match.

"Do not worry, Onee-san." Hinata spoke quietly to Tenten, "Lee-kun will be fine."

"I know he will be. It's me who's the problem." Tenten admitted.

"I can feel how worried you are." Hinata noted, "Is something the matter, Onee-san?"

"I…" She trailed off and lowered her voice, "It's a hunch, but…Huo could be here because I have a weapon passed down from our common ancestors. He wants it."

"C-Common ancestors-?" Hinata sputtered.

"Yeah. I don't really want to broadcast the relation. He's horrible. I don't think I can take Huo in a fight…but seeing my friends face him feels worse."

Discreetly, Hinata clutched at Tenten's sleeve as they said nothing more and peered down into the arena. Lee and Matsuri were squaring off as Shikamaru fuddled around with his two-way radio.

---

It was easy to tell by the look on Matsuri's face that she was fully prepared to use every last ounce of her strength to make her teacher proud. Lee had glanced up at Gaara in the VIP booth, wondering what his feelings about the match were. He turned a fraction to spot Huo on the Foreign Finalist balcony. Huo had cleaned up and preened himself in the time since his match. He was staring down at Lee smugly.

Many thoughts raced through Lee's head: that perhaps Huo suspected how his Leaf opposition was planning to deal with him. That Matsuri was bolder than before, calm, and maybe more eager to please her sensei than Lee himself was (and few surpassed his level of enthusiasm.) Lee also thought about Tenten, and how her tough exterior was beginning to crack as the Tournament wore on, even more so now that Neji was retired to a hospital room to recover.

A moment of tranquility washed over him.

'I am glad that Grandpa came to speak to us. I have never introduced him to Gai-sensei before…and though Grandpa did not have many encouraging things to say…I believe they understood one another.' Lee considered. It felt like the two halves of himself finally met. Culture and tradition had encountered his determination and Nindo, face to face, old and young. He felt lighter. He felt vastly more aware.

Shikamaru was speaking, "Are you both ready?"

Lee took his time-tested stance, nodding as he raised a hand and stared Matsuri right in the eyes. The girl unflinchingly looked back at him, her own hands hovering readily at her hips.

"Begin!"

As expected, Matsuri snapped a metal-chain jouhyou off of her belt, and lashed it out at Lee as she flipped sideways. Lee made certain to keep his eye on the weapon's tooth instead of the distracting, red fabric flag, as Tenten had advised him. He ducked and weaved away from the spinning offense.

Matsuri was stunningly quick, flexing and casting her rope-dart off of her elbow and neck, redirecting it with a kick and twist of her foot. The dart nearly bashed Lee's face four times in only a matter of seconds. He remembered his grandfather talking about the popularity of soft weapons in their homeland, and warriors in the Middle Kingdom who specialized in rope-darts and chain-whips. Matsuri's talent was not learned from a master. She had endeavored on her own to learn the weapon. 'She is like me in this respect! Our hard work is what got us this far!'

When he charged, Matsuri hooked her rope-dart around her thigh and rotated her hips, throwing her free hand forward. A fabric sash whirled out of her tunic's sleeve, and Matsuri snared Lee's wrist and pulled back, tightening a knot closed. She would have liked to tug him within range of the return arc of her plummeting jouhyou, but Lee was very, very strong. He somersaulted in the dust to avoid her attacks, pulling with all of his might, and Matsuri was hurled off of her feet, "Wuuh!" Her rope-dart pattered and flattened out on the ground while she was dragged.

Before Lee could start reeling her in by her own cloth whip, Matsuri tugged the knot free and drew it back, looping it around her arm for safekeeping. "Hah!" She spun with a flying kick that shot her jouhyou like a rocket, and clipped Lee as he bounced up. He winced as a line of blood ran down his from his ear. It was a superficial hit, but it proved her aim was impeccable.

Lee stood straight and exhaled. 'Gaara-kun's student is remarkable! She has not been in training for very long.' He reached into the utility pouch on his belt and retrieved his nunchaku. Wasting no time, he went through the minimal, swerving motions his grandfather had taught him, and batted the tooth of Matsuri's jouhyou away like pesky fly. She snapped and spun her rope-dart furiously, faster and faster, but Lee hardly needed to exert himself to anticipate the attacks.

He edged in closer, carefully, aware that Matsuri was winding up her chain to match him as the distance between them shrunk. Seeing an opening as she cast her rope-dart out to its full length, Lee dashed in, turned to get a full-momentum swing of his nunchaku to crash against her shoulder…but Matsuri had timed her leap perfectly. She vaulted over Lee like a gymnast and caught the tooth of her jouhyou in her free hand, pulling back on her weapon's chain as it snagged Lee's nunchaku on the way up and ripped it from his grasp. Matsuri tumbled to the ground and rolled backwards, hopping to her feet like a desert hare— she gripped her rope-dart in her left hand and Lee's weapon her right hand. She smiled and began spinning the nunchaku.

Lee's jaw dropped. 'She…she's going to use it against me!' Then he sobered up and grinned. She had made that opening for the sole purpose of luring him in closer to be disarmed. What a crafty amateur.

Willing himself to relax, Lee let himself melt like butter, like his grandfather always demanded. He sunk into a low Wushu stance, and when Matsuri's jouhyou lashed out at him Lee dipped backwards and spread himself completely flat on the ground. His noodling acrobatics allowed him to close the distance, avoiding her long-distance snaps with the rope-dart…then folding and flopping away from his own cracking, twirling nunchaku. When Lee kicked her ankle, she toppled with a shriek. There was a brief, crazy looking close-quarters struggle in the dirt before Lee was clocked in the chin by his own nunchaku, and Matsuri had taken an indirect Zui Chuan punch to the stomach that made her see stars. She leapt up only to fall over again, gasping.

Several times in the past, Lee had been whacked in the head by nunchaku while practicing with them. Because he was somewhat acclimated to the feeling, he was not dizzied by the bonk on his jaw as much as he could've been. While Matsuri was keening and trying to regain her balance, a zipping Leaf Hurricane kick knocked his nunchaku free of her hand, and he back-flipped to catch it.

"Woo hoo!" He cheered.

Lee charged again with his weapon in a full-tilt swing. Matsuri sacrificed her jouhyou by hurling it at him like a chain-bola, and the inertia of it pulled away his nunchaku again as both weapons entangled uselessly on the ground. Improvising mid-run, Lee skidded into an upward kick in preparation of Shadow of the Dancing Leaf, but her cloth whip was just as fast. He yelped as it wrapped round and round him, suspecting it was the work of some kind of Ninjutsu. 'Ah, yes…definitely Ninjutsu.' He had been gift-wrapped. Mummified. From his toes to his neck, Lee was straightjacketed in the fabric whip she had parted with.

"You are way too fast…and…" Matsuri lurched to hold her stomach again, "You didn't even wind up for that punch!"

"There was no need to." Lee wobbled and then cried out as he fell backwards, landing supine on the arena floor, completely constricted, "We have both been disarmed. You fight incredibly well, Matsuri-san!"

"I have more weapons where that came from—" The smirk dropped off of her face as she watched Lee make a surprisingly fast inch-worm escape, "H-Hey! What're you-? Get back here!" Matsuri ran after him as the audience roared in laughter, watching as Lee scooted and rolled as fast as he could to escape his opponent.

Matsuri was irked, "You can't get out of those bindings! I applied a Sealing Jutsu to it! If you want me to let you go you'll have to surrender-!"

"—I have never given up…and I-!" Lee struggled and puffed to worm-hop away from her outstretched hands, "I will not surrender to-daaaaaay…!" He accidentally fell down into an excavated trap hole from Shino and Kiba's match.

Stupefied, Matsuri peered down into the dark pit and then shook her head in exasperation. She backtracked to go disentangle her rope-dart from Lee's nunchaku. He would be a sitting duck by the time her weapon was free.

Meanwhile, underground…Lee was ass-up in the tilled soil beneath the stadium that smelled vaguely of dog and crisped insects. With a rocking start, he righted himself and took a deep breath.

"Troubling." He acknowledged his predicament.

So Matsuri claimed that the cloth-prison he was wrapped up in could not be escaped, but Lee was always about the good old college try. Flat on his stomach, he bent as far as he could, grinding his legs together like a stridulating grasshopper. To his great shock, the concealed blade in the heel of his shoe (Thank you Tenten!) rather easily cut through the fabric near his feet. With strength, he tore the ripped perforation up further, thrashing and squirming. Lee contorted himself, kicking his shoe off and cautiously lifting it in his mouth, directing the hidden blade carefully. He nicked himself trivially, but was freed with only a few minutes of cutting.

'Had I known that it was possible to break out of this cloth, I may have pulled it apart with strength from the Inner Gates.' That was neither here nor there now, he supposed. Lee pulled his shoe back on and glanced over the shredded fabric. He noticed that Matsuri had applied some type of Sealing technique to the cloth whip…but some characters were written incorrectly, 'Ooohhh…It is not easy to be new at something!'

Lee snapped his head around when debris and stones tumbled down into the pit, foretelling of Matsuri's next potential attack. After glancing around and seeing no other exit, Lee opened Gates to borrow one of Tama's staple techniques.

Above ground, Matsuri felt a rumble and wisely decided to step away from the leftover insect hole.

"Blooming Lotus!" Lee crashed up through shattering of rock and earth nearly whomped the kunoichi before she scurried away.

"How did you-?" Matsuri was distressed to see Lee had escaped her snare.

He had become unbelievably fast— too fast for her to keep up. Lee had caught the flag of her jouhyou, and threw himself down on the chain in a whirling somersault. He pulled the weapon away from her and flung it aside. He rolled up to his feet again and dashed at the unarmed kunoichi. All she could do as he kicked her was perform hand seals frantically.

In position for Shadow of the Dancing Leaf, Lee was truly surprised to see the arm-wrappings he meant to secure her with shred like tissue paper. A swirling gust of wind had passed through her lips, "Futon: Gale Breath!"

They crashed back down to the ground while the audience cheered rowdily. In desperation, Matsuri bit her thumb and rushed through hand seals again. Lee stood and brushed himself off, wide-eyed at the sight of her summoning of two cottage-sized scorpions.

"I'm not going to let you get the best of me!" Matsuri trumpeted, patting the armored body of the insect closest to her, "The desert has tested me! Gaara-sensei has tested me! He trusted me with the contract of our friends in the dunes."

Lee was impressed, "Amazing!"

Matsuri balked, still confounded by compliments coming from her opponent, "Er, uh, yeah! It is!" She pointed her big, dangerous friends at Lee, "Osba! Ireki! Sting 'em!"

Lee screeched in fright because he had not expected them to be upon him in an instant, jamming their hooked tails down with battering-ram force. In the background he could see Matsuri was summoning her meteor hammer from a tool scroll. Lee tangoed with the desert giants between their spindly legs and pincers, marveling at how his punches hardly swayed them at all. Yet he was most surprised when Osba, the scorpion with a reddish tint to his dark shell, used Sand Style Ninjutsu. Though not nearly as precise as Gaara, it was a frightening skill.

Ireki was exhaling Wind Style jutsu, trying to wedge Lee in between desert calamities and keep him away from Matsuri. Lee's hair was terrifically tousled by the attacks, stuck up in a faux-hawk shape. He sprang and flipped onto Osba's back, racing up the creature's tail, and pulled down just above the stinger's notch. Lee's Gate Strength hurled the scorpion onto his companion, Ireki, and the two had been tilted belly-side up with their legs scuttling.

Mostly out of curiosity, Lee whacked the joints of the insects with Wushu boxing as his grandfather might have suggested. And what a wonder— the attacks had frozen the bewildered insects in their vulnerable positions. Lee dusted his hands and stepped back. Then, the metal ball of Matsuri's meteor hammer caught him while he was turned away.

The crushing momentum of the attack flung Lee clean across the stadium's arena and into a wall with a crack. Eyes watering, Lee peeled himself out of the stone and plaster and collapsed to the ground. By all accounts, no weapon wielded by Matsuri's toothpick arms could have hurt so bad or hit so hard. As Lee was an educated, discerning soul, he gathered that she had propelled her meteor hammer with her Wind Ninjutsu. He wasn't sure, but the force felt like maybe a lower vertebrae in his back was, well— something didn't feel right back there.

It took a lot of willpower and even a manly tear rolling down his cheek for Lee to evade the next, bursting swing of the meteor hammer. The ball smashed into the ground and gouged up a trench. Matsuri pulled back on her weapon as Lee opened a third Inner Gate. He roughly caught the chain and ran around the girl, lightning quick, and before Matsuri could begin to wriggle and shrug her way out of confinement, Lee bounded up to give her a mighty toss, "Front Lotus!"

Things did not normally end this…softly, Lee noted. A hair's breadth above the ground, a bed of sand had halted the nosedive before its painful conclusion. Matsuri was safely cocooned and uninjured, and Lee sensibly tottered away to oxygenate and deal with the pain ringing in his back. Shikamaru, who was then present in the arena, was giving an "all is well" kind of wave to Gaara in the VIP booth.

The Kazekage settled down in his seat and lowered his hand. His student was gently plopped to the ground. Matsuri sat cross legged in the dust with a rattled look on her face. She could not tell what was worse— that her neck may have been snapped by a super-fast Front Lotus, or that her sensei had to step in and save her, thus ending the match. As if taking a cue from Gaara, Osba and Ireki retreated in puffs of smoke.

"Sorry Matsuri, but the Kazekage's interference means that I can't acknowledge you as the winner." Shikamaru offered her an apology.

Wilted, she looked down at the ground and nodded woodenly.

"The winner of this match is Rock Lee!"

The crowd was pleased. Lee needed to be spotted by a medic-nin as he was escorted out of the arena towards the treatment room. Inner Gates recoil and his back injury were making it difficult to walk.

When Matsuri rose to her feet, Shikamaru gave her a consoling pat on the shoulder.

"You are savage, kid." He smiled lopsidedly at her, "Be proud. Lee is strong…and you beat the hell out of him."

"Thank you, proctor."

With his microphone switched off, Shikamaru added, "Oh…and stay away from Huo for a while. Maybe find a comfortable seat in the stands or on another balcony? I don't know if it's safe for you to be around him."

"Yes sir." She nodded and then set off.

Thankfully, her lip did not start quivering until she was indoors. Matsuri scurried into the ladies restroom and shut herself in a stall, waiting as the few women occupying the room finished washing their hands. The door creaked shut after they exited…then she bawled in frustration.

That tiny shred of hope she had allowed herself to hold onto— that foolish fantasy that she might defeat her opponent with the skills she had painstakingly perfected… She was still in last place. She always would be. When she had been a young child, Matsuri had barely scored high enough on the entrance Exam to earn a place at Suna's Ninja Academy. While in school, she was the shy underachiever with no special talent. And now, as she may have correctly predicted, she was still the runt of her Genin peers.

A few minutes passed and Matsuri managed to reduce her blubbering sniffles to quiet whimpers, reflecting on what had happened in her match. 'I think he escaped my cloth whip…because my Sealing Jutsu may not have been applied correctly.' Matsuri let out a shaky sigh, 'I knew that Lee could not use Ninjutsu or Genjutsu, so I thought for sure that would work…' She scoffed at her blunder. It might have worked if she had practiced more to achieve Sealing Competency, as Maki had offered to tutor her in Hidden Sand. Matsuri guessed her allotment of time to Meteor Hammer training two months ago detracted from Sealing lessons she could have paid more attention to.

She froze and went silent as the bathroom door swung open with a clatter. A person rushed into a toilet stall several doors down from her. Seated on the edge of a commode, Matsuri held her forehead in her hands and continued stewing in her thoughts.

'I just wanted to catch up. I didn't want to be the best. I don't even need to be as cool or as pretty as the other kunoichi here today.' She leveled with herself, 'I just wanted one victory here. To prove to myself that I worked hard enough…that I won't slack off ever again. I won't chase after a boy again. I won't let anyone make me into a punchline again! Gaara-sensei…and Temari and Kankuro…I don't want them to see me cry anymore.'

Matsuri folded double and resumed weeping, as if on reflex. She could learn new tricks, new jutsu, new forms…but there was no quitting crying. It was as if her emotional thermostat would always get tripped while other people could tranquilly go about their business. Oh, how she envied them. If she could not eradicate the "mousy" part of herself that cried and felt things strongly, Matsuri reasoned she could always hide until she was dry-eyed again.

Except when she couldn't…

The toilet down the row flushed and the other occupant went about washing her hands afterward. Before Matsuri could quiet down enough to go unnoticed, a voice called out, "Matsuri?"

She held back a gasp and lifted her feet up…as if that was going to conceal her in a locked stall.

The voice was familiar, "Matsuri! I saw your match! It was— wow! It was crazy! You did great. I came down here with Tenten when she said she was going to check on Lee. Are you okay?"

Matsuri jumped a little when knuckles rapped on the stall door.

"It's me, Sakura. Matsuri? Are you alright?"

"Sakura-chan…" Her voice was small, "I just need a few minutes."

"You've already been in there for a while…"

A lame excuse, "I had to…uh…my stomach is bothering me."

"Really?" Sakura's voice lilted with skepticism, "Probably not as much as my stomach is acting up. I've been running to the bathroom all morning."

"When does…your match start?"

"There's a twenty minute intermission before the next round. Come out and talk to me!"

Matsuri said nothing. If she refrained from talking and pretended to actually be using the toilet, instead of sulking…

"Matsuri—" Sakura was tapping her foot impatiently on the tile floor.

No. Why was confrontation the only answer for these Leaf shinobi? Matsuri considered that even Gaara-sensei would go off on his own to decompress whenever he was upset. He did not always need to communicate with others for therapeutic effects. 'Why must there always be discourse-?'

Sakura pulled the door off its hinges. She was frowning.

Wide-eyed, Matsuri braced herself on the walls of the stall before she fell off the toilet in surprise. Sakura pulled her up and out of the booth by her wrist, and Matsuri relaxed as the older kunoichi hugged her. Matsuri tucked her head down and squeezed back gratefully.

"You're not hurt." Sakura pointed out, "But you're shaking…"

"I'm just…I'm j-just frustrated!" Matsuri squeaked, crying into the older girl's shoulder, "I wanted to be as good as the rest of you."

Sakura laughed, "You are! Don't be silly. You think I could beat Lee one-on-one? It's not easy for anyone to do!"

"But he can't use—"

"Matsuri, Lee has been a ninja for a year and a half longer than my graduating class." She added wisely, "You have only been a ninja for thirteen months. And you are very good."

Matsuri sniffled, "Thank you."

Sakura patted her back comfortingly, "To have learned as much as you have in so little time…that is the achievement that Gaara is proud of. Not watching you win matches in this stupid Tournament. You know that, don't you?"

"I do…

"Good! Hey, those scorpions are awesome. I've never seen Gaara summon them!"

"He only needs their help for construction work or deliveries around the village."

"Huh." Sakura took a step back and regarded the younger girl, "Feeling better?"

Matsuri nodded and followed Sakura to the row of sinks. She patted her face with cold water at a tap until she looked presentable again.

"Go have a snack!" Sakura recommended, "I'm going to try to keep a clear head until my match. If you need me, come find me or anyone else at the Leaf lookout, alright?"

"I will, Sakura-chan." Her smile was small, "Thank you."

After parting, Matsuri ventured out of the concourse and past the checkpoint to sniff around concession stands. It was difficult to make up her mind. Relax with a basket of fried treats or a container full of ice cream goodness? 'Maybe I should pick a small size of each…' She stepped into a line of people intending to order red bean ice cream. Matsuri glanced around in boredom until her eyes trolled across a familiar person. She sucked wind quietly when she spotted Menma navigating through the wide lobby of the cafeteria.

Her head snapped forward again. 'Maybe he won't see me. Don't look at him! What's he doing here? Did Tide Village ninja buy tickets to watch this Tournament too?'

Curiously, Matsuri slowly peeked over her shoulder again to see him poking around the area, sometimes stopping to read over snack menus. Eventually, he stopped at a yakitori stand. She let out a breath of relief as he faced the opposite direction. Matsuri permitted herself to give Menma the up-and-down while he was preoccupied. His flaxen hair was tied back into a short ponytail, and his dark clothing seemed new, contrasting the Tide Village-issued Jounin vest that was pale sea blue, its bottom fading into a darker gray hue. A clay flute and some other type of wind instrument were fastened to his belt. She pursed her lips. Ah.

He still looked good.

'Those clothes make him look a bit taller, but I can tell he hasn't grown much.' She kept glancing back at him, 'I wonder if he and Inari still spend a lot of time together? I'm sure Tazuna-san is very proud of them.' Matsuri sighed wistfully,'Maybe I shouldn't have…stopped talking to my friends?' She missed them. They had been the only people she had ever met who had not tried to gauge her value based on who her sensei was.

"Are you ready to order, Miss?"

Matsuri snapped out of it. She asked for a small cup of ice cream and dismissed the fried dough idea. She could emotionally eat later while out of the public eye.

She thanked the counter worker for the free ice cream and started out on her return to the concourse. Then, like the true idiot she was, Matsuri looked back one final time.

Menma definitely made eye contact with her from the distant yakitori vendor. His whole face lit up. It was an expression that bordered on happy, but was mostly panicked. Panicked that she would flee like she did last time. He bumped shoulders with another customer in line who told him to watch it. Menma apologized and then left the queue.

Matsuri gulped and kept walking. 'Oh no. Oh no, no, no…I don't…I can't do it again!' Her walking turned into swift scurrying. She held onto her spoon and treat. 'Maybe he won't—'

"Matsuri!" Menma called out to her over the din of the concession lobby.

Strike two. She glanced back and saw him running.

"Eeeeh!" Spooked, Matsuri made a break for it. They dodged human bodies crossing their paths, racing towards the spacious, sunlit concourse near the arena's entrance.

"Matsuri! Please let me just-!" She could hear him pursuing, "Inari and I came to find you! Tazuna-san is sitting with your—" His shouting cut off when he crashed into someone, but he jumped up and continued the chase, "With your sensei!"

Matsuri vaulted over the turnstiles and was not questioned by the attending guards. As she darted down the vacant hallway, she heard the guards stop Menma, who was not yet dissuaded. She only stopped at the stairwell's archway for a moment to glimpse him again. Menma was trying to reason with the guards: he was a Jounin from the Tide Village, no, he admitted, he did not have Tournament credentials to pass, but please, please, he bargained. He only needed a minute to talk to Matsuri of the Sand Village.

The guards complained they already had the Copy Ninja dupe them today, and no other Jounin was going to pull a fast one on them.

Heart pounding, Matsuri ran up the stairs. She sprinted up past the second floor and the third floor before she slowed down and realized her ice cream was melting. She wolfed it down and fought brain freeze as she stepped out onto the fourth level of the stadium. Even if Menma played a song to get past the guards, which she feared he would, she would lay low until he gave up his search.

Matsuri marched down the corridor looking for access points to duck into, to find some wayward seat where she could eat her snack in peace…

'No more boys. No more distractions!' She puffed her cheeks and finally picked a doorway, dashing through it, and then trotted up a few steps to a long row of empty seating, 'He'll only make me cry again! I'm trying to change that part of myself! Menma would only mess up my progress…'

At the end of the row, Matsuri dropped into a seat and exhaled loudly. There. And good! A Leaf ANBU agent was seated in the row below her feet, less than a meter between them…and if a Tide ninja came by to harass her she could ask the Black Ops nin for help! And beside the masked ninja was a plain-clothes Leaf ninja in black, doodling in a sketchbook. He noticed her curious staring and smiled strangely at her.

"Hello loser of the last match!" He greeted.

Matsuri's mouth dropped open.

The ANBU agent smacked his companion in the side of the head. "See? That is rude, Sai. We've been over this. Point out positive features first in the people you meet!" He turned around in a decorated cat mask to apologize, "Sorry, Matsuri-san. Sai is still learning how to interact with society after his tenure in Root. Your match really was impressive!"

"It was." Sai agreed, "Superbrows is my friend. His superlative nimbleness is always interesting to see."

The ANBU nudged Sai's ribs, "Sai…" He whispered, "Compliment her. She is the one sitting here with us."

"You wield rope hammers." Sai said to Matsuri.

She frowned and nodded. Great. She escaped Menma only to locate the lonely, unoccupied balcony with two weirdo ninja seated on it.

"You are a student of the Kazekage, is that right?" The ANBU nin asked, trying to salvage the first impression, "I can see why he chose you as his pupil! At the last exam I supervised, Gaara-sama was only a Genin. Now he is a village leader. You are both the types to grow and learn fast."

"Thank you, ANBU-san. But Gaara-sensei did not pick me because I was good at something." Matsuri smiled wearily, "He picked me because I was dead last."

Sai gave her a yeah-right look and then shrugged. He could not detect Matsuri's nuanced implication that Tenzo had.

"I see." The Black Ops ninja nodded, "He saw underneath the underneath, when he met you."

Matsuri nodded, feeling a bit better.

"You are timid and you don't like speaking to us." Sai observed shamelessly, "Did you not want to have company on this level? As a competitor, you can sit wherever you want to in the stadium."

"I…did want to be alone." Matsuri admitted, "But this is fine!"

Tenzo tried to engage in relevant conversation again but Sai interrupted him, "I will call you Mouse."

Matsuri stared at him and then began to giggle. Tenzo was absolutely astounded that Sai had achieved such a reaction.

The kunoichi explained, "My sensei calls me that! His whole family calls me their Mouse!"

"You look like one." Sai deadpanned. Tenzo wapped him a second time.

"I know." She was chuckling and scooping the last of her ice cream from its container, "But I use that to my advantage a lot. No one expects me to bash their brains out when I look like this!"

"That is a perfect strategy." Sai agreed.

Tenzo sighed.

Sai then decided, "That makes you a Hammer Mouse."

"I am! I am the Hammer Mouse!"

---

Shortly after that, Tenten and Sakura walked slowly out into the arena side-by-side, muttering to one another as the crowd got revved up again.

"You quit."

"No, you quit."

"Why don't we both forfeit?" Sakura suggested sunnily.

"For the last time no."

"Tenten," Sakura hissed, "Hinata told me!"

"Told you what?" She was picking dirt out from beneath her nails.

"She told me that you and Huo are from the same clan."

"Oh. That." Tenten remembered.

"So it isn't a good idea for you to fight him, since he specifically has a score to settle with you." Sakura reasoned.

"That is exactly why I should fight him and no one else should." Tenten countered.

"You are a conflict of interest here!" Sakura got in Tenten's face, and the two stopped off-center in the arena to debate it, "I already told you I can handle it. I can finish what Tama started. Tsunade-shishou has made me pretty much indestructible."

"As much as I want to believe that, I'm too afraid to ask you to test that claim out." The older girl folded her arms, "Sakura, it's better if I face him myself. I don't want my friends to stand in the way of a maniac like him— that's exactly what he wants. He wants to rip my heart out by making me watch bad things happen to you."

"Oh, psh! How do you think we feel watching you go up against the maniac? Either way it sucks."

"Well…yeah."

"I can't condone you going ahead to fight him, Tenten. It'd be like pouring gasoline on a bonfire. Maybe even in the literal sense…" Sakura stated with finality, "So won't you please just listen to me, as your friend? And also as someone who can rip limbs off of people?"

"Hmmm." Tenten considered, "I am completely undecided about it."

"Alright. Want to decide it with a round of Janken?"

"Might as well."

Shikamaru had walked over to them with his microphone off, and watched as the girls threw rock, paper, scissors hands at each other. His lip twitched as he waited for them to wrap it up. Shikamaru guessed their match negotiations had failed. Abruptly, Tenten roared in frustration and flapped her arms in a rage after Sakura had beaten her at the game.

Sakura grinned, "Good! It's settled."

"No." Tenten changed her mind, "I won't let you do it. I don't want anyone else to get thrown around by Huo."

"Tenten, you lost fair and square!"

"I am not forfeiting. You're just going to have to beat me." The stubborn kunoichi announced, "And I will do what I have to so that you don't continue on."

"You really have no faith in me, do you?" Sakura growled, "We won't always be your juniors, you know. Ino and Hinata and I…we are just as strong as you now. You're going to have to accept that!"

"Well then," Shikamaru interrupted, "You two fighting or what? It looked like you—" They started barking at him to begin the match and save the fool who got her ass beat. From Shikamaru's point of view, that could mean either one of them…

With his voice live on loudspeakers, Shikamaru confirmed they were ready and then retreated, "Begin!"

Within a span of approximately twenty seconds, Tenten determined that Sakura was perhaps the most evasive opponent she had ever hurled weapons at, barring Neji. 'Although, Neji doesn't always dodge, sometimes he just deflects them with a Rotation…' Indeed, Sakura could bend, dart, roll, and hop better than anyone thanks to Tsunade's soul-smashing volleyball pitches. Medic-nin had to be good at avoiding harm, and boy howdy did Sakura know how to avoid it. 'How did Ino hit her earlier? She could only have done it by predicting Sakura's movements!' And with that, Tenten gave a point of credit to Ino as she thought about it, somersaulting backwards with a hand seal.

Tenten sent a Shadow Clone to assist with directing Sakura into a trick-shot maneuver, but she felt the fuzzy-tongued sensation of Genjutsu settling on her. 'Aw great…' She fought off the illusion with a pin-prick of chakra control and a release seal, and then suddenly stopped. Tenten looked down and noted her complete nudity. 'But-! If I broke out of-! How did she-? Oh my god-!'

Her Shadow Clone patted her shoulder and freed her from the multi-layered Genjutsu. Then, the clone tossed Tenten to the side before Sakura's mega-ton punch came down on top of her.

"Well that was a low blow…" Tenten muttered and dusted herself off. For a second there, she really thought Sakura had stripped her down for the whole stadium to see.

To conserve weaponry against the slippery, pink-haired wonder, Tenten changed gears and coordinated with her Shadow Clone as they drew their respective swords. Getting in close to Sakura was going to be a real bother, but it was the only way to inflict damage. A stab here, a cut there, the occasional parry from Sakura's kunai— Sakura was seemingly immune to jian wounds, or calculated that the half-hearted attacks were not worth putting more space between her and Tenten. It was very clear in that moment, when an opening appeared as Sakura reared back for another punch…Tenten hesitated to use Dance of the Crescent Moon.

Diving and rolling away from the punch's crater, Tenten supposed Sakura was aware of her reluctance. 'I don't want to hurt her even if she's driving me nuts!' Sakura was counting on that.

Tenten yelped when a concealed Earth Clone pulled down on her ankles, burying her up to her neck in dirt with the Headhunter Jutsu. It was a favorite of Kakashi's team these days, Tenten gathered. Sakura's punch came down on the crown of the girl's head, but only destroyed a captured Shadow Clone. Dust furling up in a cloud, Sakura dusted her hands and leaped out of the ditch. She glanced left and right, 'Where is she? I was so sure that was the real Tenten…but she had the chance to substitute herself…' The sound of the snapping, extending paper of tool summoning scrolls caught Sakura's attention. She tilted her chin up to look.

Above, Tenten and three Shadow Clones had leapt high in unison for a combination attack. Their spinner scrolls stretched and extended while airborne, sharing their sealed repertoires with each other for two-handed throwing, "Heaven's Dragon Drop!" With Sakura squarely in their sights, a hurricane of weaponry shot down at four times the normal speed, sticking the girl like a pin cushion.

The audience was divided by cheers and appalled gasps. When tool scroll smoke and dust dispersed, Tenten and her clones landed and got an eyeful of something that was not Sakura.

A slug about the height of a human adult sat placidly in the arena. Knives, sickles, razors, shuriken, and all manner of projectiles had stuck the poor creature on every bit of surface area its body possessed. Gradually, the weapons were pushed out of the slug's doughy flesh and pattered to the ground. A moment later, the slug expelled Sakura from its body gently. She and her slug summon were completely unharmed.

Tenten chewed the inside of her mouth, and gave a hand signal to her clones. 'Shit! Sakura can summon Tsunade-sama's slug!' Her Shadow Clones provided covering fire with the last bit of her scroll arsenal as Tenten charged with Hok raised, 'Whenever I use ranged attacks Sakura gains the advantage, so I have to get in close to win!'

Sakura handily ducked under the incoming projectiles. Leaping cleanly over Katsuyu, Tenten whirled like a demon and slashed downward to catch Sakura. They skidded as Sakura caught the sword in her hand, but Tenten pulled back on the jian and sliced the webbing between Sakura's thumb and index finger, 'You can't disarm me!' Beside them, Katsuyu had sprayed approaching Shadow Clones with an acid that immediately dissolved them.

"Sakura-chan!" The slug warned the girl to move aside, and Sakura rolled as Katsuyu squirted another stream of acid at the genuine Tenten, forcing her back.

With a chain of hand signs complete, Sakura exhaled a mighty orb of flames, "Katon: Grand Fireball Jutsu!"

Instead of running, Tenten rounded about and funneled chakra through her jian, running full-tilt as she cut through the fireball with her Fire Nature. Sakura balked as Tenten closed in, low to the ground in a Wushu lunge, and stabbed her dead-center in the stomach. Flecks of blood dotted their faces. Tenten pulled Hok back quick as wind, and retreated as Katsuyu chased her off with acid. Sakura toppled to the ground, her face contorted with shock and pain, 'I didn't think she'd make up her mind to finally…do that to me…'

"Sakura-chan, allow me." Katsuyu broke down into a mass of smaller slugs, a portion of which filed off to attack Tenten and the other group wiggled up Sakura's legs and amassed on her abdomen, rapidly healing up her wound. Sakura kept her eyes on Tenten and held still, watching for an opportunity to catch her off guard.

Meanwhile, Tenten reached into her utility pouch and tossed her last grenade, dropping it behind her to detonate on the chasing swarm of tiny Katsuyus. Unfortunately, the explosion only dissipated a few slugs while the survivors divided to avoid harm and continued pursuing their target. As they approached the area where Lee and Matsuri's match had gouged up several sections of ground, Tenten made a Shadow Clone and sacrificed it to the swarm of slugs to slow them down. 'Okay, I got it! Just separate the slugs from Sakura and hit Sakura hard enough so that Shikamaru calls it before she can heal herself! I'll need some clones to distract them, and my chakra is starting to—'

Near the insect trap hole Lee had fallen into earlier, two of Sakura's Earth Clones popped up to ambush Tenten. With a guttural cry, Tenten twisted into a crouch and extended Hok, hacking a leg off of one of the Earth Clones. The other clone swung for her face but Tenten employed a complete Wushu form to weave around the strike, dipping and rising, and cut the clone's head off with her return momentum. With a flick of her eye to assess that the true Sakura was rising to her feet and in peak health again, Tenten dropped into the subterranean trap hole.

Sakura jogged over to the pit with a parrot-sized Katsuyu on her shoulder. The remaining portions of Katsuyu in the arena gathered, sliding up Sakura's body to reassemble on her shoulder into a larger, python-sized companion.

"Be careful, Sakura! She would not allow herself to be cornered unless she wants you to follow." The slug queen warned her.

"I am already a step ahead of her!" Sakura assured Katsuyu smugly, and formed hand seals to exhale another Fireball into the opening of the pit. Thanks to a keen sense of chakra control and a bit of intuition, Sakura predicted a counterattack.

She keened back just enough to avoid a direct hit from Tenten's Hiyumi bolt, empowered with Sakura's own Fire Jutsu. The furnace-hot burst partially broke on Sakura, scorching Katsuyu more than the girl's clothes. Katsuyu absorbed the damage and Sakura rolled to put herself out on the ground. Seconds later, Tenten leapt from the trap hole like a commando, her cheeks dirtied, and she barrel-rolled while firing another shot above ground.

Again, Katsuyu took the brunt of the fiery explosion, protecting Sakura who was only half-enveloped in the slug's body. Sakura rolled once more, breathing and concentrating, and then bounced up to her feet to run for it. She angled herself to get closer to Tenten. Standing fully, Tenten aimed her bow for a precise shot.

"You kind of are living up to that indestructible description!" She conceded. Honing her chakra into a dense point for an arrow, Tenten fired a burning, close range Scattershot. The smaller, hotter chakra arrows that divided in the air shot Katsuyu off of Sakura's shoulder and razed the ground, catching Sakura in the blaze. With no fanfare or warning, Katsuyu departed in a puff of smoke. But Sakura kept running.

She charged like a bull into Tenten, and crashed into her as they went skidding and rolling to the dirt. Tenten made sure to keep her bow firmly in her hands, not allowing Sakura wrestle it away, so instead Sakura targeted her body. Tenten took a knee to the gut and was ground into the soil as Sakura pressed down onto her, grappling her shoulder. She was trying to pull back on Tenten's draw arm, which already had a chakra arrow nocked and drawn. The powerful pull dislocated Tenten's arm, and tears welled up silently in the older kunoichi's eyes as she held her fire under Sakura's chin.

"I can punch your head off of your shoulders right now." Sakura notified her.

"And I can let this go." Tenten retorted.

"With your arm like it is?"

"Only my fingers need to do the work. Besides…" Tenten indicated with a small head gesture that they were not alone. Sakura peeked over her shoulder to see a Shadow Clone of Tenten's aiming its own Hiyumi shot at Sakura's back, "I hid that in the trap hole just in case I needed a hand."

"I bet I can shrug off another fire arrow." Sakura estimated, "They weren't so bad."

"How about two?"

"I don't think you can shoot yours."

"Do you really want to find out?" Tenten hissed.

Sakura was convinced that Tenten could not or maybe would not shoot her at close range like this. And if the Shadow Clone acted, Sakura was confident she could heal herself adequately before dislocating Tenten's other arm. By then, Shikamaru was hovering steps away from them and prepared to halt them with his Shadow Bind.

It probably looked as ridiculous as her fight with Ino. Sakura had to consider that even if she weathered a Hiyumi attack, it didn't guarantee Tenten would not stick her with a sword again while she recovered from the blast. 'There are a couple of variables here that I don't like…' Frowning, Sakura looked from Tenten to Shikamaru. Then she let go of Tenten and leaned back.

"Fine," Sakura relented, "Since we're all so concerned about having good judgement today…there's no sense in me calling a bluff that could maim or kill me."

"You bet your skinny ass there's no sense in it." Tenten still kept her shot lined up with Sakura's face.

Sakura shook her head at Tenten and chuckled darkly, motioning for Shikamaru to call it.

"The winner of the match is Tenten!"

There was some moderately thrilled cheering from the audience. As it turned out, Tenten really did have a fully charged arrow aimed for Sakura's head…but her Shadow Clone dissolved a fraction of a second after Shikamaru's announcement. Tenten sheepishly admitted, as Sakura hauled her up, that she could not be equitable about where she allocated her chakra just then. The clone had just stood there to look good. Tenten could barely tap a seal on her spinner scroll to unsummon her scattered weapons.

The girls trudged back into the building's interior for the treatment room, groaning and complaining. Tenten stowed away the Hiyumi and collapsed onto a low bench. Sakura took the spot beside her and healed the last angry patches of burns on her arms and legs. Only then did she begin examining Tenten's injured arm. Sakura assured the medics in the room she had it under control.

"Sorry to put you through that, Sakura."

"Yeah? Well you should be! I won Janken so you should have surrendered! Also, you were being stubborn and unreasonable…"

Tenten stared at a wall and had a haunting realization, "It's like…Neji is rubbing off on me."

Sakura lost it. She rocked back and forth and laughed until she got it out of her system. Tenten gave her a come-on-this-actually-bothers-me face. In time, she too chuckled quietly.

Sakura carefully cupped her hands around Tenten's shoulder and felt around with her chakra. The diagnosis was that yes, it most certainly was dislocated. Tenten admitted the pain still made her want to cry, but she was not one for crying usually.

Sakura stood up to get in position to relocate her friend's shoulder. Trying to keep Tenten relaxed, Sakura spoke to her, "You know it's okay if you pick up some of Neji's quirks. Thank goodness he's picked up some of yours. Like being polite and sociable."

"On a good day." Tenten agreed.

"I sometimes snap and insult people the way Gaara-kun does."

"Well you're both pretty good at it! And you have to get good at it since you put up with Ino so much."

"I know. Did you hear her going after you before?"

"She's relentless." Tenten complied when Sakura laid her flat on the bench.

"Okay. We're going to abduct your arm. On two take a deep breath, and on three I am going pull up slow and steady while you exhale. Got that?"

"Got it."

"One, two…" Both took deep breaths, "Three…" Sakura used what leverage she could to pull on Tenten's arm at a 90 degree angle, and thankfully the older girl did not squirm or fight as she wailed in pain. The head of the humerus bone slid beneath her shoulder blade and re-articulated. Sakura even heard the bunk sound it made after the successful relocation. Almost instantly, much of the pain subsided and Tenten shut her eyes and sighed.

"Sorry." Sakura apologized, "I've had it happen to me so I know what it feels like…"

"You don't need to be sorry, Sakura. I stabbed you and shot you." Tenten waved off the apology, "I am much sorrier than you are…"

Sakura crossed the treatment room and inquired with a medic staff member where she could find an arm sling. They procured one from a supply cabinet, along with an ice pack from a cooler, and Sakura crossed back to Tenten to help her sit up.

"All's forgiven now. Like I said, there aren't many things that I can't survive." Sakura smiled reassuringly and slung Tenten's arm gently, adjusting the strap, and wrapped the cold pack around her shoulder, "I hate to tell you this, but…your shoulder is going to be unstable for a day or more. You have to immobilize it."

"It's going to have to mobilize again for Round Three." Tenten remarked, pushing to her feet and picking up Hok in its scabbard.

"You need to be careful." Sakura reminded her. They waved to the medic staff before heading out. The pair approached the stairs and Tenten asked if Sakura could actively heal her shoulder and patch it up more.

"Even if I heal you and you don't feel any pain, you'll still be prone to re-injury." Sakura warned her, "And I worry that Huo will try to take advantage of that. He's a bit too keen for my liking."

"You have a point." Tenten conceded, "But can you do it for me anyway?"

"I will, but go up there and take it easy. I need the bathroom again…" Sakura muttered in annoyance, "God, I can't believe Ino…oh and hey! Don't let Ino tease you; if you get riled up I don't want that joint popping loose again!"

"Alright, alright…" Tenten trudged slowly up the stairwell.

For the millionth time that day, Sakura visited the restroom and tried to persuade her rebellious bowels to cool it already. She washed her hands, fixed her hair until she was somewhat cute again, and then trotted out of the restroom. The concourse and concession area beyond had emptied out significantly after the start of Round Two. Sakura estimated the next match would be announced soon.

Then she heard a soft sound coming from a perpendicular hallway, around the darkened corner that fed into the back entrances of the kitchens and food stands. Sakura inquisitively tip-toed over to it to investigate, poked her face past the cusp, and was pulled bodily into the offshoot corridor.

She nearly screamed in surprise, but luckily it was only Gaara.

"Gaara!" Her chest heaved as she caught her breath, and he appeared very amused by her reaction, "You're not supposed to be down here!"

"I'm not?" He was devil-may-care about it, as usual, "That's too bad. I wanted to see you."

"What about Tsunade-shishou? She wants you visible at the VIP guest seats."

"I am visible. I left a Shadow Clone there." He wrapped his arms around her and they leaned against the wall together, relishing the privacy, "Your match…worried me."

"Well I can understand why you feel that way." Sakura acknowledged, "I'm fine. Tenten's still a little banged up." She turned her face away from his warm, nice-smelling shirt to look up at him, feeling his lips brush over her nose and cheek, "What did you think of Matsuri? We spoke after her match and I tried to settle her down…she was a bit upset she didn't win."

"Matsuri honored my expectations and reminded me why I wanted to be a sensei in the first place." Gaara declared, letting Sakura fiddle with his hands, "I found her and spoke with her before I came looking for you. She is in good spirits."

"Ah, that's a relief." Sakura smiled and pressed her ear to his chest, hearing a steady beat, "Are we overprotective of her or what?"

"We are."

"Kind of like…" She trailed off and killed the idea. Gaara was still able to pick up on where she nearly took the subject.

"Did Tsunade-shishou say anything about me?" Sakura smoothly steered to a new topic.

"It was mostly bellowing…but the gist of it was that she was gratified by your performance." Gaara added as he rested his cheek on her head, "Natsuhi-sama was also impressed by you. The Hoshikage is still grateful for your help in the Star Village."

"She's a really nice lady…I need to talk to her again sometime."

"And Tazuna-san rooted for Tenten the entire time. He liked her militant approach."

Sakura supposed that the old man who was a friend of Gaara's, described as the rugged, Spartan sort of bridge builder, likely preferred more aggressive, weapon-wielding contenders.

"So did any of you…discuss Huo?" Sakura wondered haltingly.

"Yes. Tsunade-sama and I tried to appeal his victory. Natsuhi-sama and Tazuna also agreed he used a technique that was an exception to Exam Rules. The administrative panel that is seated nearby…behind safety glass…disputed that with a majority vote." Gaara recalled, "I, of course, have no problem acting on my own if he jeopardizes anyone else in a match. Administrators can rail at me all they like for interfering. It's the right thing to do."

"Thank you…" She held his face in her hands and just stared at him. Gaara was so good at his job. He was also very good at being her boyfriend. He was just so…good.

He was trying to pick out what exactly Sakura was thinking or why she was holding his head and maintaining intense eye contact. Really, he was just acting on that selfish impulse to replace himself with a doppelganger at his seat…so that he could hold her, kiss her, and talk to her. Every waking moment Gaara wanted to drop whatever task he was working on to usurp time with Sakura. His brain was washed with oxytocin every time he saw her, his veins flooding with happiness.

But as Gaara had been molded into the conscientious sort, the two hemispheres of his brain now balanced desire and responsibility. Eventually he would return to his seat. For now, he was kissing Sakura slowly and very aware of how her body pressed into him, coiling tension in his stomach and below.

Then, their ears finally noticed that Shikamaru's voice via loudspeakers was not announcing the next match…he was starting it.

Sakura snapped back from the Kazekage, exchanging shit-did-you-hear-that? facial expressions with him before they ran out of the kitchen hallway and into the main corridor. They stopped short at the entrance of the arena to see what the hell was going on after leaving "make-out land."

Gaara did not have to feel it to know what was happening by heart. He watched Shino freeze. It appeared as if Shino had fully accepted the necessity of his participation, and was prepared to fight Huo. No sooner had the match commenced; Huo had paralyzed him with unimaginably potent killing intent. They stood there, Huo stock still, and a subtle, almost unnoticeable tremor had begun to shake Shino from top to bottom.

"Huo is intimidating him." Gaara reported to Sakura, who was leaning into him and holding his hand, "He doesn't want to be met with resistance."

Sakura had only personally experienced killing intent on two occasions— once as a brand new Genin on a mission near Kusagakure, against a rogue ninja, and the other more distressing incident being Orochimaru's attack on her team in the Forest of Death years back. She understood why Shino could not lift a finger against it. It was extremely hard to fight through it when your courage and innards liquefied.

The features on Huo's face rearranged, as if he had suddenly decided he wanted to toy with the Aburame heir a little bit. He bent to spring for a Wushu high kick…but Shikamaru stilled Huo by binding his shadow.

"Attacking a defenseless opponent isn't very sportsmanlike." Shikamaru admonished him, and was not just referring to Shino, but to Tama as well, "I'm giving Shino ten seconds." He released Huo and held a hand up bidding him to remain motionless. Shikamaru examined a digital lanyard-watch for a countdown.

"You didn't stop me in my last match, proctor." Huo sneered.

"I couldn't catch you in the last match."

Huo's crooked smile flashed for only a moment, "Are you going to try this in every round, proctor? I don't see how that will work. No matter what you do, I will win."

"I don't give a damn about who wins." Shikamaru hissed at him, "You and I both don't care about winning at this Exam. Whatever it is that you do want; I will block it to the fullest extent of the rules."

Huo scoffed at him and turned his nose up when Shikamaru spoke into his mic and concluded the countdown, gesturing toward Huo as the official winner of the match. When the audience made low rumblings of disappointment, Shikamaru ignored it and walked off of the field with Shino, tugging him along by his arm. Sakura and Gaara pulled them into the safety of the building and convened on the matter.

"Shino?" Shikamaru gave him a light shake, "I felt it too. He was giving me a fuck-you dose of killing intent. That piece of shit. He's willing to challenge me. I'd like to see him give any guff to the Kages in the VIP booth…speaking of which…" He regarded Gaara from the corner of his eye, "I might need you later, Kazekage. That fucker is unhinged."

"We noticed." Gaara spoke simultaneously with Sakura.

Shino managed to speak up, "It was necessary that I…do something."

"No, it wasn't." Sakura corrected him, "We planned for this going only on assumptions of how he'd react. We planned to beat Huo down more in every round…but if we can't do it safely or can't even move, it just isn't worth it. It's alright, Shino."

Shino incrementally realized he had the hands of Shikamaru, Sakura, and Gaara steadying him by his arms and shoulders. He felt much calmer after that. The panic and terror constricting his muscles faded and loosened him.

"I have to go back out there." Shikamaru grumbled, "Look after him. I'm gonna radio up to the Hokage and share this with her before I announce the next match." He thanked Sakura and Gaara before exiting the archway.

Slowly, coming out of the fog of fear, Shino was able to walk with them towards the staircase. He was able to compliment Sakura's match, and she graciously thanked him. They heard a clamor of running footsteps descending the stairs, and so they waited for the occupant to come bursting through the doorway. Hinata had her hackles raised and stopped herself from running into Sakura.

"Sakura-chan! Gaara-kun!" She was breathing through her mouth and her flared nostrils. Hinata pulled Shino from their hands and hugged him fiercely, "Shino-kun! You're alright! I'm so glad…I'm so glad…"

He patted her back and accepted the embrace.

"I saw what he did! I saw he was going to attack you!" The mixture of rage and discomfort in Hinata's voice was utterly new, in Sakura's opinion.

"Shikamaru stopped him. Going forward, he won't allow that behavior from Huo." Gaara reassured her, "I should return to the other leaders to talk to them."

Hinata thanked him for standing by to help a friend, and Gaara pecked Sakura's mouth before setting out. Even then, Shino was not released from his teammate's bear hug. Hinata wished Sato was still there, "He'd know what to say!"

Sakura countered that Sato would probably just jump Huo and try to slash his major arteries. After a long pause, Hinata quietly yielded that did sound like something Sato would try. Hurting Tama had been Huo's first mistake, but threatening Shino would have been the last straw.

"I am well now." Shino assured her, waiting for Hinata to slip her arms down and come back to her senses, "I am discouraged by how I was entirely ineffective at furthering our strategy…but perhaps someone else will have better results."

They hoped that was the case. Sakura cautioned Hinata that her face was bright red from raging too much, and so Hinata rushed into the restroom to splash herself with cold water. Sakura and Shino returned upstairs, asking her to hurry along so they could speak to the rest of the Finalist group.

She leaned over the sink and cupped her hands beneath the faucet. Hinata was still brimming with fury over Huo's near sucker punch attack on her dear friend. While she fumed, she splashed, refilling her hands several times. Until she glanced down and noticed the still water she was holding was reflecting someone else. Someone she had seen before. 'Is that…?' Hinata scrunched her eyes and looked carefully, 'Is that the person from my dream?' It was the man with horns and white hair, his face looking just as bewildered as hers in the water's reflection. He was emoting and moving just as she was, blink for blink with his own pearly Byakugan eyes.

"Eeeh-ooooh!" Squealing, Hinata dropped the water and jumped back from the tap. She pointedly gazed into the glass mirror on the wall to confirm her face was still her face, thankfully. Water was still running at the faucet.

She inched forward to turn the water off and disregard this crazy nonsense. It couldn't be real. It was just stress manifesting, or something like that. Hinata frowned to herself.

Or maybe it wasn't. Maybe, in the same way she had miraculously overlapped her consciousness with Naruto's in a distant valley…maybe this was some similar, albeit weird form of communication?

Hinata cupped her hands and filled them again, hoping she was not losing her marbles. And sure enough, yes, the horned man was there looking back from her reflection. Hinata marveled at the absolutely bizarre and unexpected phenomenon.

"Does this mean something? Do I know you?" She asked quietly, glancing over her shoulder to make sure no one would walk in and catch her acting nutty. She could not get a response. It merely seemed like a magic-mirror reflection trick and nothing more, with no otherworldly, wise spirit trying to guide her or make sense of it all.

Sighing, Hinata dropped the water into the sink and shut the tap off. She took a good, hard look in the wall mirror. Was it her imagination? The Misago Byakugan did not, or rather, had not revealed any supernatural forces to her as of that point in time. However…it was her plain vision that saw something unexplainable in the waking world. She had not dreamt it or used her Doujutsu to perceive it. 'What does it mean?'

A speaker system in the bathroom announced in Shikamaru's voice that Hyuga Hinata and Rock Lee were expected to report to the arena for the next match. Distressed, Hinata clutched at the hair framing her face and lamented how she had dawdled over something so ridiculous.

She scampered out of the restroom as a group of concession workers and cashiers bustled in for a bathroom break. Hinata squeezed past and ran down the corridor, 'What is the matter with me? I was feeling upset earlier but it…it didn't feel like a break with reality. I'm not crazy! Oh, Naruto, you'd tell me I'm not crazy if I told you about it, right?'

---

Lee was as pleasant as ever.

He was even cognizant of what Hinata was expecting to gain from the Exam. Primarily, she sought to demonstrate her skills publically and please her father as much as possible. It was no secret to her friends that she strived to do so.

Hinata nodded and confirmed it while Shikamaru stood several paces away from them, muttering into a two-way radio about something to someone.

"We can have an honest match, if you wish." Lee offered, "To show off your talents! I will not pressure you into forfeiting immediately."

"I think I would prefer that, Lee-kun." She agreed, "And I want to ask…did our group discuss the Semi-Final and Final Round while I was gone? I'd like to know if Onee-san can go on."

Lee's cheerful exterior flickered briefly. He was concerned about it too.

"I do not know if Tenten can…I do not know what any of us can do, beyond this point." Lee admitted, "Our friends asked me to continue and do what I could. If Tenten is not feeling well enough to fight in her next match, I hope she will be truthful and not struggle to fight such a difficult opponent."

"I hope so too."

Shikamaru returned to them, "Alright you two saints…will you make this a gentleman's match? Please? No bloodshed and misery? It's all I ask for." It was rhetorical. He knew he could trust them to be civilized.

"Begin!" He started the fight and dashed away.

Lee rushed at her and decided to treat this as if it were a match against Neji. Hinata was not someone to underestimate, if Chouji's duel with her was any indication. And also, Lee did not like to underestimate anyone. He had much better success making judgements five or ten minutes into a match. He got to know someone by fighting them.

Quick and springy, Hinata had no trouble avoiding Lee's Drunken Boxing jabs. Her small feet stomped on the ground with poise and surety as they besieged each other in a tight circle, redirecting strikes with wrists and the backs of their hands. Lee did not feel bad about borrowing a maneuver from this grandfather— he slipped his hand below Hinata's arm, folded her elbow up as she lunged at him…and completed his sideways turn to let her go tumbling with her own momentum. But her Byakugan could see the follow-up he had aimed for her back, and Hinata creatively bounced in a forward hand spring to avoid the next barrage of Zui Chuan jabs.

Lee furrowed his brows when he noticed it. This was not Jyukken that he was familiar with. This was not a style Neji had ever used against him.

Hinata was adapting with slippery footwork, whirling the sleeves of her tunic, by far more lithe and airy than her cousin. She was not striking back at Lee's Wushu with her hands…she was reciprocating with the cleverness of her feet! Trying to be mindful of Hinata's Gentle Step, Lee kept an eye on her dancing feints, but was punished more than once by a Jyukken slap on his arm and then neck. Only by the timeliness of his blocks could Lee protect vulnerable chakra points and organs she aimed for.

When he defended against another Jyukken blow, crossing his wrists to catch her striking hand, Hinata retaliated by tapping his shin and knee with the toe of her sandaled foot. Lee yelped in shock. 'She closed tenketsu there! With her feet!' He sucked wind and gasped at her, and Hinata's responding laugh at him was friendly, 'She learned to do such a thing…!'

Stepping backwards, Lee drew out nunchaku from his belt with a snap, and then spun with his arm fully extended to drive Hinata away for some distance. He whirled the weapon 'round his arm, frowning as he calculated, 'I do not wish to hurt Hinata-sama…but she can use tricks that Neji has never even thought of! I cannot—'

She lunged at him and he nearly clocked her in the head. Hinata ducked, and with a valiant cry, fired off a vacuum wave from her hands that sent Lee soaring. He landed hard on his back. His breathing sounded as if he were inhaling through a straw. The pain of the back injury he'd sustained in his previous match had returned with a vengeance. When Lee gained his feet, Hinata shot the nunchaku out of his hand with another Air Palm.

Abruptly, he charged. In a skidding, low Wushu form Lee caught Hinata by complete surprise. Though she blocked with both arms when he kicked her airborne, his blow had still sent her two meters skyward with force. Lee worked his arm wrappings around the girl's arms and trunk as if to prepare for a Lotus attack, but then flipped away and rocketed himself up for a different jutsu.

"Fledgling Peacock!" Lee roared. The scorching, not-so-immense barrage of unavoidable punches bashed Hinata terrifically…but the girl dispersed into a cloud of smoke. Lee landed and rubbed his chin, perplexed. He hadn't seen her replace herself with a Shadow Clone, but if she had managed it prior to the last exchange then touché.

And then…a blow struck him between his shoulder blades. Lee's eyes crossed as he careened forward and rolled on his arms, attempting to recover…but it had been a powerful, direct hit of Jyukken. He tumbled away before Hinata could strike his exposed back again. Lee did a cursory assessment of his health, preparing to use more of his strength against a worthy adversary. He felt around his chakra paths, as he often did to test the releasing and closure of his Inner Gates…Lee's face constricted in horror. The Gate of Closing was completely jammed. The chakra points surrounding it…they were inert and not firing as his brain prod, prod, prodded for a response and got nothing.

Surely he could work with Three Gates, maybe, but even those inner portals felt sluggish at the tinge and tug of his synapses. Lee ran like a madman before Hinata could catch him again, considering his options, 'I can ask her to stop now…I can ask for a polite and respectful cessation! And yet…she seems determined! I may need to defeat her in earnest.' He rolled and picked up his discarded nunchaku.

She caught up shortly thereafter, and they hollered at each other as Lee wielded nunchaku with wicked proficiency and Hinata tucked and evaded harm. A lucky shot from one of Lee's Wushu forms tripped her, and as Hinata squeaked and toppled sideways Lee caught her outstretched arms in the extended chain of his nunchaku. Then he wrapped and knotted the chain, restraining her as Hinata felt flat with a wumpf.

Lee followed through with a downward Drunken Boxing knuckle-punch, "Please surrender now!" She outstretched a leg and kicked his wrist away from her stomach, where he struck dirt.

"Ack! Hinata-sama! You need to consider-!" Lee was hooting in pain again as her footwork kicked him around, knocked his chin, and shut a few chakra points before he staggered away.

Though restrained on the ground, she was not yet losing. Hinata was able to form a hand sign to create a Shadow Clone, and Lee rushed back before it could begin freeing the kunoichi's hands. Unfortunately, Hinata could bend chakra with her feet, lit pin-point blue and flexible, and the Divine Protection chakra wall whacked Lee in the face when he tried to intervene. While he was splayed on the ground, Hinata's clone was able to free her and toss the nunchaku away.

Hinata hopped up and crossed over to Lee to apologize, "Lee-kun! I'm sorry! It seems to me you're struggling and I wonder if you-?"

He wobbled to his feet again, grimacing and trying to ignore the injury to his lumbar. Lee insisted, "I am fine! I am well enough to continue."

She was concerned by the apparent evidence to the contrary, "Lee-kun, you may not be able to fight in future rounds if you are injured. I know that I also closed critical chakra points—"

Before Hinata could offer to open up access to his Inner Gates, Lee had snatched her loitering Shadow Clone and spun with it, hurling it into Hinata. The kunoichi fell over as her bunshin poofed away, and she realized Lee was not at all interested in pity. He seemed to be out to prove he could still fight in the Tournament. 'He doesn't want me to persuade him to give up, does he?'

Lee came in close again with accelerated Wushu, his conviction evident, and he employed his grandfather's trips and Breeze Boxing. He seized one of her hands in a vice-like grip and pinched, bending her arm uncomfortably so that she could not respond. Hinata cried out in pain, realizing he was intent on locking her joints to freeze her. It was only natural that he would twist her other hand next, and so Hinata swiftly struck Lee in the stomach with a Jyukken blow.

He had anticipated it. Lee exhaled and weathered the attack, reaching past her shoulder to clutch her neck in Wong Leung's Throat Hook grab. Time and time again, when the old man had used it against him or Neji, they submitted within a matter of seconds.

The audience did not take too well to the display and neither did Shikamaru, who had returned to arena. Before the intervention of a Shadow Bind connected, Hinata had helped herself. She forced Lee off with a Divine Protection sphere of chakra.

Slack-jawed and holding a hand sign, Shikamaru witnessed Lee dive back in. It was something else to see Lee use micro-managing techniques as opposed to the macro-level Taijutsu he often favored. Lee manipulated and twisted Hinata's hands away, locking and redirecting her arms when she lashed out. In the sole moment of opportunity she had to counter, Hinata flashed her dangling yukata sleeve in Lee's eyes to blind him, and struck with Gentle Fist again.

Lee kicked upward and the concealed blade in his shoe stuck into the fabric of her garment. With that leverage, he pulled her down to the ground by the sleeve to open her defense.

Simultaneously, Lee gave a shout as he punched down for a Wushu finisher…and Hinata poured her strength into a robust Air Palm. Lee was knocked back before making contact, and hit the ground again. He was spread-eagle for a few seconds longer than what he would have tolerated in prime health. Before Lee could struggle up, Hinata had darted over to him with a Shadow Clone. They pummeled him briefly with Jyukken before pulling his arms back to restrain him.

"Lee-kun!" She wanted to reason with him, "You are still hurt! This is making it worse! Please do not continue on…please be willing to look after yourself!"

"I must!" He wriggled side to side in the hope of freeing himself, "Tenten said that she needs me! I understand that I am needed!"

"Of course you are, but we have to know better. We can't all adhere to a plan when things change— just like Shino-kun couldn't. Please know that we do not have to fight Huo. Nothing is forcing any of us to do such a thing." Hinata lowered her voice to remind him, "We need to look out for each other."

Lee fell still and stared her in the face. He breathed deeply and tried to relax. Shikamaru ended up beside them and gave them expectant looks.

"Is this over?" Shikamaru asked.

Frustrated, but aware of the sense in surrender, Lee nodded to him.

"The winner of this match is Hyuga Hinata!" Shikamaru declared.

The stadium rattled with excitement and surprise. The semi-final rounds would have the majority of its contenders be kunoichi. Also, the seeds were uneven. A small stampede for betting booths broke out on the third level.

Tournament medic-nin arrived to shepherd Lee to the treatment room, and Hinata accompanied them. She and Lee apologized profusely to one another for a full five minutes. Eventually, a medic demanded that they knock it off and that they were obviously still friends.

They sighed. Lee was laid stomach-down on a table top to be examined, and he answered questions and winced as a medic-nin prodded at his back to determine why his earlier healing was not as effective as it could have been. Hinata excused herself as she quickly massaged open chakra points through Lee's skin, and then retreated to a chair to catch her breath. She held up her arm to examine her torn tunic sleeve. Oh well.

"What has become of this Exam?" Lee wondered out loud, "None of it is at all like I imagined it would be…"

"It really isn't." Hinata agreed with that point, "I have no idea what to expect now."

Lee turned his head to regard her while the medic continued examining him, "You do not?"

"Well…no…everything has been so surprising…"

"The Final Round." Lee reminded her urgently, "Only three competitors remain, because of Neji and Sato-kun's absence." He waited for her to reply, but Hinata pursed her lips and said nothing. Lee continued, "Hinata-sama…you are going to compete in the Final Round. Unless the scoring panel elects to give a pass to Tenten…most assuredly it is yours. A bye will be provided for one Finalist during the Semi-Final, because of this."

Wide-eyed, Hinata stared at him.

"It is possible." He insisted, "You must be prepared!"

Several minutes passed and then Lee was made to sit up. He had been healed and told that his only option was to take it very, very easy. The attending medic wrapped a pack of ice with cling-wrap secure to Lee's back, and then ushered the two youngsters along. Lee tried to use pleasant conversation and the distraction of a curry-bread concession stand to help Hinata calm down about the situation. It only half-worked. She was pressing her fingers together and shuffling from foot to foot. She was over-thinking it.

"Oh! Here, switch!" Lee traded treats with her, "Yours is mild and mine is spicy. Let us eat!"

They dug into their snacks and Hinata raised her eyebrows, impressed with the delicious fried food. Munching, they listened as an announcement was made over loudspeakers.

The Semi-Final round would begin after a thirty minute intermission. It would consist of a single match between Tenten and Sasagainu Huo. An official bye was awarded to Hyuga Hinata due to the absence of another competitor. There would be a thirty minute intermission prior to the start of the Final Round as well.

Staring off into the bustle and clamor of the cafeteria, Hinata's senses dulled and the curry-bread slipped from its wrapping in her hand and dropped to the floor.

Oh. If Naruto could see her now…

---

Note: The end of the Exam is next and on its way! Your review is a treasured, magical thing. Let me know if you think you can predict the outcome of the Tournament!

Chapter 37: Go!

Match Tracks:

Sato Vs. Neji- "Gunmetal Black" by Varien

Chouji Vs. Hinata- "Kill V. Maim" by Grimes

Lee Vs. Matsuri- "Nanjing Road East Instrumental" by The Shanghai Restoration Project

Sakura Vs. Tenten- "Trophy" by Charli XCX

Hinata Vs. Lee- "The Gods Duel" by Derek Zhao

Oh and also, to you anonymous guest commenters who lurk solely to provide negative feedback: I will make a collage of your thoughts and suggestions on quality cardstock, with my responses to such comments in doodle/sketch form. I will color code and frame your frustrations. They are just so incredibly special and influential.