It is Temari's turn now. Gaara is down. Kankuro is down. Temari is the only one left. She is gonna do her team proud. Temari is gonna beat this bug boy and advance to the final round, and then punch that Naruto boy because NO ONE picks on Gaara (except Temari, she's his sister it's her JOB).

Temari marches down to the arena. The bug boy teleports down in a swirl of bugs. Tamri could have flown down on her fan, but she feels like marching. Stomp, stomp, stomp. So what if Gaara likes to kill people? They are ninjas, for crying out loud! Temari stomps up to the bug boy.

"Look," she says. "I literally don't give a f### that my brother killed your little girlfriend. I am going to kick your ass, and then I am going to beat up that Naruto kid for picking on my brother like that. Making him tell so many personal things in front of so many people! The nerve…"

"Um…" The Bug Boy looks nervous. "She wasn't my girlfriend…"

"Temari Vs Shino Aburame!" says the proctor. "Begin!"

Temari goes straight to the offensive, pulling out her fan and casting her jutsu at Shino. "Wind Scythe Jutsu!"

Shino's body blows apart, scattering bugs everywhere. It was a clone of some kind. Bugs rise out of the ground. Temari fries them with her wind chakra shield. Gaara isn't the only one with a nifty shield.

Shino appears, a cloud of bugs swarming around him. Temari is already ready with another vortex of cutting wind. The jutsu catches Shino, sending his bugs flying everywhere.

Temari does not stop to let Shino get up. She marches over and punches the bug boy in the face, knocking him out.

"Um, Temari wins," says Genma, checking to see just how knocked out Shino is.

Temari stomps back up to the contestants box and stands beside Kabuto with her arms crossed and thunder in her eyes. The orange kid is going down.

When Shino wakes up he finds himself in a small hospital-like room. There are other bed there, of course. Gaara is in one, Neji is in another, and Kankuro in a third. Shino rolls out of bed and makes his way to where his dad is sitting in the audience with the old Ino-Shika-Cho trio. Shino plonks himself down beside his dad and sits there, staring at the floor. He won't cry. Not now, not ever. Sasuke doesn't like it when people cry.

Sasuke…

Now Shino is crying, and he cannot stop. His dad puts an arm around his shoulders and just sits there beside him. Shino did his best to hold back the tears, but once that Sand girl called Sasuke his little girlfriend, all his resolve broke down. Shino gave up because he needed to cry. Why did Temari calling Sasuke Shino's girlfriend make Shino want to cry? Because Shino is in love with Sasuke.

Madoka is crying. Tears have been falling unchecked from his eyes since Sasuke was carried out of the arena with a white sheet covering her. He fought Sai with tears in his eyes, and he will fight Kabuto the same way.

Kabuto does not seem to mind, though. "I'm afraid this is where the exams end for you," Kabuto tells Madoka. "I will advance to the final round."

"You have to beat me first," says Madoka.

"Madoka Haruno VS Kabuto Yakushi!" says Genma. "Begin!"

Madoka immediately starts layering Kabuto with genjutsu.

Kabuto brushes aside the genjutsu as easily as if they were cobwebs.

"How?" Madoka asks, taking a fighting stance. "How did you brush off my genjutsu so quickly and easily?"

"Dude, I'm an advanced medic," says Kabuto, adjusting his glasses and grinning. "Chakra control is my game. Noob." Kabuto seems to vanish. A second later, he is behind Madoka, injecting chakra into his neck, knocking him out.

Naruto is scoffing down all the food Iruka-nii can bring him. He needs to build up his energy again. He can't fight on no energy.

"You know, you could just eat a soldier pill," grins Iruka-nii.

"I know, budd I wan' 'a ead prabba foo," says Naruto through his mouthful.

"Naruto, they're calling for you," says Ino, running into the medical room where Naruto is scoffing his food in amongst his previous opponents and everyone else who ended up in there. If only Sasuke was there too. At least that way she'd be alive…

"Come on, Naruto!" says Ino. "If you don't get out there, they will assume you can't fight another round and disqualify you!"

Naruto jumps up. "Don't worry, I got this!" He jumps up and runs to the arena, shoving more food into his mouth as he runs.

"Hey Iruka sensei, have you seen Karin and her Mum?" Ino asks as Naruto dashes out the door. "They never came back after…"

Naruto thinks they probably went home, but doesn't dwell on it. He has a match to fight. He makes it to the arena and skids up beside Kabuto and Temari. "Hey, Kabuto!" he grins. "Oh, hi Temari."

"Hello Naruto," says Kabuto, smiling and adjusting his glasses.

"I am going to f### your s### up," says Temari.

"Are the three of you ready?" asks Genma.

"Yes."

"Of course."

"Hell yeah, dattebayo!"

"Good! Temari VS Kabuto Yakushi VS Naruto Uzumaki!" announces Genma. "BEGIN!"

The three genins stare eachother down, standing in a triangle, waiting for someone to make the first move.

"Hey Temari," says Naruto. "There's no way either of us could beat Kabuto alone, right? So how about we team up and take him out, then you and I can fight it out between us."

Temari glares at Naruto. "Fine," she agrees. "If you can immobilize him, I'll knock him out."

"You got it," says Naruto. There is one seal Naruto can activate without drawing the seal first - he can create the seal with chakra and activate it with handsigns - no need for ink. Ink is for beginners and fuuinjutsu you are testing or learning. Naruto is getting ever closer to being a master, but he still has a long way to go. "Fuuin: Temporal Distortion!"

Kabuto is trapped instantly in the seal that slows down whatever is inside it when it is activated.

"Hit him with whatever will knock him out," says Naruto. "The seal is only slowing down Kabuto - your jutsu won't be affected."

Temari whacks Kabuto over the head with her fan and blasts him with a Wind Scythe Jutsu. Kabuto starts to slowly lose consciousness. Naruto releases the seal and Kabuto falls to the ground, unconscious.

Genma checks Kabuto. "Kabuto is out. The match will continue once he is removed from the arena."

Once the medic have taken Kabuto out of the arena, Temari demands, "Why didn't you use that seal before? It seems like it would have been incredibly useful."

"Oh, I wanted to get them to talk to me," shrugs Naruto. "That's the kind of seal you use when you want to own someone or stop them from falling to their death, or whatever."

"Hmph," says Temari. "About that: you shouldn't have made Gaara tell you his story in front of everyone! If you wanted to know about him, you should have talked to him in private!"

"Are you mad at me for getting Gaara to tell me all his woes?" asks Naruto. He learned the word 'woes' from Pervy Sage.

"No! I am mad at you because you did it in front of so many people!" yells Temari, her hands on her hips. "Don't you know what 'there's a time and a place' means?"

"Um...I think Grandma says that sometimes…"

"ARGH!" Temari growls in annoyance. "You are an idiot! This is not the right place to get people to spill their sob stories! A match in a competition is not the right time to learn people's reasons for living! You are a moron, and you bullied my brother into revealing personal things in front of a large crowd of people! That is why I am mad at you!"

"Oh." says Naruto. "So… do you wanna tell me your life's story?"

"HELL NO!"

"Then let's fight, 'tebayo!"

"Wind Scythe Jutsu!"

"Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Deputy Kinoko is back at the North Patrol. Kyabetsu and his team are seriously doubting an invasion now. However, something is brewing in the deep recesses of Kinoko's brain. Fact: the captured spy was not wearing any village markings. Fact: the spy referred to Orochimaru as she. Fact: the spy was wearing clothing similar to that of the Hidden Sound Genin. Fact: The Leader of the Hidden Sound is a woman with long black hair and golden eyes. Fact: Orochimaru has long black hair and golden eyes. Fact: Orochimaru changing his sex is not outside the realm of possibility.

What do all these facts point to?

Orochimaru is the leader of the Hidden Sound.

Orochimaru has already infiltrated both the village and the Hokage's defences.

"Deputy Kinoko?" asks Kyabetsu, sounding concerned. "You have your 'I just cracked a case' face on. What did you realize?"

"Orochimaru is the leader of the Hidden Sound!" says Kinoko. "I must get word to the Hokage before the invasion begins!"

"You will do no such thing." All six members of Kyabetsu's patrol team draw their weapons and activate their sharingan. Kyabetsu smiles and adds, "We cannot let this invasion fail."

"You…" Kinoko can hardly believe what she is hearing and seeing. "You are traitors?"

"Yes, us and the South Patrol team too," says Kyabetsu. "But now that you know the truth, we cannot let you live."