XLI: Preliminary Round Start!

Konoha, Forest of Death Tower, One Month Four Days Ago:

A full ten teams passed the challenge: Teams Seven, Eight, and Nine, Team Guy, Team Zabuza, Kabuto's team, the Sand siblings team, the Oto team that attacked them in the woods, a team from Kumo and, surprisingly, the Ame team that tried to ambush them on their way to the tower.

All ten teams were gathered in the large circular room that was the tower's main hall. On the far wall stood the Jonin sensei for the teams that had passed, along with the Hokage and a ninja with dirty blonde hair and deep bags under his eyes.

"There is another jinchūriki here, Naruto."

'Who? Why didn't you sense them before?'

"She's not taking the test," Kurama answered, "She's the Jonin Sensei for the team from Kumo. She's the jinchūriki for the Nibi no Bakeneko."

'The blonde woman?'

"Yes. At least whatever's wrong with Shukaku isn't affecting Matatabi."

"Congratulations on making it this far," the Hokage praised the assembled genin. "Unfortunately the third test is a tournament that will be open to the public, and thirty contestants would be too much for even the most patient daimyo".

"My name *cough* is Gekkō Hayate *cough*. And I am the *cough* proctor for the third exam," the man with the dirty blond hair announced. "The preliminary round *cough* of the third exam will begin *cough* immediately."

"What?" one of the Ame-Nin shouted, "That ain't fair! We just got here! The other teams all got a chance to rest!"

"Then *cough* you should have *cough* finished earlier…" Hayate pulled a black cloth sack out of a pocket, "In the spirit *cough* of fairness each of you will take a number from the sack *cough*." Hayate gave the cloth sack a shake. "Line up single *cough* file and take a number. Do not *cough* show anyone your number."

"The rules are *cough* simple, the fight continues until one participant forfeits or is no longer deemed capable of combat. Please refrain from killing your *cough* opponent; doing so or continuing to attack after the match is over is *cough* grounds for immediate disqualification."

Once everyone took a number Hayate took another sack out of his pocket, "When I draw *cough* your number please enter the *cough* center ring of the arena." Hayate rummaged around the bag before pulling out a slip of paper, "Round one: Numbers twelve."

Zabuza and the outspoken Ame-nin entered the circle. "Begin!" Before the Genin could so much as take a step Zabuza had cleared the gap between them and smashed the genin across the room with the flat of his blade. "Winner, Momochi *cough* Zabuza."

"Round two: Numbers eleven," Hayate called out when the unconscious genin was dragged from the circle. The numbers belonged to Kabuto and a Kumo-nin.

Kabuto turned to the Hokage, "Sir… I don't wish…"

"You will do fine Kabuto. Besides you're one of the best med-nins in the village; if you hurt him I'm sure you can patch him back up after the match."

With a sigh Kabuto stepped in to the ring. "Begin!"

"Please forfeit," Kabuto said to his opponent, "I do not wish to hurt you."

"I ain't afraid of you." The dark skinned shinobi said, "My Jonin Sensei is Nii Yugito, the scariest woman in all Kumo." One of the blonde woman's eyebrows twitched dangerously at her students words.

"I see…" Kabuto pushed his glasses up, the light glinted dangerously off of them, "And I'm sorry…."

Before Kabuto finished his sentence the Kumo-nin threw a hand full of shuriken at Kabuto. Kabuto easily side stepped the attack, and quickly closed the distance, his hands flashing through a complex series of hand seals. The Kumo nin tried to grab him but he ducked under the his opponents outstretched arms.

Kabuto tapped his opponent over the heart, palm crackling. Immediately, the Kumo-nin dropped to one knee. "Surrender, it's easier that way," Kabuto insisted.

"N-never…" His opponent struggled back to his feet, "I don't know what you did but it ain't enough to stop me."

The kumo-nin tried to grapple with Kabuto again. Once more Kabuto seemed to slip through his grasp like water. This time, however, the foreign nin was ready for it-his initial lunge was a feint and he managed to catch Kabuto by the throat.

"Gotcha!" He picked Kabuto up and slammed him back down. "I'd tap out if I were you," he said with a vicious smirk, "It's…easier that way."

Kabuto reached out and tapped the Kumo-nin's arm in two places, causing his opponent's grasp to immediately go slack.

"Argh!" The Kumo-nin staggered backwards clutching his arm, "What the hell did you do?"

"I cut the tendons in your right arm." Kabuto said calmly, "If you surrender now I can repair them with no lasting damage. The longer the fight goes on the worse it will be for you."

"Like hell I'm gonna give up!"

"Unfortunate…" Kabuto charged the Kumo-nin with his arms out stretched, a faint green shimmer could be seen extending from the tips of his first two fingers. The Kumo-nin managed to twist away at the last second possible so that Kabuto's attack only grazed the bicep of his already injured arm.

The Kumo-nin seemed to get an idea out of it, and used his injured arm as a shield to block Kabuto's next three attacks.

"Time for a change of strategy I guess, too much more of this and I might accidently kill you…" Kabuto formed two balls of water, one in each hand, "I am sorry, this will hurt."

When the Kumo-nin tried to block the first attack with his injured arm, the water seemed to flow into his arm, with a yell of pain the Kumo-nin collapsed to his knees. Kabuto then slammed the second ball into his opponents face. Kabuto pulled his arms back and a stream of water flowed from one hand through his opponent into the other.

"Don't worry, despite the pain, this procedure is mostly harmless. In fact, it's quite beneficial," Kabuto reassured the struggling ninja. "Normally, this is only done under anesthesia, but let's see what impurities we can cleanse."

The water began to circulate and Kabuto's opponent began to scream and writhe in pain. "My, my… you eat far too much salt. I just saved you from having to deal with a kidney stone in a couple of months." Kabuto ejected a small dark ball from one of the swirling spheres of water.

"Oh, what's this? You have quite the rare blood type. I've almost run out and can't find a donor for the life of me." Thin streaks of red began to leak into the sphere of water in Kabuto's right hand. The Kumo-nin's body went rigid from the pain and his scream froze in his throat. "There that should be enough. Take a couple of blood pills and you'll be fine tomorrow." Kabuto carefully transferred the blood from the sphere into a vial.

"Um... winner *cough* Yakushi Kabuto."

"May I follow him to the medical area? I wish to ensure I've caused no permanent damage."

"You may go Kabuto." The Hokage said, "Congratulations I'm sure you'll make Chunin this year."

"Next *cough* match, Numbers nine."

Hinata nervously stepped into the ring and a moment later her cousin Neji followed. "Well, this isn't the place I'd have picked for this," Naruto whispered, just loud enough for Hinata to hear, "but kick his ass."

"Fate has decreed you shall lose, for I am your opponent."

"I d-don't believe in fate Neji-nii-san." Hinata assumed a defensive Juken stance, one normally reserved for long battles or superior foes, "N-nor do I b-believe that I will l-lose to you."

Neji brought his arms up into an aggressive Juken stance meant to deal with a single, much weaker enemy, "Then you are, perhaps, naïve, or… just stupid."

"Begin!"

As soon as Hayate gave the signal, Neji lashed out with a vicious strike aimed at her heart. Hinata deflected it with one hand; instead, it thudded into her collar bone. It was painful, but it didn't close a tenketsu nor would it impede her ability to fight.

"A lucky block," Neji scoffed, "let's get a little more serious, shall we?" Neji began a series of textbook perfect maneuvers, each executed in blinding speed and flowing perfectly from one move to the other.

Hinata parried them all-most of Neji's strikes went wide or were blocked by her arms. It was then that Neji noticed a strange stiffness to her movements. Before she had moved with a fluid grace, but would hesitate at the last second possible. Now, she didn't hesitate, but the fluid grace was gone-she fought like she was wearing tight restrictive clothing or…

"How dare you," Neji hissed in anger, "Do you think you can hold back and still beat me? You mock me!"

"No. Not mockery, Neji-nii-san. C-Consideration. I do not wish to hurt you."

"You call this consideration?" Neji bellowed as he stepped up the pace of his attacks, "You dare treat me, me, like some novice you can hurt! You, who can't even see tenketsu!"

Hinata continued, now seemingly effortlessly, to parry Neji's attacks. "Yes Neji I can h-hurt you. And that's the p-point. I don't want to." Hinata shook her head sadly, "Like it or not, Neji we are family. And I don't like hurting my family."

Neji's face twisted into a rictus of hate and anger, "The only family I had is dead! And it's all YOUR FAULT!" Neji upped his attacks again, this time to the level he had to use to fight Lee. But somehow, Hinata was able to keep pace with him.

"Neji…" Hinata spoke softly, "Who ever said I can't see tenketsu?" Her attack seemed to flow around his arm like water, catching Neji completely off guard. She caught him square in the shoulder and sealed the major tenketsu point located there.

"Th-That was a lucky strike!" Neji was mortified. Hinata had been the first to close a tenketsu point in this fight. It was impossible! She must be cheating somehow. He had heard rumors that the idiot blond was surprisingly good at Fuinjutsu; maybe it was a seal of some sort…

Hinata's second strike cut off his internal monologue, and the major tenketsu point in his other shoulder. And with that, he was suddenly on the defensive. "Not luck, Neji-nii-san. Hard earned experience."

Neji tried to fight back but she managed to block his every attack and still keep up an offense that had him reeling.

"I…I don't believe it…" Rock Lee muttered, "Neji's losing…"

"She's so fast…" his teammate, Tenten, said.

Neji grit his teeth through the pain of having another tenketsu closed on his arms. "How are you doing it… there's no way you're this strong."

"Practice, Neji. I train for twelve hours a day, everyday" Another strike disabled the last tenketsu on Neji's left arm. "And half of that is just Juken." Hinata shut down two more of Neji's tenketsu on his right arm. "I'm my team's Taijutsu specialist." Neji was now down to three in his right arm-soon he wouldn't be able to fight back. "I have to be able to defend them in a fight."

By now, both of Neji's arms were sealed. "Are they so worthless that they had to have you defend them?" Neji taunted. Despite the beating he was taking Neji refused to believe that this wasn't a trick of some sort.

Hinata's reaction caught him by surprise. She started to hit even harder. The amount of chakra she put into each individual strike became visible as a light lavender shimmer around her hands. In a flurry of blows she sealed five tenketsu on Neji's right leg. "Never insult my teammates!" she hissed.

Neji felt blood seeping out of the strikes she landed on his legs and he knew the fight was over unless he came up with something good. It was then that he noticed Hinata's wheezy breathing.

'Her ribs! She did all of this with broken ribs?' Neji was so shocked he almost let Hinata's next attack shut down his left leg as well.

Neji rolled out of the way of her attack. For the first time since the match began Neji was completely on the defensive. 'But not for long…' Neji thought.

He waited for an opening dodging her strikes as best he could with his injured leg. 'At last!' Neji crowed in his head; Hinata had left herself open with her last attack.

Neji curled his hand in to a fist and swung as hard as he could. Hinata tried to catch his fist but while she was clearly faster, he still had the strength advantage. His punch slammed into her side and there was a crunch as her damaged ribs cracked under the force of the blow.

Neji smirked victoriously and smashed into her other side. He laughed maliciously at the sound of her ribs shattering.

"That's Goken!" Rock lee exclaimed. "I didn't know Neji knew Goken!"

"Like I said," Neji gloated, while Hinata coughed up blood. "You were fated to lose." He punched her as hard as he could again, square in her broken ribs. She collapsed onto her hands and knees. Blood leaked from her mouth as she coughed weakly.

"Winner *cough*…"

Before Hayate could decide the match in Neji's favor. Hinata turned the ground under Neji to mud with Doton: Doryū Taiga. As Neji stumbled in the now swamp-like floor, water whips sprung out of the mud pit to hold him in place. Try as he might, Neji couldn't escape the Jutsu's grasp.

Hinata stood slowly, her breath coming in short, choking gasps. Hinata staggered towards him, her eyes smoldering with anger. Neji began struggling twice as hard to escape.

Hinata slowly reached him and lifted her hands to finish the fight.

'Come on! Come on!' Neji begged, trying to force his chakra pathways open again so he could escape.

Just before her hand touched his solar plexus, Neji managed to force his pathways open with the Jukenpo: Ichigekishin (Gentle Fist Art: One Body Blow).

The force of the blast launched Hinata into a wall. Neji ran towards her, madness and hate blazing behind his cold white eyes.

He reached her moments before Hinata could manage to stand. With his arms spread wide he began to spin. "Hakkeshō: Kaiten! (Eight Trigrams Palms: Revolving Heaven)." A bubble of chakra formed around him and slammed Hinata into the wall. The whirling force of the chakra began to cut into her and crush her at the same time.

Neji only managed four rotations before his injured leg gave out. But it was enough-Hinata laid in the crater formed by the spinning bubble, her eyes wide and unfocused. The slight tremors of her chest were the only sign that she was still breathing.

"Winner, Hyuuga Neji." Hayate announced while Neji stood shakily to his feet. "Now someone *cough* get that girl to the medics."

Neji sprung towards Hinata, oblivious to everything but the girl who had so nearly beaten him. Murder illuminated his eyes like a burning fire. He aimed a double Juken strike straight at her eyes. Centimeters before his blow could connect there was a ringing of steel on steel and the hands of two different people grabbed his wrists and prevented him from killing her.

Hatake Kakashi and Gekkō Hayate had each caught hold of a wrist with one hand. The ringing of steel on steel came from them simultaneously blocking Naruto's Uzu no Tsubasa. Kakashi's and Hayate's weapons were slowly buckling under the strain of blocking Naruto's attack.

"Both of you will stop immediately or *cough* face disqualification."

With a resigned sigh, Neji stopped his struggle and turned to leave. Neji's apparent resignation let Hayate and Kakashi to push Naruto back momentarily, before the Uzu no Tsubasa could destroy Hayate's sword and Kakashi's kunai.

In the moments between the two jonin stopping Naruto and their weapons breaking, Neji spun around and tried to attack Hinata again. Before he could strike, an orange and black ball of rage slammed into his side.

"I WILL KIIIIIIIIIIILLLLLLLLYOOOOUUUUU!" Naruto roared as thick balls of red chakra began to quickly coalesce into his Bijuu shroud. Naruto tried to claw Neji's eyes out with his rapidly elongating fingernails, but Jiraiya grabbed him by the chest and pulled him off of the dark haired boy.

"Calm Down Naruto! She'll be Fine!" Indeed, Kabuto and three other Med-nins had rushed out of the medical area when they heard the commotion and already Hinata's condition seemed to have improved, "If you keep it up you'll be disqualified!"

Naruto ceased his struggling and glared at Neji. "Don't get eliminated before I get to you, you bastard. I'm going to pay you back triple for what you did to Hinata. And Kami help you if she doesn't make it-I will tear you into pieces so small they'll need a magnifying glass to find you!"

"There was nothing she could do to stop me," Neji gloated, "She should have accepted her fate, and so should you."

A/N: So… I forgot but apparently my story's a year old now… and eight months of that was spent on Hiatus… so does it even count?

Anyways, to celebrate this illustrious occasion: STATS! STATS FOR EVERYONE. Except for you, No not you, the other one. You, Yes you. We hate you, so no stats for you.

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Hey, fellow people of authoryness and stuff, mind telling me how the story is doing? I have nothing to compare my story with.