Ino did a double take before pointing an accusing finger at Sakura, who had been standing nonchalantly beside her for the past three point forty two minutes. "When did you get here?!"

It was subtle, but Shikamaru twitched when he turned to find Team 7 standing next to them. Team 7 hadn't been in the tower at all during their stay there. His gaze flicked down along the rest of the chunin hopefuls and found all the faces he'd seen just this morning at the chow hall. "Troublesome," he muttered, irritated that Team 7 was forcing his thoughts to churn in order to figure out when the hell they'd gotten there.

Sakura rolled her eyes and gave Ino a flat look. "I've been here."

"No you weren't! You didn't even show up at the tower today!"

Sakura sighed and rubbed her forehead, as if she couldn't believe her fellow genin was this dense. "We arrived just before the deadline. We didn't have time to be shown to a room." As if to prove this point, Team 7 was was covered in three days worth of grime and looked a bit roughed up. Sakura's pixie cut had a couple cow licks and her eyes seemed to have dark circles under them.

Sasuke was a bit scratched up and one of his sleeves was torn off at the shoulder. He looked constipated every time his eyes darted to said sleeve and saw his bare arm staring back (Sasuke had already spent ten minutes in their hidden cubby in the basement whisper yelling at Naruto for ripping it off in order to "help their masks". He'd also tried REALLY hard to see if there was a way to get the Sharingan to set things on fire with looks alone, because really, seeing that orange jumpsuit go up in flames was a large improvement, and frankly, Naruto deserved it! It was his favorite shirt! He blatantly ignored Naruto's argument that he owned eight more of the exact same shirt).

Naruto looked like he'd fallen in a mud puddle and reveled in it.

Ino scoffed. "Jeeze, maybe you guys should've given up." Her eyes dart up and down Sakura's rumpled figure. "I mean, seriously. You look like crap."

Sakura's eyebrow twitched. No one noticed, but Sasuke shuffled slightly closer to the pinkette, completely prepared to beat the living snot out of Ino and her teammates if Sakura decided to take action. He knew they needed to uphold their masks, but he was willing to sacrifice it a bit if it meant helping Sakura maintain her standing next to her old childhood friend. Sakura hadn't yet admitted it aloud, but Sasuke and Naruto both knew that she regretted that she'd sacrificed her friendship for foolish reasons. It also meant that Sakura couldn't afford having Ino look down on her for any other reasons than their rivalry over Sasuke.

Naruto's blue gaze darted to Ino, as if comprehending for the first time that she was present. "Hey! You guys made it!" And he walked up to slap her on the shoulder with his slime covered hand, beaming at her the whole time as mud splattered all over her side and face. "Good job! I figured Shikamaru couldn't be bothered! Hehe!"

Silence descended on the small group, and even several of the other chunin hopefuls had paused to witness the explosion about to occur.

Ino's neck audibly cricked as she looked down at the mess he'd made of her outfit. It was the last whole outfit she'd had; the others had been sacrificed because of some jerk-wad that had been terrorizing the genin in the tower.

"You lived!" beamed an excited voice.

As heads turned, Anko flounced up and scooped the mud covered blond into her arms and spun him in several circles.

"Of course we did! We're awesome!" boasted Naruto.

She laughed loudly and dumped him on his butt. "Whatever. It just means I still have chew toys for my lovelies!" A snake slithered out of her sleeve and tasted the air with its tongue. She seemed completely unbothered by all the mud now covering her.

"Listen up!" Boomed a voice. "We're getting started, so line up!"

Several of the genin sighed as they all lined up, a bit sad they didn't get to see a precursor beat down.

"You're dead Naruto!" Hissed Ino, shooting him a menacing glare as she moved to Choji's other side so she was as far from Naruto as she could get without leaving her teammates.

Naruto cocked his head to the side and squinted at her. "Huh?" His gaze darted to Sakura, but she just gave him a strained smile and shook her head.

Sasuke tripped him.

"Hey, you jerk! What was that for?!"

Sasuke sneered,eyes flicking away to pause at Sakura before moving to stare moodily into the distance. "You tripped over your own feet, Dobe."

"Get in line!" Barked the chunin once more.

Naruto stuck his tongue out at Sasuke to refrain from smirking at him, shuffling to the other side of Sakura, effectively keeping her pinned between her two male teammates. She shifted, reaching down to "adjust" her hip holster to hide the fact she nudged the blond's arm in thanks. He danced in place, his normal mischievous grin spreading across his face.

The older ninja rolled their eyes at his enthusiasm, figuring he wouldn't make it to the final event.


"HEEEEELP MEEEEE!" Screamed Miki, his brown head weaving in a disjointed fashion as he ran like a bat out of hell.

Ino was snorting like a mad bull, her rage at Naruto transferred to her new victim courtesy of his sarcastic remark about not having time to clean up after her mud bath. She'd nearly made a pincushion out of him multiple times, and his outfit was looking a bit ratty as he desperately tried to outpace her as she roared a long litany of bodily harm.

Sakura looked torn between being smug and feeling pity for the poor boy as he squealed like a stuck pig when Ino finally managed to snag the back of his shirt to test his flexibility. Judging by his shrill screaming and the horrible sounding pops, he wasn't all that limber.

Naruto looked a little green. He leaned a little closer to Shikamaru to whisper to him. "I-is she always that...violent?" He flinched when a resounding crack filled the air and Miki went limp due to passing out from the pain.

Shikamaru shifted slightly, the only sign of his unease. "Troublesome."

"That's not an answer!" Hissed Naruto, going pale when Ino marched back towards her teammates with a self satisfied look. When she saw Naruto gaping at her, she gave him a predatory grin. He swallowed shakily and pretended to be interested in what the ninja in charge was saying. He gave Sakura a vague nod when she flicked his hand, indicating that "Miki" had been replaced with one of the unconscious genin he'd found in the forest so that the medic nin wouldn't flip when Miki turned out to be a mud clone.


"You're gonna lose," taunted Kiba, smirking at the blond standing across from him. "Me and Akamaru have learned some new tricks, and I bet you haven't learned anything."

Naruto scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest. "Please, I'm totally boss with animals!"

Kiba laughed. "Yeah right! Come on Akamaru, we're gonna nail him to the wall!"

Naruto smirked and pulled out a scroll. With a quick release of chakra, the blond was now holding a very large platter of steaks in his hand. "What do ya' say, Akamaru? Wanna sit this one out? I have some fresh, juicy, raw steak calling your name."

It was a bit amusing to see both Akamaru and Kiba drooling. Kiba blinked, realizing what was on the line and quickly shook his head to snap himself out of it. "Man, that was sneaky, Naruto, but-"

"WOOF!"

Kiba gaped.

"Sit! Lay down! Roll over!" Naruto called out each command with a steak in hand, and the small white puppy dutifully performed each trick with a madly wagging tail.

"A-Akamaru!" Burst Kiba, betrayal making his voice crack.

Naruto happily set the plate of raw meat down, and the white pup dove into it like he had died and gone to heaven. Naruto grinned down at him before turning to look at Kiba when the other teen roared at him inarticulately. "Right! Almost forgot!" Naruto grinned ruthlessly. "Gotcha!" He pointed at Kiba with a feral grin.

Kiba crouched, ready to lunge at the blond, but the familiar nick of a blade at his throat made him freeze.

"Stay," was the cold remark.

Kiba watched in stunned disbelief as the blond standing by Akamaru went up in a puff of smoke. He cried out in alarm when the white puppy flopped over mid bite. The blade at his neck dug a little deeper.

"Relax," murmured Naruto. "It's just laced with sleeping powder." Kiba could hear the smirk in his voice when the blond leaned closer. "But, if you're worried, be a good pup and stand still. You can check on him in just a sec." Unseen, the blond gave the proctor a look, vaguely gesturing at the frozen Inuzuka at his mercy.

"Winner, Uzumaki Naruto," intoned the proctor, internally stunned the blond's ploy had worked so well.

Naruto removed his blade and shoved the Inuzuka towards his partner. "Boom, baby! Who rocks?! This guy!" Naruto bounced away like an idiot, shuffling around in an awkward dance hopping...thing.

Sakura groaned loudly. "Just when I thought maybe you were growing up," complained the pinkette.

Sasuke didn't look like he'd looked away from whatever invisible spot on the wall he'd been staring at.

Shikamaru's expression was pained. He'd been hoping that Team 7 was the same as ever, but he couldn't quite shake the fact that Naruto had so easily defeated Kiba. There were some well thought out pieces to that whole scene, and he was unsure if the blond really had the wit or nerve to pull it off as smoothly as he had. Plus, some of their body language was...weird, stiff in ways that didn't make sense. All in all, they were forcing him to be inclined to looking into things more deeply, but he was trying to stubbornly raise all of his defenses to ignore the gnawing need to know hounding him into action.

"Troublesome."


"Ya' know," remarked Sonya, "I know Suna is a bit...reclusive, but I would've thought even they would have a better sense of style." She looked up and down the black baggy catsuit that Temari had been repulsed about borrowing from Kankuro or else be forced to fight in her underclothes.

"Begin!" Shouted the proctor, leaping away immediately when he felt the KI swamp the arena.

"DIE!" Roared Temari, a vicious glint lighting her eyes as she flung her fan open and mercilessly blasted off a train of wind attacks that decimated the arena and kicked up a ton of dust. "DIE, DIE, DIE, DIE!"

The other ninja watching all edged away from the deranged blond as she ripped up the arena like a madwoman, her cackling laughter filling the air. Gaara blinked at her wash of bloodlust, startled at the unfamiliar feeling of pride that swelled within him. Kankuro was faintly whimpering, knowing that he was going to be next, considering she would unjustly take it out on him that only his clothes were available to borrow.

Both of her siblings also secretly wondered if the rumors about "beauty sleep" were actually true.

Sakura shot Naruto an alarmed glance as he grimaced and sweat sprouted along his brow. He discreetly waved off her concern but didn't dare look away from the fight. Already he'd had to recreate Sonya nine times in less than thirty seconds. Considering how much chakra and effort went into each clone to make them more sturdy than average, it was becoming rather straining to keep up with Temari's ruthless slaughtering of the arena and her opponent. He needed to train his clones to quit mouthing off about women's attire; clearly it was a trigger for murderous rage and a horrifying beat down.

His last clone, Daisuke, looked petrified.

Naruto really couldn't blame him.


Hinata stared in mute shock as the raven haired teen across from her crumbled into a sobbing mess.

"I give up! I forfeit!" He shrieked, hiding his head under his arms as he curled up into a ball in the middle of the arena.

Hinata glanced at the proctor, at a complete loss on what to do. All she did was fall into her stance (while wracked with nervous trembling), and look up at her opponent. As soon as she'd made eye contact, Eru Daisuke had freaked out, face awash with terror.

"Winner, Hyuga Hinata." The proctor sounded just as stunned as she felt.

"U-um, are y-you-"

"Don't kill me!" Daisuke squealed, bolting from the arena like she was about to bring the full wrath of Kami-sama down on his head.

Hinata watched the trail of dust he left behind in his haste, baffled beyond words. No one had ever been afraid of her. EVER.

She wandered back to her teammates in a daze, activating her bloodline to ensure that she hadn't been hit with an impressively strong genjutsu. She distantly noted that pretty much everyone that witnessed that fight was performing a muttered 'kai'.

Nope. Not an illusion. The young man had literally run away from her in terror. Because she looked at him.

Huh.

Shino nudged her arm. "You brought your opponent to his knees."

If you weren't one of his very observant teammates, you wouldn't hear the humor in his flat tone. Nor the pride, like that was supposed to be normal.

She missed the WTF look Sasuke shot Naruto, too busy staring at her own hands in disbelief.


"Listen fruitcake, be a good little boy and just forfeit. You Leaf nin are wackjobs, and I want to get out of here as soon as possible." Kin was eyeing her surroundings warily. She'd had enough of this place. Between the pranks, the bizarre ninja and their insane behavior, she was oddly relieved that she came from Sound, and considering the crap she had to put up with there, that was saying something.

Neji's lips thinned as he slid gracefully into his stance. "You shouldn't speak so callously. You should be more aware how your Fate foretells your future, as your Fate is already sealed. You were Fated to lose as soon as you became my opponent. You should-"

"The hell is wrong with you people?!" Blurted Kin, pulling at her hair in sheer exasperation. "Fate?! Are you freakin' serious?! You're all crazy!" She pointed angrily at Neji and snarled at the proctor. "Give me a different one! This one's defective!"

The proctor snorted trying to suppress his laughter.

Kin barely dodged Neji's first enraged attack. "Hey! Watch it, fruitcake! Grown ups were talking!"

Neji's world went red.

Kin...left the arena in a stretcher, still mumbling about Leaf, crazy ninja, and stupid ass fruitcakes obsessed with Fate.


"Saaaakura-chaaaaan!" whined Naruto, kicking his feet in petulant irritation. "I'm bored!"

Sakura's expression became pinched as she seemed to internally count to ten. "Naruto, we're waiting for everyone to fight. You should be paying attention to them so you know what you're going to potentially be facing in the finals."

Naruto huffed. "But it's boring! I mean, it's obvious that Sasuke is going to win his fight! And, I mean, that Rain guy, he won, but it was lame! He hardly did anything! And watching everyone else is boring too! I mean, we already kinda know what our guys can do, right?" He squinted up at her imploringly.

Sakura sighed. "No, we really don't. The academy doesn't count out here, but…" She glanced at his pouting visage. "Ugh, fine, here." She pulled out chain and wire all looped oddly in a tangled mess. "Play with this. We still have a good number of fights to go."

"Thanks Sakura-chan! I'll make sure to cheer for you when it's your turn!"

Shino was the only one that seemed to know what the odd tangled mess was, as he subtly tensed. Hinata glanced at him in confusion, but he stiffly shifted his head slightly to the side in dismissal.

Shikamaru saw the interaction and his frown deepened. Dang it! He really didn't want to be anywhere near Team 7! Now he had to know what the stupid thing was too, just so he knew what the big deal was.


"HA! I have been given a strong opponent! I shall show Gai-Sensei that the power of Youth and hard work shall overcome-"

Lee's rant was cut short when Gaara's sand slapped him across the face and sent him flying. Gaara's expression was flat, but his sand was shifting restlessly. Temari, having been trapped with the redhead long enough to read the signs, knew that Gaar was unsettled by Lee's behavior.

"Kid's gonna die," she muttered, ignoring her youngest brother's twitching form after the beat down she'd given him. The proctor had called her off when Kankuro was just on the edges of passing out. Kankuro had already forfeited his fight due to Karasu being missing, so she could care less that she'd left him in a such a state.

Lee, miraculously, bounced out of the crater he'd been smashed into. "YOSH! That was a strong blow! But the power of Youth shall guide me! And-"

BAM!

Lee met the wall across the arena, leaving a second crater in its surface.

The other genin all sweat dropped.

Lee popped out of the crater, spinning in a flip to land before Gaara. "YOSH! It seems I must get serious! Youth must-"

"Silence." Gaara stared unblinkingly as sand engulfed Lee's head. The raven haired youth gesticulated like he was speaking, but the sand muffled anything he was trying to say.

Everyone watched the spectacle for a couple seconds before Lee apparently decided (like normal) to solve his problems with his fists. He started raining blows down on the sand covering his head.

Gaara seemed a little startled that some of said sand was actually knocked away. Gaara had the sand engulf Lee's hands the next time they landed a blow.

Lee looked quite the oddity as he ran around in small blind circles, a large round orb and two smaller ones engulfing his head and hands. He looked ridiculous, and Tenten groaned and covered her face with her hand in embarrassment.

Lee, deciding his options were limited, came up with the brilliant plan to use his head.

Unfortunately, that meant he dropped to his knees and smashed his head into the ground as hard as he could, creating quite a mortifying good sized crater with each resounding loud SMACK.

Naruto was laughing hysterically while the rest of the Leaf genin looked flabbergasted.

The silent show was amusing, dragging on for several more long awkward moments before Lee finally ran out of oxygen and woozily sank to the ground.

The proctor cleared his throat, "Winner-"

Lee lurched to his feet, cutting off the proctor. Everyone blinked when Lee suddenly jumped up a good ten feet into the air before careening down to the ground head first.

"What the hell is wrong with him?!" Bellowed Tenten. "Is he trying to kill himself?!"

Lee met the ground with a BAFOOM!

Dust and debris was sent scattering.

Everyone held their breath. Gaara watched impassively as the dust finally settled.

Lee was buried like a turnip, green clad legs sticking straight out of the ground and wriggling around spastically.

Naruto collapsed to the ground with wheezing guffaws, Ino and Kankuro not far behind him.

Lee's legs stilled, then slumped to the ground.

"Winner-" began the proctor.

Lee mule kicked the ground and came bursting out of the ground like he'd been plucked by Kami-sama herself.

When he landed on his feet unsteadily, his head and hands were still coated in sand. He stood there a good ten seconds, motionless and waiting.

The proctor gave him the stink eye.

Lee burst into motion, charging across the arena to attempt shoulder tackling Gaara.

Sadly, he was running completely off course, heading instead off towards the right of Gaara and straight into a wall. He smacked into the wall. His sand covered head rebounded and he fell flat on his back.

Everyone stared, waiting.

Green legs started thrashing about a bit, causing a few cracks in the thick arena wall, before he fell still again.

The proctor glared at Lee's prone form.

Lee writhed around, squirming in silence. Somehow, he managed to get to his feet again, charging once more across the arena. Miraculously, it was in the right direction. Gaara stood still, arms crossed, sand starting to swirl around his feet.

Lee was about halfway to Gaara, the redhead preparing for an aggressive defense.

Lee listlessly pitched forward face first. He landed with a light whompf.

The genin watching blinked.

The proctor scowled, clearly daring Lee to move one-more-inch.

Lee didn't move.

The proctor edged closer and toed Lee's leg.

Nothing.

Emboldened, the proctor lightly kicked Lee's thigh.

Lee didn't even twitch. The proctor turned a smug look to the other genin. "Winner, Gaara of Sand." He started to walk away, but Tenten shot him a withering look. He paused, then turned to find Lee's head was still encased in sand. "Right. Gaara, remove the sand."

Gaara glared at him.

The proctor glared back. "Genin."

Gaara looked like he might smother the proctor next, but instead, turned his back to the man and walked away, the sand holding Lee captive following like an eager puppy.

Tenten was the first to Lee's side. "He's not breathing!" She looked around frantically and locked eyes with Neji.

Neji sighed and grudgingly met her in the middle of the arena. He activated his byakugan and glanced over his fallen teammate. With an irritated grunt he lunged forward and struck Lee's back with his palm.

Lee gasped, taking in several greedy gulps of air.

Tenten exhaled in relief and gave Lee a faint grin when the green clad youth blurrily blinked up at her in confusion.

Right before she smacked him soundly across the face and started shaking him like a rag doll, berating him for his foolishness during the fight and not taking it seriously.

"Completely wack," muttered one of the Rain genin.

"I wish I'd forfeited," muttered his teammate.

The first one blinked, then groaned. "Damnit! We're stuck here for the finals!"

His teammate nodded. "Yup."

The female member of the team perked up. "Can I-"

"No," both males shot down immediately.

The first one sighed. "Since we're already stuck here, we have to make a decent showing." He gave her a heavy look. "Don't hold back."

"Damnit." She scowled and crossed her arms moodily.