Chapter-29

Ino started throwing kunai at Sakura which she dodged easily. Her curse mark was pulsating a lot. Damn it. Orochimaru must be nearby. She side stepped as Ino came to punch her. Sakura bent down as swung a kick at Ino's legs that made her fall. She quickly got up and tok out kunai and ran forward. Sakura also took out a kunai for defence. Their kunai clashed in a swinging battle. Then Ino jumped back and panted heavily thinking about her next move. Damn it! Since when was Sakura this agile?

Sakura hadn't even done anything but she could feel the curse mark soaking in her chakra as she fought. It was pulsating a lot. She felt a strong pulse and knelt down while holding her neck in pain and she started panting.

Sasuke saw her kneeling down with her hand on curse mark. Shit. It must be hurting! She'll lose at this rate. Suddenly she went limp. She didn't even raise her head. Ino also laid still. Then Shikamaru spoke up.

"It's over for Sakura. she could complete her mind transfer. Now Ino is in Sakura's body. She can make her do anything." Slowly Sakura rose up and gave a mocking smirk. He's right. She is not acting like herself.

"Now all I have to do is make you forfeit, Sakura. I win."

But suddenly Ino found herself being forced out. It's impossible. She cant force me out. But it was happening. Ino also felt heat consume her and it was burning her. Tch. I have no choice. I have to release.

"KAI"

Meanwhile Sasuke and Naruto were worried about Sakura. that Ino girl was making her forfeit by taking over her mind. She's already in bad shape. She wont be able to make it. Thought Sasuke. But then he saw how the curse mark started acting out. It started spreading but it hadn't reached her face yet. And all of a sudden Ino came back in her body.

"What the hell was that, Sakura?!"

She just smiled wickedly and lunged at Ino. She was about to punch her when she dodged making Sakura's fist crash in a wall which crumbled totally. Everybody was watching that with shock written all over their faces. Sakura turned around and precisely threw a kunai at Ino which hit her in her leg. Then Sakura walked forward with that sinister grin towards Ino.

Sasuke could feel the change almost immediately. No. She's going to hurt her badly. That stupid curse mark is making her doing this.

"What's wrong with Sakura-chan? She's acting very weird."

Sasuke just gripped the railing as he saw Sakura walking up to Ino while taking out another kunai. As soon as she was about to throw it in her face, Sasuke screamed.

"Sakura, stop!"

Upon hearing that sentence, Sakura remembered Sasuke looking in her eyes with fear and concern. It was like a switch that was switched off which made her come back to her senses are control the curse mark from growing further. She grimaced and held her neck in pain. But she got up and towered over Ino who was watching her fearfully.

"Forfiet. Or I'll break your body." Said Sakura in a cold tone.

"I forfeit." Ino said shakily.

Hayate nodded. " Yamanaka Ino has forfeit this match. The winner is Haruno Sakura."

"yeah! Way to go Sakura-chan! You were amazing!"

After hearing this Sakura relaxed a little but started falling backwards. She had no strength left.

"Sakura!" Sasuke screamed and came behind her in a flash to hold her.

"You okay?" he asked worriedly.

She just nodded and gave him a little smile. Kakashi appeared in front of her.

"Alright Sakura, now that your match is over, you're coming with me."

"What? Why?!" asked Sasuke

"You don't need to know that. Come on, Sakura. follow me."

Sakura started getting up. Sasuke helped her and she muttered a small 'thank you'. She started walking out and Sasuke just kept watching her till she disappeared. He released a sigh and went up the watching area.

Sakura was walking beside Kakashi.

"How did you get that?"

"I jumped and pulled Sasuke out of Orochimaru's reach. Orochimaru bit me anyway and that's how I got this thing."

Kakashi was amazed at her. She put her life on the line for her teammate. She really cares about her friends.

"Don't worry Sakura. I'm gonna seal that mark so it doesn't act up again."

"Mhm."

They went to an isolated grey stone room where there was already an jutsu circle for sealing. Kakashi cut his finger and wrote the jutsu symbols around Sakura's neck with his blood.

"This may feel a little uncomfortable."

"Its alright."

Kakashi wove the signs for the seal and put his hand on the curse mark sending in his chakra. The characters written on her neck swirled around and formed a circular odd shaped ring. Sakura gasped and bit her lip from screaming. then she fell unconscious. Kakashi was about to pick her up whn he felt a presence behind him. He turned alert.

"Why don't you come out?

"Still sharp as ever, Kakashi. I must say you have improved a lot. Being able to perform seals is quite a commendable achievement."

"Orochimaru! Why are you here?" asked Kakashi with a glare

"I just came to take the girl. Nothing else."

"You're not gonna get anywhere near her. I will gladly put my life on the line to protect my student."

Kakashi formed Chidori in his palm which illuminated the room in blue blazing light.

"Don't worry, Kakashi. You'll see. She will come to me." And with that he disappeared.

Damn it. He got away. He looked at Sakura who was passed out on the floor. He went over to her and picked her up. I promise I wont let anything happen to you.

The next match was against Shino and Zaku. Zaku had both of his hands bandaged and hung in a sling. He tried to pull off an air attack at Shino but Shino's insects already went into his air hole openings and injured him from the inside. Shino won.

The next match was of Kankuro. Everyone was shocked to see a puppet master using his doll the bind and crush his opponent without breaking a sweat.

All of them looked at the screen to see who was the next person. The screen read, 'Uchiha Sasuke vs Akado Yoroi'

Finally, its my turn. Sasuke jumped down and Yoroi came down as well. Hayate waited for their signal to begin. They both gave a nod and he shouted, "BEGIN"

Sasuke ran forward and threw kunai at him. Yoroi concentrated his chakra in his hand and deflected the kunai. As soon as Sasuke came in his range, Yoroi punched him in the face. But Sasuke suddenly felt drained. Its like my energy is gone. Sasuke tried again but this time Yoroi touched his shoulder which made Sasuke feel all the more drained. So that's it. He can drain chakra by touching people. He prefers close combat. Damn it! At this rate, I'll lose. Then Sasuke remembered Lee's technique. Heh. I can edit it a little. Sasuke ran forward dodging his hand and then in a flash he came below and gave Yoroi a kick in the chin from below. He flew up and Sasuke came behind him. He turned his body so he could kick Yoroi's side. It wasn't very strong. But then he made his arm crash into his face as he was falling and then finally, Sasuke twisted and gave him a fierce kick in the stomach. He crashed on the ground and went unconscious. Sasuke got up panting and smirked. I won

Everybody had heard about how Sasuke was amazing in a fight and now they all wanted to have a showdown with him. Lee just looked shocked. I can't believe he could do my technique.

Hayate checked over Yoroi and gave the go signal for the medical team.

"Akado Yoroi is unable to continue. The winner is Uchiha Sasuke."

"Yatta! Good job, teme! You better fight me seriously too!"

"I'll beat you easily dobe."

Sasuke then suddenly noticed that Kakashi was back.

"Hey, where's Sakura?"

"Hm? Oh she will be staying at the hospital for some time."

"What? Did anything happen to her?" Asked Naruto worriedly.

"Don't worry Naruto. She will be alright. She just needs rest."

Damn it. She had to go to the hospital? How severe is that stupid mark?

The next match began. It was TenTen vs Temari. Temari had a huge fan that she swung around using her chakra to speed up the wind attacks. TenTen being a weapon's master was at a loss. All her tools were being deflected easily. She even resorted to her final technique that she had been saving but it didn't work. Temari fully opened her fan and blew a large wind attack. TenTen flew upwards and landed on Temari's closed fan. Temari won.

The following match was interesting. It was Shikamaru vs that Kin girl. Shikamaru didn't do much because all her techniques were pretty basic for him. He just thought of a plain simple strategy and won.

Naruto was getting impatient.

"Aw man I wanna fight too! When will my turn come?"

"Shut up, Dobe. Look at the screen."

Naruto saw and found that his name was displayed. It read, 'Uzumaki Naruto vs Inuzuka Kiba'

"Yosha! Time to kick some butt!"

"Don't lose, Dobe"

Naruto just gave Sasuke a nasty look and he went down.

"You ready for the beating of your lifetime, Kiba?" said Naruto proudly

"You wish, idiot."

Hayate began the match. Naruto created some clones but Kiba took them down easily. Then Akamaru and Kiba started running towards Naruto. Akamaru bit Naruto's leg and Kiba punched him. Naruto flew backwards and crashed on the ground. He shakily got up and created more clones. Kiba just smirked.

"That won't work with me idiot. I know who's the real you."

"what? How?

"My nose is 10 times stronger. I can just differentiate your smell since clones don't have any scent."

Damn it. What do I do? Suddenly Kiba told Akamaru to transform. Akamaru transformed into Kiba. Then both of them started spiraling towards Naruto and his clones. They were like a tornado that destroyed everything it touched. They hit the real Naruto and he went down.

"heh. You're all talk."

Suddenly, Naruto threw a smoke bomb attached to the kunai. Smoke filled the area.

"Akamaru! Go catch Naruto!"

Akamaru barked in agreement and ran into the smoke. Kiba heard Naruto scream and smirked victoriously. The smoke cleared and he saw Naruto lying on the ground.

"Come here, Akamaru. Good job"

Suddenly Akamaru bit Kiba. Kiba yelled in pain.

"Akamaru? It's me! Why are you attacking me?!"

And surprisingly, Akamaru spoke.

"You fell for it." And then it turns out Naruto had made a clone and transformed it into Akamaru to attack Kiba.

"What the hell?! Where is Akamaru?"

"Over here." Naruto stood on Kiba's right side holding Akamaru, grinning.

Shit. I'll have to use taijutsu now. its not really my strong suit. Thought Kiba. He took a defense position as Naruto came hurtling towards him. The exchanged blows after blows at great speed. Kiba couldn't keep up with Naruto's speed. He finally got punched in the face which left him dizzy and he fell down.

"Yatta! I won!" exclaimed Naruto

Hayate checked Kiba and saw that he was out cold.

"Inuzuka Kiba is unable to continue. Uzumaki Naruto wins."

Naruto grinned proudly and walked up the stairs only to be stopped by a shy Hinata. Even though she was Kiba's teammate, she really liked Naruto.

"Hey Hinata! What's up?"

Hinata fumbled with words and then just offered him a small box.

"What is this?" Naruto asked as he took it.

I see. Kurenai thought with a smile.

"Accept it Naruto. It's a medicine that heals wounds really fast."

"WOW! That's so cool. Thanks a lot Hinata!"

Hinata just blushed and nodded. And then she went downstairs with the medics to give Kiba the same medicine.

"Nicely done, Naruto." Said Kakashi, smiling.

"Thanks, Kakashi-sensei!"

Sasuke was also impressed by Naruto. He really is the most unpredictable ninja. He thought with a smirk.

Next match was Chouji and Dosu. Dosu won easily by his vibrations with chakra. And then came the match between The Hyuuga. Neji and Hinata were cousins and they had to fight. It was clearly visible that Neji disliked Hinata. He kept insulting her by calling her weak and accusing her for being from the main family while he himself was from the branch family. Naruto got angry and cheered for Hinata. She felt brave when she heard him and then the gentle fist technique style fight began. Neji was clearly winning. In his anger against her for not giving up, he gave her a fatal blow in the chest which made Hinata cough out blood. Neji was about to kill her when Jonin came down and held him back.

Naruto also jumped down and saw Hinata injured and being carried away. He faced Neji and said, "I will take revenge from you for Hinata." Neji just ignored him and went up.

It was time for the last match.