Previously:

SASUKE UCHIHA
VS
YOROI AKADO

'… Right now...' Sasuke thought with a smirk.

'Heh… I didn't even have to beg...' Yoroi thought, also smirking behind his mask.

'No way…!! Why does Sasuke have to…?!!' Sakura thought, upset.

'It may actually be better this way...' April thought grimly. 'If his pain is getting worse, then the sooner he fights, the less he'll have to deal with while he battles, and the sooner we can get him treatment...'

"Now, these two entrants come to the front..." Hayate instructed them, waiting for Sasuke and Yoroi to take their positions in front of him, facing each other. He could tell everyone, including the other genins, was anxious to see this fight. You could cut the tension in the air with a knife. "The two participants in the first fight are Yoroi Akadō and Sasuke Uchiha. Are you ready?" he asked them.

"Yes..." Yoroi answered immediately.

"Yeah..." Sasuke confirmed.

Both entrants were raring to go.

Chapter 62: Opposing Ability!!

'Hehe...' the disguised Orochimaru thought, eager to see how this match-up would turn out.

"..." Kakashi watched Sasuke with a calm expression that belied his concern.

Sasuke and Yoroi glared at each other.

'All I can do is watch… Sasuke-kun...' Sakura thought, worried.

'You'd better keep your promise, Sasuke...' April thought, with a grim expression on her face.

'Sasuke!! If you want to fight me… then you better not lose!!' Naruto thought, furrowing his brow. He wouldn't forgive him if he lost there.

'Sasuke-kun… He seems strange...' Ino thought, also furrowing her brow slightly with concern.

'Is it because of the cursed seal…?' Dosu wondered.

'Good luck, Sasuke-kun!!' Lee thought, clenching his fist.

'This is a chance to watch his abilities,' Neji thought.

Gaara narrowed his eyes, impatient for the battle to start.

"Ugh..." Sasuke winced, ignoring his urge to grab the searing cursed seal. '… The pain isn't subsiding...'

'Hehe… Looks like the cursed seal hurts,' Yoroi thought with a smirk. This was going to be too easy.

"Now… We will be starting the first match," Hayate said, raising one of his hands to gesture to the ledge above them that circled the room. "Will everyone except the participants move to the upper level?"

Everyone began moving to do as he asked, including the jōnins, who came over to join their respective teams.

"Hey!!!! Kakashi-sensei!!!" Naruto shouted, jumping up and down and waving at their teacher when he saw their teacher headed in their direction.

April still wanted to run and hug him, but there was no time for that with her concern for Sasuke. "Come on, let's go so they can get started," she said, placing her hands on her teammates shoulders to guide them toward the stairs.

"But…!!" Sakura said, glancing worriedly at Sasuke.

"The sooner they begin, the less pain he'll have to deal with, and the faster we can get that stubborn idiot help!" April whispered in her ear.

"!" Sakura said, eyes widening slightly when she realized she was right. Sasuke's pain was only getting worse, which meant the longer they waited, the harder it would be for him. "Let's go, Naruto!!!" she said, grabbing his hand to drag him up the stairs as fast as she could.

"S-Sakura-chan!? Eh?!!" Naruto said, confused but still a little happy that she seemed to be holding his hand of her own accord.

'You are such a lucky dog, Naruto-kun!!!' Lee thought when he spotted them. He couldn't help but envy him for his favorable position.

'As usual, she catches on quick...' Kakashi thought, watching April as she climbed the steps on the heels of her more energetic teammates, following them as closely as her tired body would allow without wasting too much energy. "Sasuke..." he said, pausing on his way past him for a quick word.

"!" Sasuke said, wondering what he wanted.

"Listen to April. Don't use the Sharingan," Kakashi instructed him firmly. He couldn't hear everything they had said during their earlier exchange about the mark on Sasuke's neck, but he was able to make most of it out by reading their lips.

"!" Sasuke gasped, surprised. He knew April didn't have the opportunity to tell him anything, so it was a shock to discover that he seemed to have overheard their conversation from that distance. "… So you know..." he said, furrowing his brow.

"If that curse on your neck becomes active, you might lose your life..." Kakashi warned him.

"…!!" The crease in Sasuke's brow deepened. "… Probably..." It was a risk he was willing to take.

"Well, if that happens… I'll jump in and stop the match, got that?" Kakashi stated, walking away before he had the chance to argue.

'!!' Sasuke thought, alarmed. 'Stop it?!' He was even worse than April! "..." he frowned and reached up to touch the mark. 'It seems this cursed seal thing reacts to my chakra… If I try to release my chakra, it steals my mind and begins pulling out all my body's chakra...' Using his chakra would not only cause him immense pain, it could endanger his life. It was similar to the seal they placed on April for the exam that way. Well, thanks to his experience watching how she dealt with it, he knew right away what that meant for him. 'So in this match… not only Sharingan… I can't even use my normal jutsus...'

'Hehe… Unfortunately for you, Yoroi's ability… is the worst possible ability for you, Sasuke-kun...' Orochimaru thought, watching from the upper level with his 'team'.

'Now… What do I do…?' Sasuke wondered, a bead of sweat sliding down his face. Images of April fighting on the first, fourth, and fifth days of the second test flashed in front of his eyes. That's right… With only one exception, April had done all of that without once using her chakra. Taijutsu. That was the answer. 'It's annoying, but I guess I have no choice…' he thought, smirking. If she could fight with a seal preventing her from using chakra, then so could he. 'I won't lose to you… April…!!'

"..." April watched him from above, gripping the bars of the railing tight, while she sat next to Naruto on the edge of the upper level's floor.

Kakashi furrowed his brow slightly as he looked down at him, too.

'Be careful… Sasuke...' they thought, hoping they wouldn't regret their decision to let him fight.

Sakura anxiously clutched her hands together against her chest.

"Now..." Hayate said, once he was sure everyone else was out of harm's way and in no position to offer outside interference. "Please begin."

"Are you ready?" Yoroi asked him, forming his hand seal.

"Yeah," Sasuke replied confidently, assuming a fighting stance.

Yoroi reached into his back pocket, and Sasuke reached for his kunai holster.

Yoroi pulled his hand back, drawing a handful of shuriken, and sending them flying at him in one swift motion.

Gripping his kunai, Sasuke quickly spun around, slicing it along an arched path. "Uraaa!!!" he yelled, deflecting every shuriken, sending them flying back a their owner. He cringed and gritted his teeth, flinching at the new stab of pain he felt from the cursed seal. 'Damn it!!' he cursed when it threw him off balance enough to make him fall. "Ugh!"

While he fell, Yoroi deftly dodged his counterattack by sliding to the side to avoid the spinning shurikens.

"Uuu," Sasuke groaned, struggling against the pain. He was startled when a shadow fell over him. "!!" he exclaimed, rolling over to dodge a powerful blow that punched a hole in the tiled floor. "Uh!!" Sasuke grunted, shielding himself against the debris. He stabbed his kunai into the floor for leverage and locked his opponent's arm between his feet.

April smirked. Sasuke had him now.

"Ugh!" Yoroi grunted in pain as Sasuke twisted and brought him crashing down against the floor, pulling his arm up to bring his head into the perfect position to trap his neck between his ankles. "!!"

"Yes!!!" Naruto cheered, jumping up onto his feet in excitement.

But Yoroi wasn't about to admit defeat, he quickly rotated his wrist to grab Sasuke's chest with his hand.

"!" Sasuke was surprised, and then that surprise turned to horror when the room began to tilt. "!!?" he gasped, alarmed, furrowing his brow in confusion at the sudden wave of fatigue that swept over him. 'Guu… My strength...' he thought, struggling to keep a firm grip on his opponent. "…!!!"

'Sasuke is strange…' April thought, her smile falling when she saw the way his hand began to tremble. 'Is it the pain from that mark…?' She frowned with concern when Yoroi ripped his arm free from Sasuke's feeble grip.

"!?" Sasuke gasped, startled. His whole body was so weak, he couldn't do anything to stop the next attack.

BAMM!

"Gua!!!" Sasuke groaned in pain, bitting his tongue when Yoroi's fist slammed into his chest with enough force to knock him back and loosen his feet. "!" he exclaimed, coughing up blood.

Yoroi quickly took advantage of the opening he created to escape Sasuke's hold and retreat to a safer distance.

'What was that?' Sasuke thought, groaning in pain while he grasped at his aching chest. 'My body's strength suddenly...'

Yoroi smirked at his discomfort and charged at him again.

"Sasuke-kun!!" Sakura yelled earnestly, afraid he wouldn't see the attack in time.

Sasuke flinched and lurched up into a sitting position just in time to see Yoroi's hand coming at his face. "!!" he grunted in pain when his head and back were slammed against the floor again, grabbing his opponent's arm to try to stop him.

"Hehe..." Yoroi laughed as Sasuke's hands loosened their grip on him again.

"What the…!?" April's frown deepened when she saw the way his arms dropped uselessly to the side. 'What is that?' she wondered, furrowing her brow. 'Every time he touches Sasuke… It can't be a coincidence!'

"!!" Kakashi said, a bead of sweat sliding down his face when he realized what was going on. This was bad, very bad.

'Sasuke...' Naruto thought, staring at him in shock. What was happening? Why did he keep letting this guy go?

"You… my chakra..." Sasuke groaned, glaring up at his attacker. He could feel his energy being sucked out through the hand clutching his forehead.

"So you finally noticed..." Yoroi said mockingly. Took him long enough.

'Yes… Yoroi's special ability is to absorb chakra… A wonderful jutsu that allows him to suck out the opponent's physical and spiritual energy just by touching them with his palm...' Orochimaru thought. He wasn't as fast as Biki, but then he didn't want this one killed. 'And when he drains all of your chakra… Sasuke-kun… You'll be forced to rely on my cursed seal...'

"Guaa!!" Sasuke cried.

"!!" April gripped the bars tighter. It looked like that Yoroi guy was only holding his head, but Sasuke's pain was clearly getting worse, and was it her imagination, or was his chakra dropping? 'Now way…!!' she thought, eyes widening with realization.

'Now release it… that beautiful power...' Orochimaru urged him. 'That is your only path for survival.'

"Ugh..." Sasuke groaned.

'He needs to get out of there!' April thought "Sasuke!! Your legs!!" she shouted at him. Even a weak kick could have more leverage than a punch.

Sasuke immediately understood what she meant. He had begun to think the same thing when he noticed his left leg was still in a good position. "Damn… you!!!" Sasuke grunted at Yoroi, kicking him as hard as he could.

"Ah!!" Yoroi groaned as he hit the ground, sliding away. He stopped himself after a few feet. "Hehehe… You guinea pig… You still have power left?"

'Guinea pig…!?' April thought, furrowing her brow. What was that supposed to mean?

'That was close… But if he touches me one more time, I'll be finished...' Sasuke thought, panting and wincing at the pain while he righted himself. 'He will probably try to make this a close contact fight… This is it… What do I do? If only I had something like April's one-inch punch!' With that kind of attack, he could K.O. this jerk in one hit the instant he got too close, before he even had a chance to know what hit him. But he had no idea how she had done it. 'Damn… If only I'd seen it with my Sharingan!!'

"Sasuke Uchiha… This is it…?" Gaara said, disappointed.

'Sasuke-kun...' Lee thought, frowning and furrowing his brow with concern, while he stood next to Naruto, who was gritting his teeth.

'Come on, Sasuke… Think!' April urged him. 'You need attacks that will either guarantee a K.O. or help you keep a healthy distance from that guy's hands...'

"..." Sakura closed her eyes and looked away, unable to bear watching any more.

Naruto saw how upset she was, and his frustration reached its boiling point. "Sasuke!!! Are you really Sasuke Uchiha?!!!" He yelled furiously, startling Lee and Sakura. "Is that the best you can do?!!!"

"!" Sasuke looked up at him in surprise, and his eyes landed on Lee. 'He is…!!' he thought, gasping as he had an epiphany. He remembered the techniques that Lee had hit him with before the exam and how easily April had copied them on the first day of the second test.

April saw the look on Sasuke's face and followed his gaze to Lee. 'Of course…!!' she thought, quickly coming to the same conclusion. If he used that…

"…!!" Hayate furrowed his brow when he saw that Yoroi was getting ready to make his next move. This match was about to end.

"You don't have time for sight seeing!!" Yoroi shouted at Sasuke as he charged again. 'I'll suck up all his chakra!! It's over!!' he thought with sinister glee.

Sasuke immediately turned his attention back to the fight.

Orochimaru smirked.

'…!!' Kakashi furrowed his brow, getting ready to jump in.

'Is this it…?' Hayate thought grimly.

'!!!' Lee thought, startled when he recognized Sasuke's stance, and he flickered with a new burst of speed.

April grinned.

"!!" Yoroi grunted in pain, shocked by the powerful kick Sasuke unleashed, nailing him under his jaw, when he suddenly reappeared right beneath him.

"Yes!!!" April cheered, pumping her fist excitedly as she watched Yoroi Akadō sail high into the air, and Sasuke pushed off from the floor, wasting no time throwing himself up after his opponent.

"!!" Lee gasped, shocked. 'That's my…!!'

'What?!!' Guy thought, furrowing his brows, also startled when he recognized the move.

Kakashi, Ino, Dosu, Shino, and Neji stared at the astonishing scene below, stunned. The corners of Gaara's mouth turned down, while the corners of Orochimaru's turned up into a smirk at the display of raw talent.

"Though, from here I'm going original..." Sasuke said, appearing behind Yoroi with the Leaf Shadow Dance.

"!!!" Yoroi gasped, shocked by how swiftly the tables had been turned on him.