Previously:

"And the guys taking the test right now..." Orochimaru continued to explain to Kakashi.

"When I told you to give up earlier, I ordered them like this: 'Close up those dangerous wind holes with your bodies...'" Shino revealed to Zaku, closing in on him. "This is a true trump card..."

"… Y! You…!" Zaku exclaimed, turning to face him, but he was too late. Shino hit him with a harsh blow that sent him flying.

"Are just… my pawns," Orochimaru concluded with a wicked smirk.

Chapter 64: The One Who Will Die is…!?

Orochimaru took a step forward.

"If you get any closer to Sasuke..." Kakashi said, assuming a fighting stance. "Even though you are one of those Sannin..." He gripped his right arm and activated his Chidori. "Right now, I can at least compete with you..."

"Hehe," Orochimaru laughed.

"..." Kakashi furrowed his brow, filled with an uneasy feeling.

"Hehe… Hahahaha," Orochimaru laughed harder.

"!" The crease in Kakashi's brow deepened, and his sense of unease grew. "What's so funny…?" he asked, narrowing his eyes at him.

"What you do, what you say… It's all off," Orochimaru stated confidently.

"What?" Kakashi asked, frowning.

"That seal you did is meaningless," Orochimaru told him.

"!?" Kakashi said, taken aback.

"You understand… to achieve a goal… the heart that will accept even the most evil power… That is the type he is…" Orochimaru said, looking at Sasuke. "An avenger…"

Kakashi glared at him. "So you are using that… but Sasuke is..."

"He will eventually seek me out. To seek the power," Orochimaru said, turning away. "Also… You were going to kill me…?" he asked Kakashi on his way out, pausing for a moment. He didn't bother to look back. "Why don't you try? If you can, that is..."

Kakashi flinched, his eyes widening in shock as he was overcome by a terrifyingly fierce wave of bloodlust that made him see a vision where his own decapitated head was sent flying. He stood there, panting and dripping with cold sweat, while Orochimaru calmly continued on his way, disappearing from his sight. 'Ugh… Compete with him…? Am I… an idiot…?' Kakashi thought, furrowing his brow at his own foolishness. Just because a few years had passed since their last encounter, he got a little cocky. He was lucky to still be alive.

"Ugh..." Zaku groaned, lying collapsed on the floor with blood dripping from the corner of his mouth and wounded arms, while Hayate kneeled down to examine him.

"It's over… it seems," Hayate said, standing up. Severed arm aside, the sound ninja didn't seem to be in a hurry to get up again.

'I would have thought that was pretty obvious...' April thought, a bead of sweat sliding down her face. She wondered if they would be able to reattach it. In some cases, the medical treatments and technology of this world could be more advanced.

"What is he…? Neji!!" Lee said, glancing questioningly at his teammate.

"..." Neji furrowed his brow and performed the hand seals to activate his dōjutsu. 'Byakugan!!' he thought, taking a good, hard look at Shino. "!!" he gasped. A scan of his anatomy revealed a whole colony of insects moving around inside of him. "What a guy… I can understand summoning bugs, but… Bugs are living throughout his body..."

"What did you say?" Lee asked, just as shocked as April was to hear that.

'In his… body!?' she thought, alarmed. Just thinking about it made her feel sick. 'Such a formidable enemy, that Shino…!'

"He must be a member of the bug using clan of Konoha..." Guy said.

"Bug using clan…?" April asked, looking up at him.

"Yes, I have heard of them..." Neji agreed with his sensei, still observing Shino with his Byakugan. "A clan whose members, at the time of birth, give their body to insects to use as a nest. The clan can freely control the insects and use them as their primary fighting technique… By feeding them their chakra, they have established a contract with the bugs."

'Uwaah!!! I never would have survived in that kind family…!!' April thought, a bead of cold sweat sliding down the back of her neck. To think there was a whole clan of people like that… and all of them were living right there in the village, too! Shino was in her class. How did she not know this?

"So the progeny of that clan… is him," Lee said, looking down at Shino with a bead of sweat sliding down his face.

"Too bad… Zaku," Dosu remarked while the sound team watched the medical ninjas take him away to receive treatment.

"Why did Zaku's arms explode?" Kin asked.

"I see you're stupid as well as ugly," Biki remarked, taking his frustration and boredom out on her. He would have thought the answer was obvious.

"What did you say, bastard?!!" Kin snapped, making a fist at him.

"Stop it, Kin," Dosu said firmly before things had a chance to escalate. "Most likely, that Shino guy… had his insects plug up Zaku's air canals… When he tried to use the Slicing Air under those circumstances, the energy had no where to go as it searched for an exit, and..."

"!" Kin furrowed her brow when she realized where he was going with this.

"Pow! The cannon that was Zaku's arm exploded and blew off!!" Biki concluded, imitating the explosion with his hand.

'I only knew you through working on the same mission...' Dosu thought, staring down at Zaku's unconscious body. 'But… I will get them back for you.'

"Winner, Shino Aburame!!" Hayate declared.

"Whatever, just announce the next match!" Biki muttered impatiently.

'Phew, that was nerve wracking...' Kurenai thought, exhaling the breath that she had been holding.

"What? What?!! Was that Shino guy this strong? Damn it!!" Naruto said, furrowing his brow and gritting his teeth in frustration, while he squinted with confusion.

'I guess he wasn't paying attention to Neji's explanation...' April thought, sweat-dropping.

"I've always thought he was creepy, but..." Sakura said warily as she watched him head for the stairs, a bead of sweat sliding down her face.

"Oh… Shi… Shino-kun… Congratulations..." Hinata said timidly when he reached his teammates.

"Hey, great job," Kiba told him.

"Yeah, I'm counting on you guys, too," Shino replied calmly.

"Ugh," Kiba scowled in annoyance, baring his teeth, while Akamaru let out a little bark. 'He comes back acting like the team leader...'

"Umm… I think we should go to the next match," Hayate said.

"Well, duh…!!" Biki growled impatiently, glancing over at April. He better be matched up with her, and it better be soon.

"!" April and Naruto said when they caught a flicker of movement out the corners of their eyes.

"Kakashi-sensei!!" he exclaimed as they turned their heads to look and saw that their teacher had suddenly reappeared behind them.

"!!" Sakura gasped, turning to look at him, too.

"Yo," Kakashi greeted them calmly, as if he hadn't just endured a dangerous standoff with public enemy number one with Sasuke's life hanging in the balance. He was still surprised that Orochimaru had left so easily. He must have something else up his sleeve.

"What do you mean, 'Yo'?!!" Sakura demanded anxiously. "Kakashi-sensei, how's Sasuke?!! Is he alright?!!"

"Well, he's fine. Sleeping in a hospital bed," Kakashi replied calmly. 'With Anbu protection though...' he added quietly to himself.

"Phew..." Sakura sighed in relief, while April frowned slightly.

"By himself?" the purple-haired girl asked, still concerned. 'Did Sasuke not tell him yet about how he was being targeted?' she wondered.

"Don't worry," Kakashi told her, placing a reassuring hand on her head. "I left him in the hands of some very capable guys..." His eyes shifted to the side when he sensed a sharp spike in killing intent, and he saw that the sound ninja in the muzzle was shooting him a murderous glare. It wasn't anywhere near as potent as Orochimaru's, but it was real, and Kakashi couldn't ignore the fact that its owner belonged to his village. "Who is that?" he asked.

"He's just a pervert. Ignore him. Don't even make eye contact." April replied bluntly with a straight face, not even bothering to spare a glance in the sound ninja's direction, since she had been aware of Biki's unwanted attention from the beginning. She didn't want to waste another second of her time on that creep.

"Pervert…?" Kakashi said, sweat-dropping. What on earth happened while he was gone?

"Ignore who?" Naruto asked, wondering who they were talking about.

"It's that creep we told you about earlier..." Sakura replied, a bead of sweat rolling down the side of her face, while she followed April's advice to avoid looking at him and his strange eyes, remembering their previous encounter with the deviant and the disturbing fixation that he had developed toward her purple-haired teammate.

'That silver-haired bastard is still touching her…!!!' Biki thought with a vein throbbing on his head, clenching his fist in anger. He was about to throw caution to the wind and go for the throat, when fate intervened.

"Oh!!" Naruto gasped when he saw the names that had just popped up on the sign board. "It's April!!!"

"!!" April and Sakura gasped when they saw the name that was under hers.

APRIL STARR
VS
BIKI KOMAKU

"Yes!!" Biki cheered gleefully, hopping straight over the railing despite the height to get to the lower level as fast as possible, landing perfectly on his feet. He was excited to finally have another shot at her and filled to the brim with chakra after having his exam seal released, since he didn't have a mysterious organ to drain it.

'Ugh… Not this bastard again...' April thought, suddenly losing all enthusiasm for the fight. He seriously made her skin crawl. She would almost rather face Shino and his bugs.

'Eww…!! Why did it have to be him!?' Sakura wondered, grimacing sympathetically on her teammate's behalf.

"Damn it..." April muttered under her breath, dragging her feet as she headed for the stairs.

"..." Kakashi frowned while he watched her. "Did something happen between the two of them…?" he asked the others.

"Yeah…" Sakura said, furrowing her brow with concern, gripping the railing. "I'm not sure why, but… for some reason, when we fought the sound ninjas... that guy kept targeting only April. He's obsessed with killing her!"

"!!" Kakashi and Naruto said, disturbed.

"Th… That's the guy?!!" Naruto asked, gritting his teeth in anger while he glared down at Biki.

'Damn…!!' Kakashi thought, furrowing his brow with concern. 'She's managed to attract the worst kind of attention...' And to make matters worse, compared to her homicidal opponent, April looked like she was already running on empty. If things got too dangerous, he might have to intervene.

"..." Dosu stared down at his psychopathic teammate, hoping he wouldn't do anything to drag the rest of them down with him.

"This is the best!!" Biki said, smirking deviously behind his mask while he faced April. "I was worried we might not get to fight again right away, but now I've got the perfect chance to finish what we've started. Would you prefer with tongue or without this time?"

"Neither," April answered automatically, glaring coldly at him for even mentioning it, especially with Kakashi watching.

'Huh…?' Kakashi thought, thinking he must have misheard. 'What was that about tongue just now?'

"Ugh!! Don't tell me he's going to try to kiss her again…!?" Tenten said, horrified for the other girl.

"!?" Kakashi said as his eyes widened, startled.

"K… K… Kissss!?!!" Naruto exclaimed, blushing and glancing frantically between April, Biki, and the girls for an explanation. "What the hell were you guys doing while I was out?!!" he demanded incredulously, shouting out Kakashi's own unvoiced concerns.

"It's not what you're thinking!!!" Sakura corrected him, giving him a good whack on his head to get his mind out of the gutter. "That guy drains chakra from his victims through the mouth!! April fought really hard to stop him, but he wouldn't take the hint!! He's harassing her!! That's why we said he was a pervert!"

"I see..." Kakashi said evenly, with his brow furrowed and his face cast partially in shadow, the crease in his brow deepening. There was a dark look in his eyes as he stared down at the dead man walking.

'… Eh?' Sakura thought, feeling a slight chill when she saw how angry he was, despite his relatively calm facade. 'Don't tell me, Kakashi-sensei is actually…?'

"Did… Did April-san lose against him?" Lee asked, also frowning and furrowing his brow. That smart and strong April-san?

"He got her, but only because she was already on the verge of collapsing..." Neji replied.

"She was barely conscious, but she jumped in to save us anyway..." Sakura added, clenching her fists. "She was the only one of us who could do anything against him."

"..." The crease in Kakashi's brow deepened again. 'Be careful… April…!!'

"Grrr…" Naruto growled, clenching his fists in anger and frustration on his friend's behalf. "Go!!! April!!! Kick his ass!!!!" he cheered as loud as his lungs would let him.

"!" April smiled and raised her hand in his direction to let him know she heard. She fully intended to.

Biki frowned in annoyance, irritated that she had gone back to keeping her eyes on the floor after the quick glare she sent him. "You… You think you're safe, because you can avoid my eyes, right…?" he asked her, his lips curling up into another wicked smirk. "But that was only because I had that stupid exam seal on me… My real power is in my voice. As soon as this muzzle comes off, you'll be mine. Forever."

"What are you going to do, talk me to death?" April asked, frowning.

"Something like that," he replied coolly. "You know, even with all of those scratches you're going to make a beautiful corpse. My best yet."

Kakashi narrowed his eyes at him. There was no way he was letting that happen.

"?!!" Dosu and Kin gasped in alarm while their eyes widened with fear when they realized his intention.

"We will now start the third match," Hayate announced, taking a step back. "You can begin," he told the two participants.

"Wait!! Stop!!!" Dosu shouted desperately when Biki reached up to undo the straps on his muzzle. "Idiot!!! If you use that here, everyone will be—!!!!"

THUD.

"?!!" He and everyone else gasped when Biki's body suddenly hit the ground, and the April that they had been looking at flickered out of existence only a couple of seconds after another April had appeared a few feet behind him in a half kneeling position.

"Then…" April said calmly, panting a little, while she stayed down to catch her breath. "I'll be fine… as long as you can't talk... right?" After hearing him brag about his voice, she knew immediately that she had to silence him. So, the instant the referee gave them permission to start, she had focused her chakra in her legs and launched herself at him with such immense speed and velocity that it had left behind an after image, and while Biki and the others were still focused on that, she was already hitting his throat with a mean straight punch to crush it. It was an instant K.O., but she didn't want to take any chances, so she had followed that first blow up with a strong chop to the back of his neck, just to be sure he wouldn't be able to get back up. It served the pervert right. He should know better than to brag about his techniques before he'd even had a chance to use them. He was a ninja, not a Bond villain.

'So that's how she decided to handle it…' Kakashi thought. It looked like he was worried for nothing. He could barely catch a glimpse of her while it was happening, but it was pretty obvious what she had done looking at her opponent afterwards. 'She's gotten faster again.' He wished he had used his Sharingan to watch, but she didn't even give him the chance to reach for his forehead protector.

'That girl… I couldn't see a thing…!' Guy thought, a bead of sweat sliding down his face. It was over in the space of a heartbeat, with only a minor amount of chakra to aid her. He glanced sideways at his rival and saw how unsurprised he was. 'Kakashi… What are you teaching these kids?'

"..." Hayate stared at the scene before him, stunned. Slowly, he walked over to kneel down and check Biki's vitals. He was still alive, but he was barely breathing. With the damage she did to his throat, Biki Komaku was going to need an artificial breathing tube to continue.

'That speed is dangerous...' Neji thought, furrowing his brow slightly. She might even be harder to read than Lee.

'April-san...' Lee thought, staring down at her with a serious expression. First Sasuke, and now her. So many formidable opponents were appearing!

'That attack was completely unreadable!' Shikamaru thought, frowning and furrowing his brow. She was like a totally different person compared to the last time those two fought.

"See… I told you her taijutsu could be scary..." Ino said with the hint of a tense smile, a bead of sweat sliding down the side of her face.

'Even in that condition…' Anko thought, impressed, recognizing her from their brief encounter before the second test.

"It's over… The winner is April Starr!!" Hayate announced, officially bringing the match to an end.

The Hokage smirked while he smoked his pipe. 'If I'm not mistaken… She just set a new record for 'shortest match',' he thought, amused. It would have been even shorter if Hayate hadn't hesitated. 'To think that she could come so far after only a year…' She had been quick, quiet, and efficient. Just as a ninja should be.

April let out a sigh of relief after hearing that her turn was definitely over. "!" She tried to stand, but stumbled when she was hit by a wave of fatigue. "!!" she said, quickly fighting to suppress the blush that threatened to show on her cheeks when Kakashi appeared by her side in time to catch her, and she ended up leaning against him with his arm around her shoulders to hold her steady.

"Looks like you overdid it," he remarked with a small smile.

"Ah, yeah..." she admitted a bit sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck. "It seemed dangerous, so I ended up putting all of my remaining energy into ending it with one attack..."

'No…!! It really was dangerous…!!!' Dosu thought, dripping with sweat and still gripping the railing like his life depended on it. That was close, far too close. With Biki's complete lack of regard for human life, there was no telling what he would have done. He had certainly made it clear that he didn't give damn about what happened to the rest of them as long as he could get his prey. When Biki infused his voice with his chakra, it would echo until it filled the entire room, and took on a hypnotic quality so strong that it was impossible to resist. If he had given the order 'kill yourself', even if only one person had been his original target, everyone present would have slit their own throat without hesitation. 'No one else seems to have realized, but… that girl… when she knocked Biki out before he could speak, she probably saved the lives of every single person here!!'

"Can you still walk?" Kakashi asked her.

"I think so, but… I'd prefer to be carried…" April answered wryly with a tired smile, only half serious. "Just Kid… ding?" she said, taken aback when he actually picked her up to carry her back. It was a short ride with his speed, but despite her surprise and dire attempts to keep a straight and blush-free face, she still managed to take advantage of the moment to put her arms around his neck while she held onto him.

'Heh…?' Asuma mused while he observed them, smirking. 'It's rare for Kakashi to spoil someone...' He hadn't missed that harsh glare and barely contained anger when the others mentioned how she had been harassed, either. Well, that would make anyone mad, actually. He would have been tempted to punt the creep's head in, too, if he had messed with one of his students. But for Kakashi to actually show it… He didn't really think there was anything going on there, since she was just a kid, but he was tempted to tease him mercilessly about it later.

"Welcome back, April-chan!" Sakura greeted her teammate with fish-eating grin when Kakashi returned with her and set her down gently so she could reclaim her seat on the floor. "Good for you!" she added with a knowing look that let April know the comment had nothing to do with the match, making her feel like blushing again.

"Yeah, thanks..." April said with a somewhat nervous smile, hoping no one else had noticed. Fortunately, they had all been distracted by Kiba's sudden outburst.

"W… What?!! What was that?!!" Kiba demanded abruptly as soon as he recovered from the shock.

"Yeah!! Yeah!! That was short!!! Way too short!!!" Naruto complained, clearly disappointed with the way he was frowning and pointing his finger at her accusingly. "How come you ended it so soon?!! You should have tried to make it look cooler!!!!" He was used to her showing off her speed during their regular sparring together. He would have rather seen her do her one-inch punch again or something like that.

April sweat-dropped. What exactly had he been expecting from her? She won, didn't she?

'No, it was already enough to stun everyone into complete silence...' Kakashi thought, also sweat-dropping. Even Naruto had shut up for a moment. Didn't he understand how impressive that attack was?

"No… That wasn't really what I meant..." Kiba said, joining the sweat-drop brigade. "I mean… Were you always that fast!? What did you do to him?" he asked April, frowning in confusion along with Akamaru, who stared at her with big, sad eyes until she crumbled.

"… All I did was give him a quick throat punch to crush his vocal chords and a blow to the back of his head to knock him out in case that wasn't enough..." she replied reluctantly, unable to resist the puppy's pout. "I was tired, and he pissed me off, so I didn't want to waste any more time on him," she added, glancing back at Naruto and narrowing her eyes to let him know she didn't want to talk about it anymore. Plus, unlike these two chuckleheads, she hadn't wanted to reveal too many of her techniques to future opponents before the finals.

'Sc… Scary...' Kiba and Naruto thought with nervous beads of sweat sliding down the sides of their faces. She had talked about destroying the guy in the same tone most people used to talk about the weather, and there had been zero mercy in her eyes. Not that Naruto could blame her after everything the creep had done to her… But he still thought April was scary when she was angry.

'Well, he deserved everything he got...' Kakashi and Sakura thought, also feeling zero mercy for the homicidal pervert because of his continuous efforts to sexually harass April, not to mention his threats to kill her. They were glad April K.O.'d him.

"Umm..." Hayate said once the Medical Team had finished taking Biki away, getting their attention. "Now… for the next match..."

Everyone looked up at the signboard to see who the net participants would be.

MISUMI TSURUGI
VS
KANKURO