DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto

Chapter Three

Pain and Gain

Part 1: Stronger

It was that time of the month. You know, a girl's special time—a time when they should be treated like queen and be free to lash out at any approaching male and not getting crappy missions or caught in awkward silent war between two puberty stricken boys. Their egos—I can no longer stand it.

"Hey guys…"

"Hn?", "Yes, Sakura-chan?"—glaring contest—refusing to meet the eyes.

I sighed. "Guys, I'm at that time of the month, so can you please," for the love of this village "just go back to normal? Just…repress those hormones, okay?"

"I would Sakura-chan, if teme stop being a stuck up prick!"

"You're annoying, dope."

"TEME!"

"DOPE!"

"TEME!"

"DOPE!"

"TEM—" "KAKA-SENSEI, YOU CAME!" I jump-hug him.

"Maa, it seems like teamwork is suffering these days." You don't say…

That morning we did some pretty icky missions and then Kaka-sensei left us. Sasuke too. After he left, me and Naruto are joined by this pretty weird rock. "What kind of rock is square with two holes! I see right through that!"

Turns out it is Konohamaru—Sandaime Hokage's grandson—and his cronies, all whom refers to Naruto as leader. They asked Naruto to play ninja with them. I figured it is best if I leave. I didn't want to know how someone can 'play' being a ninja… and not to mention; I absolutely must go and see Ino. She'll give me hell if I waited longer than this to show up.

I met team ten at Yakiniku Q. Ino is absolutely pissed at me.

"Sakura! You! You ran off with Sasuke-kun for a whole month—and I don't worry about you but Sasuke-kun's better be safe!"

—insert dramatic pose—"Ino, how could you?! My heart's breaking!"

"You better regret it! I was already going to drag these two and come and save Sasuke-kun, in case you snapped and kidnapped him!"

"Ah, Ino, me and Sasuke-kun are eloping, surely you can understand!"

"You monster!" She glomp at me and I hug her back.

"You pig!"

"Troublesome women."

I finally managed to release all the female woes with Ino—and Shikamaru and Choji, too, because they're so much better at handling teenage girls than Kakashi, Naruto and Sasuke combined.

Talking with Ino does ease off some of my raging hormones—but then that Kakashi suddenly made us enter the chuunin exam—didn't he know how uncomfortable it is fighting in this condition?!

And then at the designated building there's this green spandex freak who suddenly ask me out.

I muster my most frightening glare. "Don't be ridiculous, my boyfriend will be mad hearing that. He's more powerful than all of you."—let's pretend it's Kakashi, though, no let's just pretend it's Ino's sensei.

I glare at Naruto and Sasuke's shocked and questioning stare. "Shut up. Let's go to the third floor."

I grabbed both of their hands and flee—but the green spandex guy caught up to us and challenged Sasuke for a fight—can't it wait until after the chuunin exam?!

"My name's Rock Lee. I want to fight you, Uchiha Sasuke…I want to test my techniques against the famous ninja clan."

"Plus," he looked at me and blink—oh my bad, it's supposed to be a wink—can't tell at all—and he make this disturbing smooching move and dare compliment me, "you're an angel," and sent this ridiculous pink heart right my way—highly poisonous, no doubt, flee at sight.

Sasuke look unperturbed by the weird thing though. "Challenging me knowing the Uchiha name, you're a fool…you're about to learn what this name means, thick brows."

Rock Lee smirked, "please."

Sasuke and Rock Lee ready their stance, but Naruto has had enough of being ignored apparently—between thick brows wishing to fight Sasuke and sending his love to me.

"Hey Sasuke, I'll take care of thick brows!" he proclaimed.

Before Sasuke can deny, Rock Lee reject him, "who I wish to fight is not you,"—big blow to Naruto's ego—"It's Uchiha."

Naruto lunged forward anyway. "Damn It! I'm sick of hearing about Sasuke!"

Rock Lee is unexpectedly strong…he wiped the floor with Naruto.

"I'll say this…you guys cannot defeat me."

"Because right now…I am the strongest leaf genin."—is there any test to get that title or is it self-proclaimed?

"Tch. Sounds fun, I guess I'll do it." Sasuke smirked.

"Guys, we only have thirty minutes, and who knows what kind of test…"

"I'll be done in five minutes."—sounds cocky, but Sasuke's stronger than me, so I am in no way to judge…

Turns out, Rock Lee is—maybe—about ten times faster than Sasuke—I totally have to ask what kind of training he went through—or the foods he eats… because it's really shocking and incredible that Rock Lee managed to kick Sasuke in the face—Ino's gonna be so mad—even though he's using Sharingan—is Sharingan not that incredible or is it because Sasuke's not yet Kakashi-sensei's level in his proficiency in using the dojutsu?

I ran to Sasuke's side—for a second debating whether to ask him if he's alright, but I think he'll be pissed at that—but then Rock Lee is already behind him, about to do the finishing blow—I slide on my back, planning to just smash him square with my body—ugh, I hope he's won't enjoy it—good thing he dodged it—at least he's away from Sasuke.

"That's enough Lee!"

I looked up and saw a giant funny looking turtle—I move a little beside Sasuke, feeling a bit creepy about Rock Lee and the giant turtle conversation.

Naruto also went beside me, his expression puzzled. Sasuke also have this incredulous expression on his face. He must be thinking how the hell he loses to weirdos…

Somehow, a crazier, creepier adult version of Rock Lee appeared in a puff of smoke atop the turtle.

Now, I'm not usually have that very bad opinion about people's style, because I'm kind of individualistic but somehow that choice of attire and his pose—playboy magazine's busty model incredulous alluring pose—are almost impossible not to question.

What kind of chemicals went to his brain?

Like his appearance is not enough weird—he punched Rock Lee hard in the face—I thought he's his sensei? Is it how he discipline him?—and then they procced to cry and smothered each other with hugs and romantic words—which ended in the weird adult declaring Rock Lee's punishment for starting a fight and almost disobeying his rule as to run five hundred laps around the practice range—Rock Lee agreed to it ecstatically.

"What's that turtle?!" Naruto asked—this seems to divert the Rock Lee's sensei's attention to us.

"Hey you guys! How's Kakashi doing?"

"You know Kakashi?" I can't help it.

"Know him?" he laughed a creepy satisfied laugh.

A couple of seconds passed, Rock Lee's sensei is still standing—and then suddenly he disappeared.

"People refer to us as 'Eternal Rivals'" He appeared behind us.

"Fifty wins, forty nine losses."

He winked, flashed us a smile—with shiny teeth and all—and does a thumb up at us.

"I'm stronger than Kakashi."

I don't feel all that frightened, somehow—even though it may be true that this guy's stronger than Kakashi, but it's not like Kakashi's the strongest ninja—it only make me feel stupidly discouraged, because he and Kakashi and Haku and Zabuza all speak to my nonexistent skill.

"Sasuke-kun, the truth is I came here to test my abilities."

"I lied before—most likely, the strongest leaf genin is on my team…I've entered this to defeat him, and you're also one of my targets."

He jumped away. "Be prepared during the exam!"

Sasuke looked really taken at that…

"Hey, let's just ask Kakashi—"

"The Uchiha name ain't worth much these days." Highly sensitive approach, Naruto…

"You saw his hand, too…"

"That thick-brow must have trained really hard every day…more than you. That's all it is." Naruto's trying to cheer Sasuke…I guess boys have that unseeming connection about these things…well, it's not like I've tried to understand them…maybe—maybe I'm the one who lacked sensitivity after all.

I mean I knew Sasuke's the sole survivor to a traumatic massacre and Naruto's been ostracized for as long as I know him…but I never reach out.

"Naruto, you too train hard in this chuunin exam." I offer both of them a smile.

Sasuke smirked. "Yeah, this thing is getting fun, this chuunin exam."

"You guys ready? Naruto, Sakura."

"Hell yeah!"

Part 2: First Test

"Sasuke-kun," Ino glomp at Sasuke's back, "you're late!" she said cheekily and got off.

"Sakura, you better not be holding him back!" She grinned.

"Like hell I would, Ino-pig!" We did a high five; I knew Shikamaru will say it—

"Troublesome."—there it is!

We were joined by team ten and eight—consists of Inuzuka Kiba, Hyuga Hinata and Aburame Shino—and I was suddenly aware that they're all from clans, safe for Naruto and I—is it because of that that we're being put on a team with Sasuke?

I was worrying if I'm really credible to join in the exam and if I'm actually the weakest ninja in the whole room as a grey-haired guy named Yakushi Kabuto shows around his nin info card.

"Do you have cards with info on individuals?" Sasuke asked.

"Of course, even though it isn't perfect—I even have info on you guys."

"Gaara of Sunagakure and Rock Lee from Konoha."

"Ok, first is Rock Lee, a year older than you. Completed twenty D-rank and twelve C-rank. His sensei is Guy. His taijutsu is great, but the rest is nothing impressive. On his team are Hyuga Neji and Ten ten. Next is Gaara of Sand. Mission history: eight C-rank and one B-rank—impressive for a genin—and he seems to have returned from all of his missions without even a scratch."

This isn't going to be easy, but this exam is a good place for gaining experience, and I can't back down without Sasuke and even Naruto killing me, anyway…

And it turns out the first test is written exam—which is totally advantageous for me.

And then scary proctor—Ibiki Morino—announced that it's not individual, but a team's test—which is totally not good. I'm on the same team with Naruto!

One wrong and one point will be subtracted and caught cheating two points will be subtracted…I hope Naruto's okay with it.

But why didn't they just disqualify cheaters? This is a big test for determining which of us will be promoted to chuunin, surely if what's the proctor said is true, they wouldn't want cheaters to gain promotion, right? But they only subtracted two points instead of failing them on the spot, why is that?

It's really suspicious—and the questions are crazy…they are complicated and requires a high amount of by the book knowledge and experience. With Naruto and Sasuke—both of whom are not a book smart person, whatsoever—this will be impossible. Plus, as rookies, we're not that experienced. And say, if they only allow ten out of fifty one teams to pass, then each individual have to score a high point…being ninja is not all about these questions—this is a system that encourages cheating, no doubt. Hopefully Sasuke and Naruto realize this.

I did all nine questions—the tenth will be announced by the proctor—I'm one of the rare book smart nerd—I know I will be one of the prize for cheaters and I hope Sasuke or Naruto will be smart enough and benefited from it—like Ino just now—that sly girl, good thing you got that mind jutsu on your back.

"Ok, now, we will begin the tenth question," said the proctor.

"There are two additional rules to this question."

"One, if a person decided not to take the tenth question, that person and the rest of the team will be disqualified but they can try again next year and second, if you decided to take the tenth question and answer it incorrectly, then you are forbidden to ever take the chuunin exam again."

I know I should just trust Naruto and Sasuke…but I'm totally not confident about Naruto… He always said he wanted to be a ninja, and Hokage, but if he's a genin forever…

Should I give up, after all?

But, then what?

Shit, that's Naruto raising his hand—I don't know if I should be relieved or worry—and jammed it back to his desk.

"DON'T UNDERESTIMATE ME!"

"I'LL TAKE IT! Even if I'm genin forever! I'll will myself to becoming Hokage anyway, so I don't care! I'm not afraid!"

He startled me.

Yeah, he's that kind of idiot. I'm so proud of him.

Part 3: The Forest of Death

"Welcome to the stage for the second test, practice arena forty-four." Mitarashi Anko, our second test proctor announced.

"Also known as 'The Forest of Death'"

The second test is a free battle and survival test. We get inside the forest—where lurks creatures and dangerous ninjas alike—and fight to get two type of scroll—"Heaven" and "Earth"—one scroll, in our case Heaven scroll—Sasuke got it—already in our possession—then we protect it until we get to the center tower before five days passed.

After getting inside the forest and running for a while, Naruto went to piss.

And a rain ninja came disguising as Naruto.

I pinned him down, kunai on his throat. "Amateur."

I jaw punched him—knocking him out—and turned to Sasuke. "What should we do with him?"

He takes a while before replying, "Tie him. Let's look for Naruto."

"I'm here!" Naruto came running at us.

Sasuke created a password, just in case we got separated and things like this happened again. The password is kind of too long for Naruto to remember but before I can say anything, there's an explosion from behind and we all move away.

Sasuke came to me and I ask him the password which he answers correctly and then Naruto came and he also recite the password, it hasn't been too long, I think, but Sasuke attacks him. And it turns out he's the long-tongued grass ninja who gives me a creepy impression from the start of the exam.

He—or she—swallows their own Earth scroll and attacks in a motion I can't catch with my eyes and suddenly a kunai have embedded itself into my frontal skull. I feel neither pain nor shock, just a blinding fear.

Suddenly Sasuke whisked me away in his arms, no kunai on my head or his.

I get a chance to calm myself down while Sasuke seems rigid and on watch, he continues to look behind the tree where we're hiding.

I touched his hands. "Snake."

We both jumped away as a big snake lunged to eat us. The snake aim for Sasuke and he killed him—and the grass-nin came out of the snake.

Shurikens are fired to the snake-nin from behind me. I turned.

"Sorry guys, I forgot the password." I feel glad—it's Naruto—but Sasuke seems getting more panic by the minute.

He turned off his Sharingan and said words that I thought he will never say.

"I will give you the scroll…please, take it and leave us."

"WHAT?! Sasuke what the hell are you talking about?! Why would you give the scroll to the enemy?!"

Sasuke pay no heed to Naruto's question. He tossed our scroll to the grass ninja—but Naruto intercept and punched Sasuke in the face. I went and catch Sasuke.

"I forgot the password so I can't test it…but you're Sasuke's fake aren't you!?"

"Sasuke…"

"You moron! I'm the real Sasuke!"

"LIAR! There's no way such a stupid coward like you is the Sasuke I know!"

The grass ninja made a move and—it's stupid and suicidal—I lunged at him, chakra strings in all ten fingers firing shurikens.

"NO! SAKURA, GET AWAY!"

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

I got away in time before the giant snake summon blast me off with its head.

"NARUTO!" I heard Sasuke screamed.

I turned around, Naruto's falling and the grass ninja command its snake. "Go ahead and eat him."

I tried using my chakra thread to retrieve Naruto, but it died as Naruto release a great surge of angry chakra. He managed to get away from the snake with a huge amount of power—the grass ninja attack him using—my guess, a poisonous gas—and Naruto fell.

The grass nin lunged for Sasuke this time and without thinking, I placed myself in front of him, kunai blade at hand and I release my chakra, ready to fire every weapon I've got once the snake opened its mouth—only on the last moment, Naruto stop the snake with only his body. "Naruto!"

Naruto got lift by the grass nin. "So the Kyuubi brat is still alive?" Before I can act, he slammed his palm in Naruto's stomach and threw him down.

I retrieve him this time—though it doesn't cease my worry. I checked his pulse—at least he's alive.

The snake lunged at us again and this time I got its eyes and I made them mad.

"YOU! I'll kill you first!" the grass nin got off the snake and Naruto's heavy on my back, I wouldn't be able to dodge him in time.

I DIDN'T WANT TO DIE.

I prepared my chakra arena and Sasuke saved me.

He battled the grass nin the way he always did. Planned but fearless. He uses the Sharingan effectively, making traps and aiming right from places I couldn't think. He uses the fire jutsu and I thought it burned the grass nin face—but he changed face, right as he's looking at us.

"My name's Orochimaru. If you want to see me again, then survive and pass this exam…"

His head lunged at Sasuke fast, his neck sweeping through the ten meters distance. I threw Naruto to the ground but I still couldn't stop him.

Sasuke's on his feet and I saw three-fold tomoe mark on his neck where Orochimaru bit him.

I watched him let out a long-suffering howl—wishing with all my heart I knew some healing ninjutsu—I grabbed both of his hands and he squeeze them hard it hurts—and then he blacked out.

I tear my shirt hem and use it to attach Naruto to my back. Then I picked Sasuke and search for a hiding place. I gather food and eat to replenish my chakra and then I set up traps. I had three short sleeps while sitting, all the while holding Naruto and Sasuke's hands as if to give me strength.

The third time I woke up, I noticed three foreign chakra from a few meters away. They're enemies. Everyone's an enemy right now.

I fired off kunai at them and they all move away. "Heh, girl, kiss your Sasuke awake, we want to fight him," said the one on the middle.

I stand my ground, feeling bigger than anything, my voice shake as I said intensely, "whether it's you three or that Orochimaru guy, if you want to take my teammate, you'd have to see me dead first." It pissed them.

"Let's kill the girl!" They lunged and I set off my first trap—a giant tree lodge from above—they destroy it in pieces with unknown force but it sets off my explosive tags. It caught them off guard.

"Shit!" They scattered away and the girl got caught in one of my trap hole.

I braced myself in a millisecond and using my long ranged chakra string, embedded a kunai with an explosive tag to the girl's head.

"Kin! Get back here!"

I didn't take my eyes off the guy in front of me as the other one ran to the hole.

"Zaku, don't go there!"—Zaku stopped, I attach my chakra string and pushed him into the hole and detonate the tag.

"Looks like you're quite a planner; I couldn't even sense the traps. But I see now…these mine fields is coated with your chakra."

"Zaku, do it!"

"What?!" I thought he's dead—he must've use a substitution jutsu.

Zaku slammed his hands to the ground and—I feel it with my chakra—racked and soften the ground, setting off all the traps I've laid inside.

I pulled back to protect myself from some of the explosions. The dust obscuring my vision. If I grabbed Naruto and Sasuke and ran for it—no time for that though, because suddenly Zaku appeared in front of me—I jumped back reflectively, firing shurikens but he blast it off using air pressure on his hands—the one he used detonating all my traps.

I feel a hard blow to my back, the shock came first and the blood from my mouth and then the pain. He kicked me down again and I fell, my whole front body colliding with the ground hard. I try to get up fast despite the pain, and the guy from behind tread on my right leg hard. I feel the crack of my skull and I screamed, tears already in my eyes.

I almost faint from the pain—but out of the corner of my eyes I saw Zaku heading for Sasuke. I gritted my teeth, sending more force to the chakra string and caught Zaku's hand, pulling him back to a tree hard.

"You're not easy to kill, are you?" and I was certain he'd kill me, if not for Rock Lee kicking him away.

I crawled away, experiencing more pain than I ever remember in my two lifetimes.

"Sakura-san, I'm sorry to come so late!"

I can barely groan a reply. "It's…o—kay," I managed to breathe out. I have trouble focusing my vision because of the pain. I've got trouble even to calm my breathing. My chakra nearly completely drained because of the mine field and my heart ached for the safety of facing Sasuke and Naruto's back. I started to cry but I stopped it. I wouldn't forgive myself for being weak.

I managed a sitting position—with tree root supporting my back, and trying to regain my focus. All still looked blurry but I can see that Lee's in trouble. He seemed to be in pain and his right ear is streaming blood.

Zaku's making his way towards me—towards Sasuke and Naruto—while behind him, Lee slumped into the ground after letting out a painful scream.

My heart sank into the ground—and then in front of me, stood Shikamaru and Choji, their backs facing me.

I turned and Ino's beside me, her face crumpling as she holds back tears.

Shikamaru have the guy who beats Lee by his shadow and Choji is fighting Zaku, only Zaku's more powerful and Choji have to pull back—during this time, Lee's team, Hyuga Neji and Ten ten came out and a surge of dark chakra is emitting from my behind.

I couldn't turn my body but Ino can. "Sasuke-kun, you're…awake."

I looked up to my left and saw Sasuke, covered by dark marks all from his left hands all the way to his neck.

"Sakura…who… did that to you?"

"Sa—Sasuke…"

"Who is it?" He demanded.

"It was me!" Zaku boasted.

Sasuke bared his teeth and the marks expanding. I looked at him, feeling actually frightened at him for the first time.

Suddenly I was whisked away to the clearing, Naruto's sleeping beside me and seconds later, Ino and Shikamaru holding Choji went beside me.

Sasuke fights unreasonably faster and stronger than before and I knew it was the marks, the blasted three fold tomoe mark from where Orochimaru bit him.

He easily breaks both of Zaku's arms and is stalking closer to the only guy left, an evil smile stretching across his mouth. Crazy is on his face.

I screamed his name, limping into him and hold him from behind.

"Stop…please…"

Maybe it's because I screamed his name or maybe it's because I fell into him after that, but he stopped and the marks subsided.

I see black after that.

Part 4: Preliminary

I woke up feeling so much better but confused.

For one, I woke up on a bed, my clothes have changed to a rather boyish one and there's no one in the room. I examine my leg and there are no bruises so I jumped off the bed, making my way outside.

A blur of orange and purple and Naruto and Ino crashed into me and proceed to declare that they wouldn't let me go for the remainder of the day—it's the fourth day, by the way, so I've been unconscious for two days, I feel so weak—Naruto fill me up on the details after I blacked out—both Sasuke and Naruto take turn to piggyback me, and they got help from the Kabuto guy and they hurried their asses off to get the scroll and get to the tower so I can receive medical attention.

"That's good; your legs are fine now…you've got a really nasty bruise two days ago, and I keep panicking and Sasuke's worrying whether they got infected." Naruto said after Ino's gone.

Naruto smile sadly. "I keep thinking what if you can't ever walk again and it's all our fault for leaving you alone…"

He looked at me seriously. "Don't ever blacked out on us again, Sakura-chan."

I feel a twinge of guilt; suddenly I realize how lonely Naruto is.

"I won't, hopefully." I managed a weak smile.

I asked him where Sasuke is.

"Sasuke's with Kakashi-sensei." A minimum tinge of jealousy in his tone, "Haven't seen him since yesterday night after we got here—oh there he is! Teme!" Naruto waved his hands.

I hear his footsteps and turned back. "Hey, thanks for getting me here, Naruto too."

He seemed tired but he managed the usual cocky smirk. "So you've wake up? Your leg's fine?"

"Yeah, nothing I can't handle."

I grabbed both of their hands. "Come on, you two, I've got to know how you managed to survive each other. Something steamy must've happened."

I laughed looking at their expression.

The next day we are all assembled in front of the Hokage and all jounin instructors—I waved at Kaka-sensei and he smiled his usual smile. Beside him is Gai. I suppose they are rivals after all.

We were told about the purposes of the chuunin exam by the Hokage and it was then I realize; I've made my first kill. I don't even know her name, but she's not here, and so the rest of her team; Zaku and the other boy.

For a second, I feel a powerful urge to throw up. Sasuke seems to realize this but he didn't say a word, his hands unclenching and made its way to mine. I feel sick and horrible. I need reassurance from Kakashi-sensei or any respected adults—I did it to protect my teammates, it's self-defense, it's a mistake—but it's not—and I knew hearing them would be pointless, nothing can un-done it, and they wouldn't give me anything that can make me feel less dirty. They will give me nothing but the truth—it isn't necessary, I should just man up and swallow it now.

I told Sasuke that I'm okay and he lets go.

Our referee, Gekko Hayate explain the rules of this preliminary, which purpose is to lessen the participants for the real third test, for the fear the tournament will take too long for the spectators. The eight winner of this preliminary round will advance to the final a month from now.

Also, this extra round is a one on one battle, no rules, and it continues until one is dead, knocked out, or admits defeat.

They made it seems like killing is normal…and I knew that being a ninja is like that, but I guess I've been living as Camilla, the normal school girl longer than I've been Haruno Sakura, the ninja of Konohagakure.

The proctor presents to us an electric board that will announce the two names that will be fighting against each other.

I crossed my fingers, wishing for luck, but even then I already have that sinking feeling, like a disaster sixth sense, as Gekko Hayate call out my name.

"The two participants in the first fight are Haruno Sakura and Akado Yoroi." I bowed my head; Akado Yoroi didn't reciprocate the gesture. "Are you ready?"

"Okay." I said, more to myself than anything.

"Everyone except the two participants move to the upper level." The proctor announced.

"Sakura-chan, go beat that guy's ass!" Naruto cheered.

"You can do it Sakura!" Ino also followed.

I hear some other cheers for me; it did take a little pressure off my back.

"Now, "the cheers died down, "Please begin."

Akado Yoroi smirked and fired off shurikens. I stop all three mid-flights, to which I hear some gasps, and fired them back at him, he dodge but I didn't let lose my control of the shurikens. I control them like whips and in one fast movement caught Akado Yoroi to the ground.

I jumped at him, holding kunai at the base of his throat. "Do you want to forfeit?" I asked, restraining myself from smirking, I know it will blow his guy pride.

Naruto and Ino cheered from above.

Akado Yoroi frees his right hand from my shuriken with force, tearing his shirt in the process, and grab at me while I let go of my kunai and punch him, which he blocked. I feel my strength leaving me and he threw me off, my back collides with the ground.

I feel dizzy when I got up, but Akado Yoroi won't give me the chance to rest. He lunged at me, I stab him with my shurikens, drawing blood, but he doesn't stop. He pounced and grabbed my face harshly. I feel like I'm going to die, my chakra strings are gone. If he absorbs my chakra, then it's going to be soon before he drained me completely, my reserve being this small.

I lay still and close my eyes—to make him relax—and proceed to knee him hard in the groin, as hard as not caring if he loses his potential to procreate. It's my first time thinking like that. I guess it is survival instinct overcoming my common sense.

Before Akado Yoroi fell into the ground completely, as a precaution—ninja, who knows?—I punch his jaw hard, sending him across the room.

Seeing his unmoving body and the shocked faces of my friends, I begin thinking that maybe it's not just survival instinct. Maybe I'm just a little sadistic.

"He absorbs my chakra, I have to do it." I said defensively to no one in particular, making things more awkward.

Gekko Hayate coughed. "The winner of the first match, Haruno Sakura has passed the prelims." He didn't even go to check on Yoroi first.

I smiled a little at him before I slumped, my strength all disappearing from me.

For a moment I'm debating what's more embarrassing; crawling my way upstairs or asking for Naruto's help, but then Kaka-sensei appeared, still reading that orange pervy book of his, lifting me up like a sack and transporting me to Naruto's waiting hands.

"He absorbs my chakra…" I explained.

Naruto, for once, looks like he is unsure of what to say. "Erm, it's a good fight, Sakura-chan. A—anyway, congrats on making it to the final! Me and teme will advance too, 'ttebayo!"

He looked contemplating for a second. "Well that is if he didn't get to face me."

Sasuke scoffed at that.

Naruto let out a barrage of angry insults before suddenly his expression turn cocky. "But I'd like to fight you, teme!"

Sasuke also smirked. "I'm looking forward to that too, dobe."

Turns out their wish to fight each other are not heard, because Sasuke will be fighting Aburame Shino in the impending match.

I wished him for a good performance when I noticed it. The three-fold tomoe mark on Sasuke's neck now has small weird symbols circling it.

Aburame Shino turns out to be a very powerful opponent, even for Sasuke. At first Sasuke seem to be at easy, only using Taijutsu and hitting his opponent multiple times—he's not that much of a Taijutsu fighter—but Shino uses bugs in a weird technique and managed to recover from Sasuke's attacks. Sasuke uses his Sharingan but Shino—like Lee—didn't use a technique where Sasuke can have an advantage with his dojutsu. He uses an army of bugs to eat Sasuke's chakra, but Naruto insult—err, rudely encourage Sasuke and he managed to uses his fire jutsu to hold the bugs at bay and though still with some bugs on his body, did a creative impersonate of Lee's lotus technique.

He finished Shino off with a hard kick that sent Shino to the ground, possibly breaking some of his bone, until the floor cracked from the impact. The proctor announces Sasuke wins and call on the medic team to carry Shino out of the room.

Even after getting his chakra eaten by the bugs, Sasuke's footing is steady as he approaches us. He seems out of breath but smirked all the same. "Now it's only you, dobe." He greets Naruto.

"Tch! don't worry about me, I'll make sure to meet you at the final, believe it!"

The next fight is Shikamaru against Tsurugi Misumi, Kabuto and Yoroi's teammate. It took a while but Shikamaru won the match, the lazy guy actually work his heavily wrinkled brain to advance to the final, leaving Tsurugi Misumi a rather humiliating defeat by banging his own head to the wall.

After that Temari defeated Ino in one blow of her fan—scary—and then there's a rather disturbing and revealing fight between Neji and Hinata, during which all people can't help but be angry at Neji to some degree. Naruto, especially. He vowed to defeat Neji in final, since Neji won.

As much as I don't want to get into a fight with Neji, I'd rather have him as oppose to Sasuke or Naruto—who won a fight with Kiba—a result Sasuke seemed to show no surprise. I think, by this time, no one understands Naruto better than Sasuke and it work both ways.

Kankuro defeated Choji and after that he managed to also defeat Ten ten.

After Kankuro's fights, there's Lee vs. Gaara, which is horrible—horrible enough that I'd rather take on both Sasuke and Naruto at the same time rather than having to fight Gaara.

Lee managed to continue surprising us but it seems to add up to Gaara's apparent…mental instability. I bit my lip, really fearing for Lee's safety. There hasn't been a kill, but with an opponent like Gaara…and I've only just begun to like Lee as a precious friend…

"LEE-SAN! YOU CAN'T DIE, OKAY?!" I hollered, surprising everyone.

"YEAH, LEE! FIGHT ME IN THE FINAL!" Naruto followed.

He opened the fifth gate of the eight celestial gates, it is apparently a dangerous decision since Kakashi-sensei even stating that he lost respect for Gai-sensei—who's right beside me—for teaching his student the technique.

I thought Lee is going to win after he, with speed I can't comprehend, land numerous attacks on Gaara while on air that his armor of sand is coming off.

Lee kick Gaara to the ground as a finishing move that should've end the battle but on the last millisecond Gaara turned his gourd into sand to cushioned his fall and managed to take hold of Lee's left leg and arm, crushing them with his sand coffin—a terrible technique.

Gai-sensei jumped in front of Lee, declaring the match over as Gaara the winner, preventing him from truly killing Lee.

Gaara act as if he can't comprehend why Gai even interfere with the match—and seeing his expression I keep thinking what kind of monster has Suna raised…

Silence followed as Lee is being carried off by medics until Gekko Hayate announced the conclusion of the prelims.

Eight participants will advanced to the finals; they are six from Konoha and two from Sand.

We all draw out numbers from a box Mitarashi Anko hand out.

I get number two.

Number one's Kankuro. Number three until eight in order are: Neji, Naruto, Temari, Shikamaru, Sasuke and Gaara.

The fights in order will be: Inuzuka Kiba vs. Haruno Sakura, Hyuga Neji vs. Uzumaki Naruto, Temari vs. Nara Shikamaru, and lastly Uchiha Sasuke vs. Gaara.

After that winner of me and Kankuro fight will be fighting against the winner from Naruto and Neji fight, and the winner from the match Temari and Shikamaru will be fighting against either Sasuke or Gaara.