High! IIIIII"MMMM BBBBAAAAACCCCKKK! With RC!Fear for your lives! Muwhahahahahh!Here's the 8th chapter, and I just thought I'd tell you that, The training break, thanks to Naruto, the baka that he is, had the training break right after the second exam, instead of the preliminaries.

Well, onto the story…

No, I don't own Nar(yawn)to!

Shinobi: The Next Generation

Chapter 8: The Contestants

Sakura stepped into a crowd of battered genin and one pissy looking Ara.

"Where have you two been? Never mind. He's about to announce the final pairings." Ara scolded the pair hurriedly, then dragged the two towards the front.

"Now that everyone's here, I'll finally announce the pairings for the last matches. First is Nan Ame vs. Hyuuga Haru," He paused for a second, giving everyone time to clap Haru on the back, or make faces at Ame. "Then we have Sabaku No Neko vs. Mizu." No one said anything, unless you count Asa and Ban bursting out crying believeing their teamate was going to be killed. "Okay…And the third match will be Nara Sakoia vs. Uchiha Sakura." This time Sakoia jumped in front of Sakura and began squeezing the nin in a 'hug'. After using a useful jutsu her grandfather had taught her, Sakura appeared in a cloud of smoke on her bed, and fell asleep, not bothering to change into her pajamas.

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The next day, trio, and their sensei appeared in front of the outside arena, Sdhio and Ara to watch, and the other two, well fight. The girls gave each of the pair a hug before dashing up the stairs to the waiting pavilion to await the beginnning of the matches.

"Small group this year, huh? Seems there weren't so many good candidates this time around." The crowd that had amassed was yelling and cheering amoungst itself, filling the combatants with embarrasment and a slight sense of fear, or in Sakoia's case, hunger. Damn this diet, I'm soooo fuckin' hungry… she thought to herself, watching Mizu eat a 3 Musketeers bar.

The announcer, this time Konohamaru, caught sight of Ara's violently green hair, and spoke up. "Okay people, sit down, sit down. It seems the final combatants have arrived, so we can get this freak show on the road. First Match: Hyuuga Haru vs. Nan Ame. You two, hurry up and get your happy asses down here."

Oh great, more stairs, Haru thought looking down. Well, I could always- Ara appeared behind her, and clapped a hand on her back, saending Haru hurtling down to the hard ground of the arena. She pulled her legs back underneath her, and landed on her feet, jolting her a little. Ame was already at the bottom, leaning against a tree trunk smirking.

"First Match! Begin!" Haru barely heard the jounin announce this, for she immediately had to dogde Ame, who had run at her with daggers drawn. Even though she had moved, Ame still managed to nick her arm.

" Humf. Mot much of a challenge. The poison should already be spreading through your veins, and soon, you won't be able to move." Ame smirked again, Her eyes gloating as she saw Haru crumple to the ground, groaning. "I'll help you out a little." She ran at the crippled Haru, and snagged her foot in a trap. She swung up into one of the stunted trees, dropping her knives and releasing a spew of colorful and somewhat exotic curses.

" If I were you," Haru told the struggling Sand nin, " I'd be more worried about that explosive note next to your head." A small explosion nocked Ame unconsious and Haru fell to her knees as the crowd erupted in applause, finally succuming to the poison.