Omg when was the last time I updated anyway? Well thank you everyone who told me to keep updating, but don't worry, I'm sure to post something if I decide not to write on this fic anymore…YEAH RIGHT! Like I'd ever stop this one! I love it, so you can be sure, if I don't update for a really long time, I'm either 1) sick 2) sick as a dog 3) bored 4) working on another project 5) on a bad streak of writers block 6) dead. Anyway, chapter 26, finally!

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Unwanted

Chapter 26 – Akira Ryuga

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Naruto and Katya walked hand in hand towards the chuunin examinations arena. Few people were on the street; everybody was either at the arena, or inside because it was an extremely hot day.

Naruto hoped it would cool down before his match. Yeah, right. It was just past noon, the hottest time of the day was just approaching.

Katya stopped suddenly. She gazed out at the river that was close by.

"We didn't have rivers in my village." She thought aloud, not realizing she did.

"Iruka…" Naruto said after a moment, "he loved this river." Thought recently, Naruto hadn't mentioned his dead sensei, he constantly thought of him. He still missed him, but he was over crying and such. He knew that Katya had helped with that.

Katya realized now that she had thought aloud. "When I was young, I always dreamed of rivers. We don't – er – didn't have rivers in my village."

"Really?" he asked, "Rivers are beautiful. They continually flow, kind of like life. Things keep going even if someone dies, and there are always small children that will grow up to be the adults who have their own children."

"Yup, that's true." Agreed Katya. They stood in silence for a while, Naruto thought of Iruka and Katya. He remembered when Katya had told him about her past, why were so many people's lives ruined and terrible? Why were a select few people in the world so badly off? He thought about that for a while, then a thought came to his mind. Katya was a mass murderer. He looked awkwardly at Katya, who stood with a smile on her face as she looked towards the rushing river. She saw his looking at him and she turned her head, smiled, and looked back.

The thought disturbed him; of course, he knew that before, but hadn't actually thought of it. She killed the inhabitants of her whole village, and left, also killing her fiancée, and yet now, she looked so carefree. He had terrible scars from his child hood imbedded in him, but he hadn't killed anyone like she had, and she'd killed everyone in her village.

"Katya…" his excess breath slid out from between his lips after he spoke her name. She looked at him, and by his eyes, she knew he was going to ask something important.

"Yes, what is it?"

"Well, I've been thinking," he replied, "when you were young, you said you killed everyone in your village after an older you took over, but that older you was you now, wasn't it?"

She looked back at the water and didn't reply for a very long time. "No," she said finally, "no, it wasn't me. See, I didn't tell you the whole story, I stopped at when I left the village, but years passed between when I left my village and now, too."

Naruto looked at her, completely interested in what she said and would say next.

"I can't explain it now," she said, "you have a match to go to." He gasped, he had completely forgotten. "Let's go." They walked again towards the arena.

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"You ready," asked Ayame, smiling at her new weapon, "leaf boy?"

Lee grit his teeth, his taijutsu against a sword, that didn't seem like the best idea. But what else could he do?

"If all he has up his sleeve is taijutsu, he's toast!" Ayame licked her lips, the thought of plump red jam on top of a crispy toast. She really felt like eating now. Lee made his move, he charged in, aiming a kick for underneath her chin, but she saw that move before. Ayame blocked his kick with her sword arm, but the force still sent her flying into the air, and while airborne, she shot a couple bursts of water down at Lee. He dodged the first but the second hit him dead on. She landed not far from him, and she looked down at the soaked body of her opponent. He stood up and shook himself off slightly.

"Wow," she thought, "why are drenched guys always so freaking hot?"

They both were tired, and were well aware of it. Ayame was getting low on chakra, and if she was going to end this at all, she had to do it now. Ayame noticed her finger, which she had split open, that gave her an idea.

"It's been fun!" she called to Lee as she began her many hand signs, "but you and I

both know that this'll end soon, 'cause we're both running on empty." Lee just watched her as he panted slightly for air. "But unlike you, I've still got," a wide smile crossed her face, "enough chakra to win this!" she pressed her hand with her bleeding finger onto the ground, writing appeared in a circle around her hand on the dirt, and suddenly a burst of smoke shrouded her completely. A large snake, made of water, arouse from the ground. It was around 40 feet long.

Lee looked at the snake, terrified. Ayame was right, he had about enough juice left in him for one or two more leaf hurricanes, then he was done. Ayame finished off the match with a mighty strike, then the arena was cleared, while Lee was taken to hospital.

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"Lee!" called Sakura as she jumped out from her seat and ran towards the exit. She dashed as fast a she could to where the entrance to the hospital was, so she could see Lee. She made it just in time. "Lee!" she panted. The medics were walking with Lee in a stretcher.

"Sakura!" he said, sitting up, the medics tried to keep him lying down but he jumped up to see her.

"Oh, Lee!" she wrapped her arms around his skinny body.

"Sakura…" he stroked her hair.

"Lee are you alright?" she asked, looking up at him. He smiled and nodded. Sakura smiled back; 'how nice he looks' she thought, "even after that intense battle." Without even knowing it, Sakura kissed him, and Lee blushed red as a cherry, then he kissed her back. "Get better," she said, removing her arms from around him, "I'll go watch Naruto's match, but I'll come see you as soon as it's over." With a smile she ran off.

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"Good then!" Anko waved a fan at her face; it was getting terribly hot that day, the worst of it just hitting the streets of Konoha. "We'll get on with the next match. Ryuga vs. Naruto, please come to the arena!"

"Good luck," Katayanagi kissed Naruto's cheek, "and be careful, we don't know how this guy fights, ok?"

"Yeah, I'll be careful!" he smiled, then turned on his heel and ran through the hallway that led to the arena. Halfway there, he saw Sasuke standing against the wall. Sasuke turned his head towards him, and all Sasuke wanted to say Naruto understood immediately, without a word being spoken. Naruto nodded, and ran past.

He reached the arena and ran to join Anko and Ryuga who were already there. Naruto looked at Ryuga. When they had met him in the forest of death, and before, in the preliminaries, and his last match, he had worn a mask, but now he didn't. Naruto could see his face. Two deep blue eyes looked towards him, almost cutting right through him. His hair was short and white, and it fell loosely around his face. His eyelids were colored red, and there was a scar from the end of his right eye going down almost to his chin. He looked around 20 years old.

"He's the guy," thought Naruto, "that injured Hinata and Shino, and captured Sakura. In the forest he didn't seem like much of a treat, and fled very quickly, but in the preliminaries he was unbelievable, against Shino too. I don't know what to expect, but here goes."

"Begin the match!" yelled Anko.

"I won't promise," said Naruto, hoping to get a reply from Ryuga, "no, I won't promise I'll beat you. But I will promise this, I'll fight you as well as I can!"

Ryuga smiled, and a laugh escaped his mouth. Naruto glared at him. Ryuga's smile disappeared. "You expect me to settle for any less?" he asked; Naruto smirked. "You were weaker in the forest, when we last met face to face." Continued Ryuga. "I can see, just by looking in your eyes, that you have become much stronger. What has made you grow so much in that short amount of time, Uzumaki Naruto?"

Naruto smiled, he knew the answer instantly. "My friends." He replied. "My friends made me stronger, and because of them I won't disappoint you, Ryuga."

"Call me Akira Ryuga." He smiled; Naruto gasped.

"A-Akira?"

"That's what I said."

"Katya's last name is Akira!" thought Naruto.

"Let's do this." Exclaimed Ryuga, drawing a sword from its sheath, then he ran his finger over the blank headband that was tied around his neck.

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Katya studied Ryuga as well as she could as he and Naruto exchanged words not hearable from up there. When he drew his sword, Katya gasped. She knew the sword, and now, she knew the man too.

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Cliffy! Yes, I know I said I'd make a longer chapter, oh but this was just a great place to stop! Next time.

Thanks for reading and please review:)