Note: I don't own Naruto, that much should be clear by now.

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Jirobo was being taken away on a stretcher. The Proctor called the next match.

" And now for the next match." The Proctor said.

The names sped through the board.

Taga Akane

Vs.

Haruno Sakura

Sakura jumped down to the battlefield after Akane.

" Naruto-kun, Sakura-chan is about to fight." Hinata said.

" Yea." Naruto said.

" Go Sakura-chan! Woo!" Ino shouted from the stands.

" Begin!" the Proctor said.

As Akane took a deep breath, Sakura appeared right in front of her. Sakura then punched Akane, sending her flying. When Akane rose to her feet Sakura was again right in front of her.

" Sakura-chan's making a good move." Ino thought. " Akane has to take a deep breath in order to launch her scream attack. By not allowing her any space, distance or time to complete the maneuver, Sakura-chan gains the upper hand."

Akane showed that she is more suited to long range attacks, as her close combat skills seemed shaky against Sakura. Sakura managed to lay in some heavy shots battering Akane. Two kunai appeared into Sakura's hands, as she lunged into to slice Akane, Akane managed to dodge it and get behind Sakura. Her face showing desperation, Akane quickly took a deep breath and launched a scream attack. Not a very big one due to her lack of time but just strong enough to send Sakura back and afford herself some distance. Due to the close range of the attack, Sakura flew back several feet and hit the ground hard with her ears ringing. Hinata brought her hand to her mouth in horror.

" I hope Sakura-chan isn't hurt." Hinata said to Naruto.

Naruto continued to watch the battle. Sakura jumped up while Akane was setting up another scream attack. However Akane suddenly fell back first to the ground.

" Hmm, good move Sakura" Gai said.

Before Sakura was thrown back, she looped an assassination wire around Akane's foot, pulling it back as she was about to launch the attack again. Sakura ran towards Akane while pulling out a kunai. Akane also pulled out a kunai and clashed with Sakura's. Akane finally managed to do some physical damage to Sakura as she cut her left arm. Sakura jumped back and placed her hand over her left arm as a means to stop the bleeding. Sakura then performed the " Mulitiple Shuriken technique" throwing mass multiple shuriken at Akane, whom ran to dodge them. Akane then spun around and launched a full scream attack, forcing back all the shuriken. Sakura held up her arms in defense in hopes of guarding against the scream. This attempt however proved futile as Sakura was thrown back hitting the wall.The vibration of the scream shook the stadium.

" Wow, that girl's got a serious set of lungs on her." Jiraiya said.

Tsunade hit Jiraiya upside the head.

" I said Lungs! Lungs!" Jiraiya bellowed.

" Oh." Tsunade said.

Sarutobi brought his hand to his forehead.

" They still act like children after all these years." Sarutobi thought.

The bleachers were shaking from Akane's attack. Various people were grabbing their beverages to keep them from spilling. Woozy and a bit shaken, Sakura managed to come to her feet.

" One more attack like that and I'm done for." Sakura thought.

Akane prepared to launch the scream attack again.

"There has to be a weak-point I can attack." Sakura said as she ran to evade the scream attack. " Wait! If she can't use her throat then she can't scream!"

Sakura ran towards Akane. She was about to launch another attack straight at Sakura.

"Why is she running straight at me? If this attack hits, it just might kill her." Akane thought.

Just before Akane could launch her attack, Sakura ran up and using a hard fist, punched her in the throat. This move thwarted Akane's attack as she was now on the ground coughing and gasping for air. Akane got back up and took a deep breath, however when she was about to scream, she just ended up coughing. Akane didn't know what was wrong until she looked up at a confident Sakura.

" Why can't Akane use her scream attack?' Chouji asked.

" It looks to me like Sakura impaired Akane's voice box in that attack to her throat." Shikamaru said.

Back to the fight Sakura was facing Akane.

" I've disabled your scream attack. You won't be able to beat me now. It's a smart move for you to just give up." Sakura said.

Akane while grasping her throat with one hand pulled out a kunai with the other.

" You really wanna do this? Fine, I'll finish it then." Sakura said also pulling out a kunai.

The two clashed kunais, the fight lasted a few more minutes but in the end, Akane dropped to the ground. The Proctor came over to analyze her.

" The winner of this match, Sakura Haruno, she will move on to the next round." The Proctor said.

The crowd cheered to what was another pleasing match.

" She is Neji's teammate isn't she? She seems to have a little talent." Hiashi said to Motoko.

Sakura jumped back up to the skybox.

" You were excellent Sakura-chan." Hinata said.

" Arigatou." Sakura said bowing.

Sakura glimpsed at Naruto and walked away.

" Sakura-chan has excellent weapons skills." Hinata said to Naruto.

Naruto leaned back against a wall. "Yea, but she's still no match for you." He said.

Hinata blushed, she thought Naruto gave her too much credit.

" Naruto-kun, I don't believe Sakura-chan truely hates you. I believe she just misses Sasuke-kun. Deep down she knows you did your best." Hinata said.

Naruto looked down averting his eyes.

" And...I know you still wish to find Sasuke-kun someday. I don't know if I could be much help...but I would love to help you as much as I can." Hinata said.

Naruto looked into Hinata's eyes.

"Really?" Naruto asked.

" Of course, I know Sasuke-kun was a good friend to you. I know you still wish to find him and I would like to help you reach that goal." Hinata said.

Naruto smiled, came close to Hinata and put his hands on her arms.

" Arigatou Hinata-chan, I don't know what I'd do without you." Naruto said.

Hinata blushed as she smiled.

Akane was taken away by the medic nins.

" Now for the next match!" The Proctor said.

All the genin wathced as the names sped through the scoreboard.

Hyuuga Neji

vs.

Gaara

The crowd was in awe. This would no doubt make a good match.

" Nani? But Gaara's not here yet." Naruto said.

Naruto then jumped out the skybox and ran up the wall twoards Sarutobi, Jiraiya and Tsunade.

" Hokage, has Gaara been found yet?" Naruto asked.

" I'm afraid not Naruto, we can't find him anywhere. Anbu, along with his siblings have been looking all over the place." Sarutobi said.

" You're not going to disqualify him are you? Are You!?" Naruto asked.

Sarutobi looked at Tsunade then back at Naruto.

" I'm sorry Naruto, at this point there doesn't seem to be much choice in the matter." Sarutobi said.

"Can't you post-pone his match like you did for Sasuke last time? Please Hokage!" Naruto said.

The Proctor came up beside Naruto.

" Hokage-sama, how would you like us to handle this match?" The Proctor asked.

Sarutobi sat back for a moment, then announced his decision to the crowd.

" A competitor for the next match is at this time absent. I have decided that the match between Neji Hyuuga and Gaara shall be post-poned as the last match of the first round. If the competitor does not arrive by the time of the last match, the match will be awarded to Neji Hyuuga by default." Sarutobi announced.

" You rock Old man!" Naruto said.

Sarutobi looked at Naruto with a twitching eyebrow. Naruto didn't know that the entire crowd heard his comment which prompted laughter in the crowd. Hinata giggled a bit by Naruto's silly antic.

"What an idiot." Koichi thought.

Naruto, realising his blunder, blushed in emarrassment while rubbing the back of his head. Naruto went back down to the skybox followed by a small applause from the crowd for their entertainment.

Neji had his arms crossed while in thought. It had been on his "to do list" to at some point fight the desert nin to see what he was made of. Now there was a possibility that may not happen today, and Neji would hate to win a match by simple default, to a Hyuuga, that simply wouldn't do.

The Proctor returned to the arena ground.

"Very well, since this match has been post-poned we shall proceed to the next match!" The Proctor said.

The names again sped through the board.

Higashi Koichi

vs.

Ikura Yasuo

"Hmph." Koichi said as he jumped down to the center field.

" Higashi is going to win." Naruto said.

" He is from the Higashi clan." Toba said amongst the clan.

Hanabi looked down at the Sound genin.

" So he's from the Higashi clan? This should be good." Hanabi thought.

Koichi stood and faced his opponent whule setting down his koto.

" Time to face the music." Koichi said jokingly.

" It's a good thing you are talented with music because you suck with comedy." Yasuo sneered.

" Begin!" The Proctor said.

Before Koichi could set up his koto, his opponent attacked him with a kunai in hand. Koichi however showed that he had more going for him other than his koto by showing his superior speed after dodging Yasuo's attacks. Koichi then kicked Yasuo back several feet. As Yasuo jumped back to his feet. Koichi ripped the sheet covering his koto.

" Damn!" Yasuo thought.

Koichi then stood on one leg and was amazingly in a sitting position though there was no chair underneath him. His other leg was crossed over his other one in order to produce a resting area for his koto. The audience watched in curiosity, wondering what was going to happen.

Koichi began to play a melody on his koto. Looking for cover Yasuo ran by a tree to hide behind it. This proved futile however, because just as Yasuo was about to reach the tree for cover , Koichi launched a chakra blade attack which cut right through the tree. The Hyuuga clan watched in shock and amazement.

" That is quite an attack." Hiashi said.

Yasuo ran to avoid the chakra blades. He barely avoided the koto attacks as Koichi continued strumming his melody while sending pulse waves and chakra blades against Yasuo, the attacks kicked up debris. When it cleared Koichi saw Yasuo on his hands and knees feeling the effects from the attack.

" Now I see why the Higashi clan is feared." Hanabi thought.

Koichi was about to finish Yasuo off but suddenly the image of Yasuo on the ground vanished. Looking up Koichi saw Yasuo in the air throwing kunai at Koichi's koto, hoping to break the strings. Koichi aimed his koto up and with a mighty strum forced back all the kunai, the attack also hit Yasuo knocking him to the ground. Yasuo however was not moving.

The Proctor came to inspect Yasuo to see that he had been hurt badly and cannot continue.

" The winner of this match, Koichi Higashi. He shall advance to the next round." The Proctor said.

The crowd cheered.

" Man, that music nin isn't gonna be easy to beat. It's really hard to even get near him." Chouji said. Ino shook her head in agreement.

Yasuo was rushed to the medical ward.

" And Now for the next match!" The Proctor said.

The names sped through the board.

Wakamoto Nomura

vs.

Hinata

Hinata's eyes lit up in both nervousness and excitement. Nomura jumped down to the stage and looked up at the former Hyuuga waiting for her to come down.

" Hinata-chan! You got this in the bag, go beat this chump!" Naruto said.

Hinata looked at him, smiled and nodded as she jumped down to the stage.

" Hinata-chan! You can win!" Ino shouted.

" Go Hinata-chan!" Chouji shouted clapping.

" Man, when did you two become cheerleaders?" Shikamaru said covering his ears.

Everyone was dead silent among the Hyuuga clan. Except for a certain Hyuuga elder who was clapping for Hinata. The other Hyuugas looked at him a bit puzzled. Not caring what they thought, Toba continued clapping.

Hinata stood face to face with Nomura.

" It was bad luck you got me as an opponent." Nomura said pulling out his katana. " You see this katana? This katana was specially made for me. Using my own chakra to power it, I can cut through anything. So it should be able to cut through you no problem."

Hinata deciding to ignore her opponent's taunts, took a deep breath and got into her own customized stance.

" Byakugan!" Hinata said.

Everyone amongst the Hyuuga clan was confused.

" What kind of stance is that? That is not the Hyuuga stance." Hiashi said.

" Actually Hiashi, you're right. It isn't the Hyugaa stance, in fact it does not look like Hinata is going to fight with the traditional Hyuuga style." Toba informed him.

"Begin!" The Proctor said.

Nomura got into a samurai fighting stance with his katana then attacked Hinata. Hinata using her new found defense, dodged the attack. Nomura's katana was pulsating with chakra. He continued to attack Hinata, but with her speed and agility, while she still stayed within close combat distance of Nomura, he continued to miss.

In the skybox Neji watched Hinata using his Byakugan. Hinata's moves consisted of a lot of swirves and spins. Nomura even with his excellent swordsmanship still could not strike Hinata.

" Hmph, it seems the best she can do is avoid strikes, she seems to not offer anything in offense, her style is flaud and weak, as would be expected from her." Motko said.

" Motoko, if you would open your eyes instead of your mouth for once, you would see that Hinata is merely toying with him." Toba said in front of the clan.

Motoko looked at Toba with her mouth open from the insult.

" How dare you! Hiashi-kun are you going to let him talk to me, your wife, like that!?" Motoko said.

"May everybody please just behave so we may watch the match?" Hiashi said,

Motoko looked at Hiashi stunned, she noticed that Hiashi had not taken his eyes off the match the entire time.

Back in the skybox Naruto was watching Hinata a bit puzzled.

" What is Hinata-chan doing? Why doesn't she attack? Is she just show-boating?... No! Hinata-chan's not like that.But why isn't she attacking?" Naruto thought.

Back at the fight Nomura was letting his frustration show.

" Damn it! Why don't you fight like a ninja!" Nomura shouted thrusting his blade at Hinata.

Hinata however caught it between her hands.

" Well you see the truth is..." Hinata started." I was stalling for time you see."

Nomura getting agitated reached in his pouch and threw a kunai at Hinata, Hinata jumped back to avoid the kunai.

" So, this is a reult of Hinata's training." Sarutobi thought.

As Nomura lunged in for another strike, Hinata ran past him striking several tenketsu.

"Hinata-chan! Way to go!" Naruto shouted.

" That's it Hinata, you have this match won." Kurenai said.

" Wow, that was...really fast." Ino said.

"It was like a blur." Shikamaru said.

Hinata then delivered multiple palm strikes against Nomura, sending him to the ground. Nomura appeared to be unconcious. Hinata turned around to take a breath assuming she had already won. However, as the Proctor was about to check on Nomura. He jumped into the air with his blade and was about to cut Hinata in half.

" Hinata!" Kurenai thought.

(Scene in slowmotion.)

Nomrua's blade was coming down on Hinata. Little did he realize that Hinata had her Byakugan still activated and saw him coming. Hinata's right hand was beginning to glow with chakra, she suddenly swooped her right hand towards the oncoming blade.

The next thing that could be heard was the clang of a sword. The entire crowd, even the Hyuuga clan was amazed when they saw that the blade of Nomura's sword was sticking into the ground several feet away from them, while he was still holding the handle. Nomura looked up amazed when he saw a strand several feet long of what appeared to be chakra was in the air. Anchoring the bottom of the chakra strand was Hinata's hand. The strand suddenly disappeared.

"Whoa, I didn't see that coming." Asuma said.

Neji stood there amazed. This couldn't be weak little Hinata.

Hinata's Byakugan eyes were locked onto Nomura as she took a step forward. Seeing her coming, Nomura immediately threw down his handle and held up his hands in surrender.

" I give up!" Nomura said.

" The winner of this match, Hinata, she will move on to the next round." The Proctor said.

The entire audience roared with applause. When Hinata turned around to see the crowd cheering for her, she was so embarrassed she wanted to sink into the ground. Her face turned flush red. She turned to her opponent and bowed to him then went back up to the skybox. Naruto came in and hugged her.

" You totally rocked the house Hinata-chan!" Naruto said.

Hinata was completely flushed with embarrassment.Naruto then pulled back.

"Man, that was amazing!" Ino said.

" But I got a question, you told Nomura you were stalling for time. Time for what?" Naruto asked.

"Oh, well I thought maybe if I prolonged the match a little, perhaps I could buy Gaara-kun a little more time to get here before his match starts." Hinata said.

Naruto smiled.

" Man, I wish I had thought of that." Naruto said.

Back among the Hyuuga clan, Motoko and Hanabi's mouth hung ajar from what she just witnessed.

"I'm sorry Motoko, what were you saying about Hinata being weak?" Toba asked smugly.

" Hanabi I hope you were watching Hinata closely, you could definitely learn something from her." Toba continued.

Hiashi was also surprised. He had absolutlely no idea what that last maneuver was that Hinata did.Whatever it was, he certainly didn't teach it to her.

" And Now for the next match!" The Proctor said.

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Next Time

Naruto: The last match is closing in, man where's Gaara!?

Temari: We can't find him! I'm getting really worried.(getting teary eyed.)

Naruto: Next Time! The first round comes to a close! The search for Gaara!

More to come...

With every review you give, you get to give Hiashi ONE kick in the crotch.