Note: I don't own Naruto. If you think otherwise you're "Dee Dee Deeeeee"
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Fukumori Kouji
vs.
Ebara Kazue
The two ninjas had already begun the battle.
Meanwhile, Naruto was up in the skybox assessing the score so far.
" All right, It's me, Sakura, Koichi, Hinata-chan and the fight between Neji and Gaara has been post-poned. Just a few more matches between the rest and we'll be ready for the second round." Naruto thought.
" Hey Hinata-chan, can you see Gaara anywhere?" Naruto asked.
Hinata made a hand sign. "Byakugan!" She said. She spent a few minutes scanning the area of the stadium looking for even a glimpse of Gaara. When she saw he wasn't in the stadium, she advanced her search outside the stadium and a little bit into town. After about 5 minutes of searching she finally stopped.
" Gomen Naruto-kun, I can't see him anywhere near the stadium." Hinata said.
"Oh well, it's ok." Naruto said.
" You know, I wouldn't exactly put all my faith in her abilities with the Byakugan." Neji said.
Naruto turned to Neji
" Shut up Baka! You have no clue what she's capable of!" Naruto shouted coming to Hinata's defense.
" Well well, touch-eee." Neji said.
Naruto saw Hinata hung her head down shamefully.
" You know Neji, I hope Gaara makes it in time for the match. I want to see him wipe the freakin' floor with you." Naruto said.
" Hmph" Neji said as he turned and walked away.
" Don't listen to him Hinata-chan, you're worth a thousand of him." Naruto said.
Hinata looked up and smiled half-heartedly.
" Arigatou." Hinata said.
Sakura looked at Neji as he walked by. She knew that his comment wasn't necessary. Sakura walked up to Hinata.
" Let me apologize for my teammate Hinata-chan." Sakura said.
"Arigatou." Hinata bowed to Sakura.
While the battle raged on in the stadium, out in the town Kankuro and Temari while being escorted by an ANBU op. continued their search for Gaara.
" This doesn't make sense! Gaara wouldn't just disappear like this. I pray to God he's ok." Temari said.
As the siblings and the ANBU continued searching they were stopped by a female ANBU. She held her hands up as a sign for them to stop, she especially wanted Temari and Kankuro to not go any farther.
" Did you find him?" The ANBU escort asked.
The female ANBU stood silent, her mask covered a face in pure shock.
"Well….the man asked you a question." Kankuro said.
"….yes…." The female ANBU said.
Temari put her hand over her chest and sighed in relief.
" but….." The female ANBU continued.
Temari's eyes lit up with fear.
Back at the stadium. The fight came to a draw between the two nins as both injured each other so badly, that neither one could continue.
"Well, that's it for those two, they're done for." Kiba said to Shino.
"Come on Gaara, get yer ass here now." Naruto thought.
"I need the last chosen competitors to please come to the ground floor." The Proctor said.
The scoreboard showed the names.
Sakuma Natsumi
vs.
Nagai Ichiro
The Hidden Rain and Hidden Mist ninja met on the center floor.
"Begin!" The Proctor said.
The Rain ninja rain full force at his opponent. A kunai then appeared in his hand as he stuck it straight into the Mist ninja.
" Not very quick are you?" The Rain ninja said.
The Mist ninja smirked.
" I'm quicker than you think." He said.
Just then the supposedly injured Mist ninja burst into water.
Back in the skybox Neji and Sakura were observing the match.
" That Mist Nin isn't too bad Sakura, what do you think?" Neji asked
" Not too troublesome, I think I could take him." Sakura responded.
Meanwhile Naruto was talking to Hinata.
" That Mist nin looks pretty strong." Naruto said.
Hinata nodded.
As Sarutobi and the others watched from above. An ANBU appeared beside him. Sarutobi listened closely as the ANBU whispered into his ear. Sarutobi turned his head to the ANBU in shock. He however regained his composed face.
Finally the match ended with the Rain nin hitting the ground hard.
" The winner, Ichiro Nagai, he shall move on to the next round." The Proctor said.
The crowd cheered.
" Man, this is it. If Gaara doesn't show up right now, he's disqualified." Kiba said.
The Hokage then sat up and approached the edge to speak with the crowd.
" We have found the other competitor for the last match." Sarutobi said.
" Alright!" Naruto said.
" However….." Sarutobi continued.
Naruto's smile faded quickly at the word.
" He is in absolutely no condition to fight, therefore, the match shall be awarded to Neji Hyuuga." Sarutobi said.
The remaining competitors were in shock.
" How's that possible? What does he mean in no condition to fight?" Naruto said.
"Thus the first round has ended. There will be an hour intermission to give the contestants some time to recover. Then the second round will begin." Sarutobi said.
The score board showed the remaining contestants to fight in the second round.
Uzumaki Naruto
Higashi Koichi
Nagai Ichiro
Hinata
Haruno Sakura
Hyuuga Neji
Sarutobi was about to take his leave with Tsunade and Jiraiya, when Naruto jumped up the balcony followed by Hinata. Neji followed right after them. He wanted to know why his opponent could not fight him.
" Old man! Why can't Gaara fight? What's wrong?" Naruto asked.
" Naruto……Gaara….is in the hospital right now." Sarutobi said.
Naruto's eyes were lit up.
Later in the hospital.
Naruto and Hinata were at the information desk.
" Hey we're looking for Gaara, where is he?" Naruto asked.
" I'm sorry but I have strict orders. No visitors." The nurse said.
" Oh come on!" Naruto said.
" I'm sorry young man, but I can't allow you to see him." The nurse enforced.
" Hey! He's my friend and…." Naruto started.
Suddenly a hand came on Naruto's shoulder.
" Naruto-kun….we should go. If that is a rule then we must not break it." Hinata said.
" Hinata-chan….." Naruto said, but he agreed to follow Hinata out.
As the two genin left the building, Hinata automatically looked at the building next to the hospital.
" Naruto-kun, follow me." Hinata said.
" Nani?" Naruto said.
Though confused, Naruto followed Hinata as they jumped up to the top of the building next door. Naruto was curious as to what Hinata was up to. She then faced the side of the hospital.
" Byakugan!" She said.
Naruto was confused by what she was doing. Hinata continued looking at the side of the building.
" There." Hinata said.
" There what?" Naruto asked.
" I've pin-pointed the room Gaara is in, Temari-chan and Kankuro-kun are with him. We can run up the side of the building and go through the window." Hinata said.
Naruto was shocked. "Hinata-chan…..You wanna break a rule?" Naruto said.
Hinata smiled bringing a clutched hand to her chin. " I guess you've rubbed off on me a little Naruto-kun." Hinata said.
Naruto laughed but stopped." Ok then we should go, I wanna see if Gaara's Ok. You lead the way Hinata-chan." Naruto said.
Hinata smiled and nodded.
The two ran upside the hospital until they reached the window of the room Hinata said Gaara was in. Naruto peeked his head in the window only to have it almost pierced as he narrowly dodged a kunai.
" Whoa, chill out it's me!" Naruto said.
" Ass-hole! We didn't want anyone in here!" Temari said while the two came through the window.
" Gomen, Temari-chan, I talked Naruto into coming in this way." Hinata said.
Naruto looked at her.
" You what?" He thought.
Temari calmed herself down and came over to sit by Gaara who was laying in a hospital bed. His eyes were barely open. Canned breathing filled the ninja's ears as Gaara breathed through an oxygen mask.
" What happened ?" Naruto asked.
"I don't know. We found him like this." Temari said.
(((((((((((Flashback))))))))))
In the woods of Konohakagure….
" I don't care! I'm his brother I want to see him now!" Kankuro demanded as he was trying to move an ANBU out of his way.
He and Temari stopped cold when they saw what had become of Gaara.
There he stood, in the exact same place as when he confronted the two mysterious strangers from the other night. However, when they saw him he stood there like a statue.
Temari brought her hands to her mouth in horror.
" We believe he's still alive, however….we've been trying to talk to him since we found him. One of our men even went as far as to shout in his ear……nothing. It's like he's completely checked out. We don't know what could have done this." The ANBU said.
The most shocking thing they discovered was the look in Gaara's eyes. It was a look Kankuro thought he would never see in his brother's eyes……….. a look of absolute terror.
"We're taking him to the hospital right now." Said another ANBU.
(((((((((((End Flashback)))))))))))))
Naruto and Hinata were shocked by this story. Naruto slowly turned to the desert nin who now lay helpless as an infant.
" Who could've done this to Gaara?" Naruto thought.
Later…"Out cold?" Hiashi asked.
" Hai, they don't know who or what did it." Neji said to Hiashi as most of the accompanying Hyuugas stood listening.
" Well, even though it is by default you are still going to the second round." Hiashi said.
' Hai." Neji said.
" Remember your main focus is to win the tournament, and if possible defeat Naruto Uzumaki in the process." Hiashi said.
" Hai." Neji said as he returned up to the skybox.
Hiashi saw Hinata and Naruto walking down one of the hallways of the stadium. He wondered if his former daughter socialized with the Uzumaki as a way to mock the Hyuuga clan, seeing as how Naruto defeated the Hyuuga's most powerful warrior.
Note( Hiashi was apparently oblivious that Hinata has had a huge crush on Naruto for many years. But then, he didn't know much about the thoughts of his former daughter, growing up.)
" I hope Gaara-kun recovers soon." Hinata said.
" Yea…but I still don't know who could've done that to Gaara of all people." Naruto said.
Suddenly Naruto and Hinata heard a voice from behind them.
" I knew it was gonna happen, damn it I should'a put some money down."
Naruto and Hinata turned to the familiar voice to them. It was their sensei for the past year Matobe Kidigawa.
" Matobe-sensei." Naruto and Hinata said in unison.
Much to their surprise, Matobe actually had his hair back neatly in a pony-tail. He seemed to actually be wearing a clean formal shirt and most amazing of all, he looked like he actually shaved. This was a surprise because Matobe had always looked like…well…a slob. Naruto and Hinata almost couldn't believe it was him.
" Wow you cleaned up nice." Naruto said.
Matobe came and put his hand on Naruto's head in a friendly way.
" Well I decided to start following my nindo again and it's thanks to you two." Matobe said.
Naruto and Hinata smiled.
" So I hear you two've been kickin' ass." Matobe said.
" Yup! And we're about to go kick some more!" Naruto said.
" Well good luck you two. Show em' what you're made of." Matobe said.
Naruto and Hinata waved to their teacher as the walked back to the arena area.
" Man, it's been a while since I've been back here. I hope the sak'e houses are still here." Matobe said to himself.
The remaining contestants again took center stage to watch the first match to be drawn.
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Next Time
Naruto: I'm ready for the next match, bring it on! Oh, this is interesting.
Neji: I'm sure we'll have to face each other sooner or later.
Naruto: Next Time! Begin the second round! fighting your past!
More coming…
Gee I don't know. If you guys don't give me tons of reviews, I don't think I can let Gaara out of his coma.