The Wandering Shinobi

by TheUchiha'sLegacy

Sasuke, devoid of the memories of his past life, is now a wanderer in North Rukongai. As he journeys to Seireitei, he finds his escaping memories gradually returning to him... Can Sasuke fight and regain control of his former self? Can he gain even greater strength and overcome the darkness threatening to overtake him, or will he fail and die just a fading memory of his past life?

6. The Final Rounds Begin: Sasuke vs Gaara

Disclaimer: Always the same.

Hey everyone, thanks for the reviews last chapter. I've been super busy writing a movie script- yes, a movie script, for the past few days. I'm no professional or anything like that, but I thought that I might as well try it out. Hopefully I can finish it well and get it noticed by an agent or a company.

I'll be shortening most of the fights and skipping the ones with OCs just so that I don't drag this whole tournament out longer than needed. Also, I have a new arc planned in mind after watching this one movie, and it fits Sasuke's character as well as his wandering shinobi self really well, so be prepared for that. He won't be in Seireitei (long), and he won't be "joining" (maybe) the Gotei 13 just yet.

Anyways, if you guys liked or disliked anything about this chapter, feel free to let me know through a review. Thanks.

Oh, and thanks to Croniklerx for giving me the idea for Gaara's Shikai.

Chapter 6: The Final Rounds Begin – Sasuke vs Gaara

There are no enemies here because we've all suffered at Akatsuki's hand! So there is no Suna, no Iwa, no Konoha, no Kiri, and no Kumo! There are only "shinobi!"

- Gaara

Sasuke awoke the next morning to the sound of birds chirping from their nest in the trees outside of his window. Sighing, he sat up in his comfortable bed and looked around the room that he had been given as an accommodation. It was a plain room, with a single desk and chair that sat in the right side of the room along with a bathroom which had in it a toilet and shower. A single lamp stood on the surface of the corner of the desk, and the room itself was lighted from the sunlight that streamed in through the window.

Having dressed in a plain white robe the night before, Sasuke got out of bed and walked over to the restroom where he brushed his teeth and got into the shower. As he stood beneath the showerhead with water steadily pouring over his head and body, he looked down at the floor of the shower as he pressed his hand against the wall.

How did I get from being a wanderer in Rukongai to here…? Interesting things have been happening recently… This tournament… It could be the first step into regaining the memories of my past life… and my former self…

After a few long minutes, Sasuke got out of the shower and dressed into his usual attire. Hanging both his chokutō and katana by his purple makeshift rope belt, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he opened the door and stepped out into the hallway.

He automatically noticed that the hallway was empty and deathly quiet. I'm probably the only one up, he said to himself as he walked down the hallway and towards the morning buffet in the dining room. Breakfast, and then training.

… After eating a hearty meal of fried eggs, bacon strips and pancakes, Sasuke headed out to the training grounds which they were told was located on the far right of the dome's dormitory. As he stepped outside, he was surprised to see a single figure already out and training.

When he got closer, he saw that the figure was in fact Gaara, and although he wasn't really training, he was performing Jinzen with his unsheathed Zanpakuto laid across his lap. So he can communicate with his Zanpakuto too… observed Sasuke as he carefully watched him.

"Shukketsu Sunaarashi."

Sasuke's eyes slightly widened as the sound of Gaara's voice. He was able to sense me approaching him…? That's impressive for a non-Shinigami…

"My Zanpakuto's name… Shukketsu Sunaarashi," said Gaara in a quiet voice. He opened his eyes and looked at Sasuke, a calm and even look in his eyes. "What's your Zanpakuto's name, Uchiha Sasuke?"

…

"Raiden-ryū," replied Sasuke finally. "How did you know that I could speak to my Zanpakuto? Since you aren't a Shinigami, you-."

"There's no way that someone of your caliber couldn't communicate with their Zanpakuto," interrupted Gaara. "Am I right?"

Sasuke chuckled at this and slowly unsheathed his Zanpakuto. "I suppose so…" Holding the blade right in front of his face, Sasuke closed his eyes and created multiple imaginary enemies in his mind; then, keeping his eyes closed, he braced himself and took up a relaxed yet poised fighting stance as the imaginary enemies circled him, their swords drawn.

…

Using flash step to enhance his footsteps, Sasuke ran at one enemy and quickly dispatched him before spinning on the ball of his foot and slamming the heel of his other foot into another incoming enemy's stomach.

Stabbing down on the ground with his sword, he used it as a leverage and leapt halfway into the air, trapping an enemy's neck with the end of his legs and slamming him into the ground. After that, he quickly pulled his sword out of the ground and swung it at an enemy, catching him by the neck and dispatching of him. "Sensing" another incoming enemy, he turned around and-.

Sasuke was suddenly interrupted by the sound of multiple people clapping, and he opened his eyes to see Suigetsu, Sakura, and Temari standing ten feet away from where he was at, having been watching his whole entire display.

Frowning, he whipped his katana out by his side and slid it back into its sheath. "Suigetsu, huh? I didn't expect you to be up so early."

Suigetsu, frowning as well, held his hands up as he sighed in exasperation. "What's that supposed to mean? I may look lazy, but I'm actually quite an early morning guy." Looking around the training grounds, he let out a whistle of amazement. "This place is pretty big, huh?"

Scoffing, Sasuke walked over to a nearby wooden bench and sat down on it, his arms resting on his knees as his hands hung over them. "So, you're hanging out with those two now? Them being your teammates was just a one-time thing if you didn't know. There's no reason to stick around them now that the first round of the tournament is over."

Sakura and Temari seemed hurt and annoyed by this, but Temari simply just scoffed at this. Sakura, on the other hand, suddenly seemed to snap as if she had finally grown tired of Sasuke's cold and distant behavior towards her.

"What's wrong with you?!" she demanded as she took a step forward, firmly planting her foot on th ground. "I understand that you may not like us, but why do you have to keep acting so cold and rude towards us, huh?! Can't you see that we're just trying to be friends?! If you really don't like us, then just say so!"

Temari looked surprised by Sakura's sudden reaction, and she took a step back in an attempt to try and avoid her rage. "S-Sakura, you…"

Sasuke, who had remained quiet through Sakura's outburst, simply blinked in response and got up from the bench. Turning around, he headed over to the straw dummies that lay on the opposite side of the field, Suigetsu following him closely behind and he gave Sakura and Temari an apologetic and confused look.

As he walked away, Sasuke stopped and turned his head and looked straight at Gaara out of the corner of his eyes. "Get ready, Gaara… I'll see you at the final rounds." And with that, he turned his head and continued on his way.

…

Sighing quietly, Sakura looked down at the ground in front of her as if she had been exhausted by her yelling. A sad look in her eyes, she tried to hold back tears as they threatened to spill from her eyes. Sasuke… Dammit… Why am I feeling like this…?

Gaara, who had been quietly observing the one-sided argument, slowly got up from his meditation position and walked back inside the dormitory without a word.

Very well, Uchiha Sasuke… At the tournament it is then.

|Battle Arena, The Grand Spirit Dome, Soul Society|

One week later…

"Welcome to the final round of the Grand Divisional Tournament! On behalf of the Grand Spirit Dome, I thank you all for coming! Now, please sit tight as the final rounds will begin in approximetly five minutes! Again, thank you all for coming, and enjoy the final rounds!"

As Sasuke and the other eleven finalists entered the battle arena, they saw that it was in fact a large circular stadium that closely resembled a coliseum. Seated in the battle arena was a crowd of over ten thousand people who had come from all over Seireitei as well as Rukongai. "Whoa!" exclaimed Suigetsu as he looked around the arena. "This place is enormous! A pretty cool place to have a final showdown, huh Sasuke?"

Sasuke simply scoffed in response as he saw Rangiku and Akihiro step out from one of the five entrances and into the arena. As they reached the group of finalists, Rangiku waved at Sasuke unprofessionally, a cute smile on her face. "Hey Sasuke!" she sang out as she and Akihiro stopped in front of the group. "Are you ready for the big day?"

… "Sure," replied Sasuke flatly.

Rangiku frowned at his dead reply, but before she could say anything else, Akihiro interrupted her. "Ok you guys, listen up," he said in his usual bored and lazy tone. "Here are the rules for the final round of the tournament. First of all, any strategy or tactic is allowed. This basically means that there are no such things as illegal moves, but fatal moves such as a one-hit kill is not allowed. You may knock out your opponent with a single move if you can, but you're forbidden to kill them unless they drag the fight on to the point where there's no other option. Understand?" He looked at Menma as he said this, but the cocky male simply smirked in response.

"Also, the fight goes on until one of the opponents admits defeat or is killed," continued Akihiro. "Any Kido spell is allowed, and the restriction placed on releasing one's Zanpakuto is removed. And finally, if Rangiku-san or I see that the fight is going one way and is hopeless to one of the opponents, then we have the right to stop the fight. There are no ifs, ands, and buts, and if you try to argue with any of us, then we'll disqualify you immediately. Does this make sense?"

All of the twelve finalists nodded once in confirmation.

"Very well then." Akihiro grinned as he clapped his hands together and rubbed them in anticipation. "I look forward to your matches. Now, first things first. Rangiku-san will explain the final round match-ups to you all, then we'll get this whole entire thing underway." As he stepped back, Rangiku stepped forward and held up a medium-sized bulletin with the match-ups on it.

"Ok, I'll explain this one last time," she began. "The winners of the first and second match will face off against each other, and the same goes for the third and fourth as well as the fifth and sixth matches. After that, those three pairs will be divided into matches seven, eight, and nine. Then the winners of matches seven and eight will face off against each other, and the winner of that match will be facing the winner of match nine in the very final match of the tournament. Did everyone get that?"

Once they all nodded again, she continued. "Once you finish your match, head over to the infirmary where Unohana-taichou will heal your wounds before your next match. After that, you'll head back over to the waiting booth for the finalists and wait there until your next match." Taking a deep breath, she lowered the bulletin and gave everyone an encouraging smile. "Now, the first match-up is Temari vs Doku, so you two stay here while all of the other finalists head up to the waiting booth."

At her word, the finalists save Temari and Doku headed up for the waiting booth obediently without another word. As they reached the said booth, all ten of them chose their respective spots and leaned against the railing as they waited patiently for the first match to begin.

…

"Ok you two, step forward to the center and shake hands," ordered Akihiro as he snapped his fingers at the spot on the ground in front of him. When the two first match-ups stepped up to the center and shook hands, Akihiro nodded and glanced at both of them before looking back up at the audience.

"Alright then… Let the first match of the final rounds begin!" And with the roar of the audience, the first match between Temari and Doku began.

…

For the first minute of the beginning of the match, Temari and Doku circled each other with their swords- Doku had acquired a short sword through unknown methods- drawn and held out in front of them. The audience waited quietly for one of them to make the first move.

After the minute of stillness had passed, Temari, smirking at her opponent, twirled her Zanpakuto in her hand and ran forward at Sony with her weapon held out by her side. "Take… this!" she yelled as she slashed at his side.

Doku, having seen this attack incoming, held up his sword by his side and deflected the attack, and the crowd went wild as the first clang of swords rang throughout the arena.

"Hah!" He laughed out loud as he launched a series of jabs at Temari, quickly proving himself to be a formidable swordsman. Temari, although a skilled swordsman herself, struggled to keep up with his speedy moves, and she grimaced slightly as the point of his blade sliced off a single strand of her hair. Che! she scoffed in her head. I knew that he was fast from his fight in the semi-finals, but he's pretty skilled with a sword as well… Or wait, is he…?

Bracing herself, she found a firm footing and crouched down low as she swept at his legs with her sword. Doku looked surprised by this, but his quickness allowed him to dodge the attack in the nick of time as he jumped up into the air in a crouch motion.

Heh… Temari grinned as she swung her katana upwards in an attempt to catch him while he was still in mid-air. Just as I thought… His only strong point is his speed… If he was even the slightest bit familiar with wielding a sword, he would have used the second that I was unable to attack to attack me with his sword.

Having confirmed her opponent's weakness, Temari used this opportunity to execute an impressive combination of intermediate-leveled moves in order to overwhelm Doku. This strategy proved to be effective, and Doku's eyes widened in surprise as he found himself being overwhelmed by Temari's sheer swordsmanship skills alone. Dammit…! Maybe using a sword for this chick wasn't the best idea… In that case… Grinning, he suddenly dropped his sword and flickered to Temari's backside, catching her off-guard and striking her side with a pivoted roundhouse kick.

Temari struggled not to cry out in pain as she went flying over five feet away, and she clenched her teeth as she quickly rethought her strategy. Che, is looks like he quickly realized his mistake… Now he's switching to Hakuda, and I'm definitely nowhere near as skilled at that as he is…! I could use my Shikai, but I want to save it for the later rounds so that I don't give away my secret weapon right from the beginning.

As she narrowly avoided a series of jabs from Doku, she grinned as she completed her strategy. Well, to gain some, I have to lose some.

… The rest of the fight dragged on for a long ten minutes. It was Temari's turn to be overwhelmed by Doku's fast and precise punches and kicks, but she soon used her head and tricked him into thinking that he had the upper hand. Purposely using sluggish and ineffective moves, she got him into his cocky and arrogant self that he had shown himself to be in the earlier rounds.

After he let his guard down, she, having lured him near a tree, quickly used flash step to get behind him and pin him against the tree with the edge of her blade against the nape of his neck. "Well?" she hissed. "Give it up now, or you'll end up dead in exactly five seconds… Five… Four… Three…"

Baring his teeth, Doku realized that he had nothing left that he could do and closed his eyes as he nodded. "Very well then," he growled. "I give up."

Stepping forward from the neutral zone, Rangiku raised her hand as she reached the two. "And the winner of the first match for the final rounds of the Grand Divisional Tournament is Temari!"

The crowd cheered loudly in celebratory of Temari's victory, and as she headed up towards the waiting booth, Akihiro walked up to Rangiku's side and raised his hand for the crowd's attention. "Now that the first match of the final rounds is over with, the second match between Halo and Yadomaru will now begin!"

… The match was a fairly quick one. Halo, a blonde female with considerable above average skills, was more than enough for Yadomaru, a violet-haired male with strange silver eyes. His skills were flat-out average to the point where it was almost appalling to watch him being beaten by Halo. Although he managed to get one or two good blows in, Halo, whose specialty lied in her fairly superior Hakuda skills, was able to knock him out of the match with a strong right hook to his jaw. The match was over in five minutes.

After the second match ended, the whole entire arena grew deathly silent, as did the tournament competitors. It was as if the very air itself was filled to the brim with a silent electricity as all life in the arena quietly awaited the third match of the tournament.

"The whole entire arena seems to have changed," Sakura murmured quietly. "All because of the next match…"

Temari, who had been healed by Unohana-taichou, nodded from Sakura's side, her arms crossed as she watched Sasuke and Gaara silently walking down the two sets of stairs simultaneously. "Yea… This is probably going to be the most exciting match yet… Two non-Shinigami who both wield Zanpakuto…"

"You have a Zanpakuto as well, Temari-san," Sakura pointed out. "But then again, you didn't have to use your Shikai." She frowned as she watched Sasuke and Gaara walk towards the center of the battle arena. "I wonder if we'll be able to see theirs. I've never seen a Zanpakuto release before, so…"

"Well, be prepared to see at least one," said Temari quietly. "With the level of skills that'll be taking up the next couple of matches, one of them is bound to release their Zanpakuto."

…

As Sasuke and Gaara faced each other, they stared at each other with a serious look in their eyes, both silent.

"Are you ready, Uchiha Sasuke?" asked Gaara in a calm tone.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes as he gripped the hilt of his chokutō. "A pointless question."

"Ok, are you two ready?" Akihiro nodded at the two opponents, and he raised his arm as he took a deep breath. "Ok, the third match between Uchiha Sasuke and Sabaku no Gaara… Begin!" His arm flashed down, signaling the start of the match.

Right as Akihiro's arm flashed down in the corner of both Sasuke and Gaara's eyes, they both unsheathed their respective weapons and clashed together.

As their blades locked together, Sasuke quickly pulled apart from Gaara and spun around, swinging his blade in a wide arc. Gaara, seeing this, stuck his sword out in front of him, the blade point pointing down. The force of the attack forced him back a few inches, and Gaara grimaced as he struggled to keep his stance.

"Such strength…" observed Gaara as he leapt backwards. "It's no wonder you were able to pass the preliminary round so easily." Having said that, he sped forward with his sword held out by his side. As he jumped into the air, he swung down at Sasuke, who easily blocked the blow.

"You're an extremely skilled swordsman too," said Gaara as he stabbed at Sasuke multiple times rapidly. "Much more so than I had thought."

Sasuke evaded each and every stab and stroke of Gaara's blade with masterful agility that caused the audience to fall silent as they watched the match intently. "You're not so bad yourself," said Sasuke as a strand of his hair was sliced off by the tip of Gaara's blade. Leaning back halfway in order to avoid a long stab from Gaara's blade, Sasuke leaned back all the way and executed a backflip while clipping Gaara's jaw with the heel of his foot.

Gaara winced in pain as he stepped back clumsily, but he quickly recovered from the hit and rushed forward with his sword in hand. As he reached Sasuke, he extended his fist out in a punch, and as Sasuke ducked to avoid the blow, Gaara switched his Zanpakuto from his right hand to his left, and, spinning his sword in his hand so that he was holding it in reverse grip, he stabbed down at Sasuke with it.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes as he saw Gaara's movements from the corner of his eyes, and he was barely able to avoid the attack as he swerved his head to the side. His eyes widened as the edge of Gaara's blade passed right by his cheek narrowly, and he scoffed silently to himself as he crouched down and swung his leg in an arc in an attempt to trip and disable Gaara temporarily.

Gaara quickly crouched down and leapt into the air, and he stabbed down with his sword in mid-air, aiming to get Sasuke's right leg. Sasuke was able to dodge the attack however, and he leapt back as he brandished his Zanpakuto out in front of him.

Che… That move that he just executed a moment ago… That was definitely an A-rank swordsmanship move right there… It seems that I've been underestimating him. Narrowing his eyes, Sasuke felt a grin tug at the corner of his mouth as Gaara rushed forward and started to throw jabs, punches and kicks at him.

"So we're going with Hakuda, huh?" commented Sasuke as he blocked and parried Gaara's blows. "Alright, bring it!" As Gaara swung his leg at him, Sasuke ducked and kicked out with his foot. Gaara managed to block the blow with the flat of his blade, and he quickly spun around and swung his fist at Sasuke for a right hook.

As Sasuke blocked another kick with his wrist held up by his face, his eyes narrowed as he scoffed. "Is this all you got?" he asked, contempt in his voice as he grabbed Gaara's wrist before he could swing forward with his sword. "Pathetic, Sabaku no Gaara." And having said that, Sasuke released his grip on Gaara's wrist and slammed his foot hard into his chest, sending him flying over ten feet away.

As Gaara skidded on the ground, he leapt up into the air with a backflip and stabbed down with his sword in an attempt to slow himself down. As he landed on the ground, Gaara stared at Sasuke with an even look in his eyes.

"It seems that my Zanjutsu and Hakuda skills are much inferior to yours," he said in a calm voice. "Anything else would be pointless."

Sasuke frowned at this. "What are you saying?"

Gaara didn't respond as he held his Zanpakuto out in front of him horizontally. As he placed his hand right over the point of the blade, he narrowed his eyes as he stared hard at Sasuke. "Bleed, Shukketsu Sunaarashi."

THUD! The entire arena seemed to explode into a massive cloud of dust and smoke as a massive burst of reiatsu emitted from Gaara's Zanpakuto. Sasuke squinted as he tried to peer through the smoke, his arms shielding his face as bits of dust and sand pelted him.

This reiatsu… It's wind.

Once the smoke cleared up, Gaara was seen holding a large gunbai, the main portion of the war fan being a little over half as tall as Gaara was. The fan two-portioned was a dull silver color with a thin and light green border that was almost brown. It had a long eighteen inch white handle, and even though it looked like it was made out of metal, Gaara was able to wield the gourd-like fan as if it was almost made out of paper.

"This is my Zanpakuto's true form, Shukketsu Sunaarashi," said Gaara quietly. "Uchiha Sasuke… get ready." And with that, he raised his fan and swung down at the air in front of him, surprising Sasuke as a giant gust of wind made of reiatsu was expelled from the fan.

As the gust of wind blew towards Sasuke, he was surprised to see a large and almost dust storm-like wave of sand speeding towards him. Sand?! Sasuke grimaced as he executed multiple backflips in order to dodge the attack, but he saw Gaara swing his gunbai from the corner of his eyes.

As Gaara swung his gunbai again, it seemed to be able to manipulate the sand as it quickly transformed into an "X" and swerved right, heading towards Sasuke again. Sasuke swore in his head as he planted a hand on the ground and used his arm muscle to propel himself into the air, narrowly dodging the second attack.

"So you can manipulate the wind and sand, huh?" he commented as he went flying through the air. "What an annoying ability."

Gaara simply blinked in reply as he manipulated the sand by making a twirling motion with his gunbai in the air. "Suna no Tatsumaki." A large stream of sand suddenly surrounded Sasuke as he planted his feet on the ground and started to surround him as it wrapped itself around the air that surrounded him.

Sasuke looked around as he began to be trapped inside a whirling vortex of sand, and as he reached out with his hand, he narrowed his eyes as his hand was knocked back by the high-speed whirling sand. The speed of the sand is impressive… Closing his eyes, Sasuke took a step back and pointed a single finger at what seemed to be the weak spot of the sand tornado.

Gaara's eyes narrowed as nothing went on from within the vortex of sand. "Why aren't you releasing your Zanpakuto, Uchiha Sasuke?" he asked in a flat tone. "I know that your skills surpass mine, but at this rate, you won't be able to defeat me without releasing your-."

"Hadō #4: Byakurai."

Gaara's eyes widened as a stream of blue-white lightning penetrated through the sand vortex… and headed straight for him. Oh shi-! Gaara quickly raised his gunbai so that the whole flat base of the fan was shielding most of his body. The Kido spell hit the gunbai straight on, but all it managed to do was knock it back a millimeter as the spot where it hit sizzled.

"My Zanpakuto… isn't meant for things like that," replied Sasuke calmly.

"Impressive…" Gaara gave Sasuke an acknowledging look as he stared at the now-freed Sasuke standing not ten feet away from him, his Zanpakuto in hand. "You used the moment of exposure from Byakurai to force your way through the opening… It looks like your Kido has improved."

Remaining silent, Sasuke simply grinned in response as he sped forward with an augmented flash step, swinging his sword at the surprised Gaara in a wide arc. Gaara grimaced as he stepped back, and he raised his gunbai as their two weapons clashed together with a loud "clang!"

… From their position in the waiting booth, Suigetsu, Sakura, and Temari looked as if they had been completely drawn into the fight as they watched the match with wide, unblinking eyes.

"So his Zanpakuto is a wind-type?" asked Sakura rhetorically. "He can manipulate the sand too…! So is that what a Zanpakuto release looks like?" Her eyes narrowed as she watched Sasuke and Gaara continue to clash, and the audience of thousands gasped in surprise as the tip of Sasuke's blade sliced deep into Gaara's left arm.

"Still… Sasuke's fast enough to avoid that red-haired kid's sand attacks, so as long as he can continue dodging all of his wind-manipulation attacks like he is right now, he can force him into a defensive position," commented Suigetsu.

Temari nodded in agreement. "Sasuke's much more skilled in Zanjutsu, Hakuda, and he's a lot faster than Gaara… I hate to say it, but it's clear who the winner is here… Well, depending all on how he uses his Zanpakuto's ability of course."

...

Five minutes later into the fight, Sasuke and Gaara both stood five feet away from each other as they panted from exhaustion. Gaara had a deep wound on his left arm as well as a few shallow cuts that covered his legs. There was a single cut on his right cheek, and he struggled not to grimace in pain from his stinging wounds.

Sasuke, however, had no wounds whatsoever; instead, he was plain out exhausted from dodging Gaara's constant barrage of wind and sand attacks. It wasn't so much of an advantage as it was a disadvantage as it was obvious that he wasn't as fast as he was just a few minutes ago. Gaara's skilled and constant streams of sand that whipped around Sasuke were annoying to deal with as they practically forced him onto the defensive side, and Sasuke had to put all of his concentration into dodging every single grain of sand that flew his way.

"Let's… end… this… fight…" said Sasuke in-between breaths. "This fight's… been going on… for too long."

Gaara simply nodded in response as he straightened up. "I agree…" Raising his gunbai, Gaara called up a giant wave of sand that closely resembled a mini-tsunami. The audience gasped in awe as they beheld the sight, and the tournament finalists from the waiting booth looked surprised by the awesome sight; even Menma looked slightly surprised by it.

Sasuke's eyes grew wide as he looked up at the giant wave of sand. "What is this…?" he whispered quietly to himself.

"Kurasshu no Nami," replied Gaara in an even tone. "Get ready, Uchiha Sasuke." And with that, Gaara swung down vertically with his gunbai, and the wave of sand surged forward as it crashed down on Sasuke.

Shit! Sasuke braced himself as the wave of sand leapt forward towards him, and he used flash step to quickly dodge to the side as a giant stream of sand slammed into the spot where he was just at a second ago. Gaara swung his gunbai and manipulated multiple streams of sand that sped towards Sasuke, and Sasuke used his speed and agility to weave in and out between them as he gradually travelled closer and closer to where Gaara was at.

THUD! Sasuke grimaced in pain as he was knocked back over ten feet by a giant trunk-like stream of sand that slammed into his side, and slamming his katana into the ground, he descended to a halt in mid-air and flash stepped to an unoccupied zone right in front of Gaara.

Gaara seemed surprised by this, and as Sasuke swung forward with his sword, he swung his gunbai at him in an attempt to take him out with a pressurized blast of wind, but his reaction was too slow.

The sound of Sasuke's sword slicing into Gaara's arm and chest rang throughout the battle arena, and the audience fell deathly silent as Gaara fell backwards, defeated.

After a few moments, Rangiku stepped forward from the neutral zone by the sidelines and looked over Gaara's still body. Gaara struggled to get into a sitting position, and as he sat upright, there was a calm and accepting look on his face as he glanced at Sasuke who was standing above him.

"And the winner of the third match is Uchiha Sasuke!" announced Rangiku, and the quiet arena exploded with a roar as the audience cheered and screamed their approval.

"Sasuke," called out Gaara as Sasuke started to walk away.

Sasuke turned around and looked back at Gaara, giving him a questioning look.

"Don't limit yourself to small things," said Gaara in a calm and mellow tone as he stared hard at Sasuke. "I know what you're thinking right now, but don't limit this tournament to something as trivial as testing your own strength; instead, use this tournament as a stepping stone into something much more bigger than yourself. You won't regret it."

…

Letting out a quiet scoff, Sasuke turned around and resumed walking away.

As he reached the waiting booth, Suigetsu welcomed him with a loud laugh and a clap to the back. "That was a pretty good match, Sasuke!" he grinned, revealing his sharp and pointed teeth. "Taking out a Shikai without releasing your own Zanpakuto is a pretty big feat."

Sasuke simply remained quiet as he stared out at the arena, unmoving even as the other finalists congratulated him.

…

"And now everyone, we'll be moving onto the fourth match of the final rounds!" announced Rangiku in a loud and firm voice. "Suigetsu and Buzz, please enter the battle arena grounds. Again, Suigetsu and Buzz please enter the battle arena grounds!"

---

Author's Note:

Yea yea, I know. The fight between Sasuke and Gaara wasn't as good as you guys were expecting. I've just been so busy lately that my brain was kind of fried when I was writing this chapter. I'm so sorry, but I promise (seriously) that Sasuke and Menma's fight will be epic. It may take a while to finish the chapter, but I'll definitely make it worth the wait.

Translations:

Shukketsu Sunaarashi: Bleeding Sandstorm.

Suna no Tatsumaki: Sand Tornado.

Kurasshu no Nami: Crashing Wave.