Once the match began, Neji appeared in front of her with his palm open to hit where most of chakra was focused, on her heart. She saw his aim and opened her umbrella at the last moment to block his attack. The outcome to the fight was questionable with Neji's Byakugan and the ability to see where her chakra was centralized. Ura waited with her an open umbrella in front of her and one open behind her. Neji smirked as he could see that she was trying to calculate how to get to him without him being able to hit her. Her only way to attack him was from a distance, anything close-distance and he will paralize her entire body. Well, in that case, she will just have to be one step ahead of him.

Ura threw the umbrella open behind her into the air to float in mid-air. She would save that one for later just in case she needed it. Her plan was a bit risky, but, with a smirk she thought, nothing fun came from hiding behind objects. Neji anticipated that she would try to attack him with her umbrella, but Ura tossed it to the side and revealed a handful of hari in her hands. He leaped away to dodge any of the hari she tried to throw up at him. Instead, Ura leaped up with him and darted her hari to the floor where they embedded themselves halfway through. Neji couldn't see what she was planning on doing, so he looked at her chakra concentration starting to build up around her feet.

Neji then darted towards her, throwing his palms at her to try and reach one of her vital chakra points. Ura dodged his palms as best as she could until she lost her balance when he managed to kick her feet sideways and fell onto her side. Neji landed on his feet as he waited for her to get back onto her feet. He noticed that her body had skidded across the line of hari she had threw at the floor, leaving a trail of blood over the flooring. What plan was she trying to get at? When Ura managed to get on her hands and knees, a smirk formed on her lips as she peered over at Neji. What the hell was she doing! Ura got up on her feet as she ran her fingers through her blood, then it started to thicken beneath her touch. After a second, Ura was able to hold the blood attached to her body like a rope. She tugged on it until all the blood that left a trail on the hari formed into a whip-like object with the hari embedded in the blood.

"This, Neji Hyuuga, is my Whip of a Thousand Deaths: Blood jutsu," Ura twirled the blood whip above her head, "This is getting interesting, huh?"

Neji could see the chakra inside her blood whip, if he could just hit it with his own palm he could take out the chakra with ease. There was no way he was able to get close enough without getting lashed at by her whip. His best option was to try and get as close to her as fast as he could. Ura just needed one drop of his blood, something that could easily let her win if she could just hit him once. Her anticipation rose as she watched him run at her as fast as he could. Neji was fast...but he wasn't as fast as Lee. Ura could see every step he took until he came close enough for her to try and lay one hit on him. She cracked her blood whip at him as fast as she could, but even Ura had to leap away when Neji got too close to her chakra infused blood. Just one damn drop and he was making it difficult for her to hit him! That little brat needed to hold still so she could hit him!

She twirled on her heel when she landed on the ground, cracking her whip again at him. Of course, the damn Hyuuga boy was able to dodge her attack and keep running at her. Ura was getting angrier and angrier as she tried to attack him, but it seemed she was leaving herself too vulnerable to him. The only way to defeat him was without using any jutsu at all! That was it, Ura was able to see how defeating the Hyuuga boy would be simpler than she had though. Her blood red eyes turned back to a light beige as her blood returned to a liquid base. Neji stopped running at her when he saw her give up her kekkei-genkai. Even the chakra in her body went back to the natural vital points rather than circulating throughout her body. Ura smirked as she went into a fighting stance, "I'm done playing, Neji, let's get serious please."

"Bitch..." Neji growled, she was just fighting him without trying, "Fight me correctly!"

"That would be too easy," Ura stated with a defiant smirk, "All I would need was a simple drop of blood from you, and you would be dead."

That sent him off, angering him to the point where Neji strengthened his Byakugan. 'Good,' Ura thought as she widened her stance, 'At least I can prolonge this a bit.'

Neji pulled out his kunai as he appeared in front of her as Ura picked up a hari real quick. Hand-to-hand combat was the choice of a fight at the moment. The most people could probably see were shadows going everywhere and the sound of clashing metal echoing throughout the stadium. Ura managed to pick up another hari to gain an advantage as she continued to fight longer with Neji. They leaped away from each other, both panting as they glared at each other. Ura looked up at the umbrella in the air and formulated a new plan in her mind. She had waited a second too long because she then saw Neji half way running to her with his palm open. Ura put her hands together in a handsign jutsu as she disappeared in a cloud of smoke when Neji partially hit her. A small amount of blood landed on his hand as Ura had disappeared, he had done some damage...

He looked around to see where she was at. Her umbrella was still twirling normally above him, the other umbrella was still tossed to the side... Where the Hell was she? Neji looked over to the Prompter, but even he had a smirk on his face. The fight was far from over, Neji could still feel her somewhere... But where? There was a low rumble as Neji glanced around with his kunai in hand, where was that wretched woman! He then looked beneath him... Ura emerged from the ground and managed to punch his chin hard enough to send him into the air. She leaped into the air and began to punch and kick him as fast as she could. Neji dodged some, but he took at least half of her hits directly. She then gripped his shirt and discarded him towards the floor. A wide smile formed on her lips as she summoned the umbrella that was twirling in the air.

She began to descend, but turned to where the tip of her umbrella was aimed at Neji's head. Faster, faster, and faster she fell towards him. The image of his head split open flashed in her head. The image caused Ura to move from the uncomfortable feeling of fear over-taking her. This pause caused Neji to catch his landing and struggle to keep his balance as he stood as best as he could. Ura landed farther from Neji as her own blood started to drip from her mouth. She eyed Neji, and her heart nearly stopped when she saw his blood drip from his mouth as well.

Temptation ran thruogh her. It would be quick. What would his death do? She caught her breath as she glared at Neji, her panting started to slow to easy, deep breaths. Killing him was not her goal. There was only one goal that Ura had to keep in rememberence and he was standing near Temari and was holding a gourd. Ura glanced up at Gaara for a moment, then back at Neji. A small smile formed on her lips as she straightened her posture, Gaara was watching her.

That was enough. Ura aimed the umbrella at Neji, who was slowly starting to run at her. Her eyes narrowed at Neji. Knowing Gaara was watching her...that alone gave her enough strength... Ura's eyes widened. That alone gave her enough strength to kill Neji. She got down on one knee and aimed the tip of the umbrella at Neji's back as she held a jutsu handsign as the umrbella began to spin, slowly becoming faster and faster. As Neji finally made it to the point where he was ready to take on a full attack, Ura disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"The match is over!"

"What!" Neji turned, but his eyes widened at the sight behind him.

Not even an inch away, Ura had appeared with the tossed umbrella from earlier as four Jonin held her and the umbrella in place. In the matter of a second, Neji was about to be mutilated to pieces. Ura held the crimson look in her eyes as she glared at Neji with such hatred and passion mixed into one. Baki roughly pulled her to her feet as Temari came along and picked up the umbrellas for her sensei and teammate. Neji couldn't believe... That the same Ura, who had smiled with his cousin, trained with Team 7, and even helped some of the new Chunin... Had the same blood lust as a ruthless killer.

"Ura of the Sand shall also be one of the winners of the Preliminary Rounds," the Prompter announced.

Later that day, Ura had bathed and sipped the sake from the cantine as she watched the sunset on her cliff. It had been a long day since the end of her battle with Neji. She hadn't fought like that in a long time, not since her mission of helping a Jonin assasinate a gang leader. Ura thought back to what drove to that point of wanting Neji's blood... It was the image of Gaara, seeing him made her stronger in ways she had never known. Gaara...

"I made a promise... Nothing can stop me," Ura murmured as she felt the warm liquid seep down her throat slowly.

Ura was in a drunken stuper as soon as the sun fully set and the full moon began to rise. She clumsily got up, feeling her body sway to and fro before she finally found a steady pace. Staggering through the woods, Ura could see Gaara everywhere. In the trees, in the bush, in the little animals that were scurring across the grass. Ura finally made it to the village, all was quiet as she gulped down some more of the stolen sake she had taken from Baki. The warmth was caressing her skin as the summer's heat started to cool to a nightly breeze.

She was in the middle of the village when she looked up to see Gaara sitting at the Kikyo Shrine. Anger rushed through her, why did she have to love him when he blamed her for things she had no control over? Ura pulled out a single hari, aiming for Gaara, but stopped. For one, Gaara wouldn't get hurt. Second, she loved him too much to have even the faintest desire to hurt him.

"You almost kill Neji, but you can't even hurt that guy? You're such a loser."

Sasuke the damn Uchiha. Ura slowly turned as she drank more sake, her drunken state become more irrational as she saw him staring at her as if she were nothing. She turned even more and began to walk over to him, "You littles...brat!"

"Is that the best you got?" Sasuke shrugged as he watched her fumble over her feet, "That's why you're hiding behind a flask."

"Fuck...you..." Ura glared at him as she drank even more sake, "You have no idea-"

"You're right," Sasuke passed her with a smug look, "I don't touch sake as earnestly as you do."

"Careful, Ura, he's just a kid."

Ura staggered a bit before she found Kankurou approaching her where Sasuke stood. A smile formed on her lips, "Well there's you are! Did you brings me more soup?"

"Ugh...sure, specialty from Baki," Kankurou handed her a large bottle of sake from Suna with Baki's name on it.

Yeah, he would hear it later and probably get thrown around by Baki, but the fight he had seen today made him want to drink too. Kankurou helped Ura back to the hotel as the Uchiha watched the scene in silence. He couldn't help but feel that the Uchiha kept watching Ura though, not really even noticing that Kankurou had even showed up. Weird...

"Hey, did you find... Oh, so you did..." Temari swooped in from her fan, "How gone is she?"

"Pretty gone now.." Kankurou held Ura carefull as the kunoichi guzzled more of the imported sake down.

"Here! Try!" Ura shouted as she forced Kankurou to drink some, "It makes the world a better place.."

"Oh for Kami's sake!" Temari tried to stop Ura, but didn't stand a chance.

Ura tripped Temari with one of her umbrellas as Kankurou was starting to spit up the warm, spiced sake. As Temari fidgeted in anger and Kankurou finding some relief, Ura was merely laughing away at the sight. Temari was about to pull out her fan, but stopped when she saw Ura crying from her laughter as she fell to her knees. Kankurou merely smiled as he helped Ura up, "Don't get mad Temari... At least she's on our side."

Temari took a moment before she nodded and helped by getting Ura's other side. As they started to walk her back to the hotel, Ura stopped them so she could look up at Gaara one last time. Her face was tinted a reddish color by the sake, then murmured, "Do...do you think... Do you think Gaara..."

They waited before Ura finished, "Do you think he'll ever go to sleep?"

A sweat dropped formed as Temari groaned, dragging Ura back to the hotel, "Now she's just crazy..."

"I've seen worse," Kankurou sighed as he followed the two girls back to the hotel.