Disclaimer: I do not not not not not not not not not not not not not own Naruto.

Shoutout of a Different Sort: Three cheers for Moonwaterpetal, who gave a great anti-flame speech.

Chapter 16

Everybody Here? Not Quite! The Preliminaries Start!

Medal Count So Far:

Sand Team: 9
Cloud Team: 9

Rock Team: 9

Team 8: 9

Team 9: 9

Team 6: 6

Team 10: 6

Mist Team: 0

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"Say all that again?" Shikamaru wasn't sure he was hearing it right.

Raigar sighed.

"Shikamaru, we've told you twice already." he said.

"Look, we helped them beat up a Mist-team. We each needed one more set, so we split up to go look for more teams to beat. I'm sure they're fine, they did as much in the battles against that Mist-team as we did. They're determined, too. They'll make it." Rasha assured the worried Chuunin.

Tamaru was strangely silent.

"All right… So they should be on their way here." Shikamaru said.

"Well, we aren't sure… we got lucky, we found a careless Waterfall-nin team that was just begging to be ambushed." said Rasha, "They could be having a lot more trouble finding another team… among other things. But they'll make it eventually, I'm sure."

Shikamaru sighed.

"All right… so long as they make it eventually." he said, standing to leave, "Make sure you eat and rest up. Now that there's 18 of you, we're going to have preliminaries for sure…"

"Wait, 18? So 5 other teams made it other than us." Tamaru finally spoke.

Shikamaru nodded.

"Wow…" Tamaru shook his head. He seemed to be coming to terms with something.

"All right…" Shikamaru left, closing the door.

"Have some fruit." Raigar threw a cluster of grapes at Tamaru as soon as the door was shut. Tamaru caught it, staring at it blankly.

"What the heck?" he asked.

"They're called grapes, moron." Raigar said.

"And you throw them at people? Are they like smokebombs?"

Rasha started giggling. Tamaru threw the grapes back at Raigar, who caught them, picking one off, then tossing it in his mouth.

"You eat them." Raigar said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Oh." Tamaru said, sitting back down. He tossed a Shuriken in the air, controlling it with his chakra, sending it flying one way across the room, then to the other, then doing figure 8's in the air, and other such things.

"Can you stop that?" Rasha asked.

"Why?"

"We're supposed to rest and relax. You shouldn't be burning chakra like that."

"Rest and relax?"

"And eat." Raigar added.

"Oh. Well you guys go ahead." Tamaru said, catching the Shuriken, "Doing this really doesn't take much chakra at all. It's more of a nervous habit."

"Well, don't do it then." Rasha said, irritated.

Tamaru flicked his wrist, sending the Shuriken headed at her. She didn't have her Seigan on at the moment, so she was taken totally by surprise as the projectile hurled at her, stopping several inches from her face. Tamaru recalled the Shuriken, catching it and spinning it on his finger.

"Tamaru!" Raigar said sternly.

"What's going on? You're never this on edge." Rasha added.

"Or rude."

"Especially to me."

Tamaru shrugged.

"Going a little stir-crazy, I guess." he said.

"That answer's not going to cut it!" Raigar said, "You just need to calm down, rest, relax, and eat!"

"Calm down? You're the one who's shouting." Tamaru shot back.

"Quiet, both of you!" Rasha exclaimed, "We need to rest to be at our best for the preliminaries. So take a grape."

She picks one off and throws it to Tamaru. Raigar sat down, eventually starting to doze, while Rasha helped herself to the fruit bowl in the middle.

"So you eat it, you say?" Tamaru asked.

"Yeah, just like any other fruit." she replied.

"Oh." He stuck the grape back into the fruit bowl.

"You aren't going to eat it?"

"No."

"Are you going to sleep?"

"No."

"Tamaru! You've got to do something to rest for the preliminaries!"

He shrugged.

"You kept taking watch in the forest, you didn't sleep at all!"

He shrugged again.

"Tamaru, that can't be healthy…" she murmured.

"I'm fine." he said.

"Well at least eat then." she said.

"I don't eat." he replied.

Her eyes widened.

"What?"

"I don't eat. Have you ever seen me eat?"

"No… but you have to eat." she said, surprised.

"Well, I don't. I'm fine." he said.

"I'm just concerned for you, that's all…" Rasha said.

"Thanks, but I'm fine really." Tamaru insisted.

Rasha sighed, exasperated, picking up another cluster of grapes.

"Fine, have it your way. Just don't blame me if you lose in the preliminaries, ok? "

"I would never blame you for anything." he replied.

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"So, it's almost time… just one more hour left until midnight…" Genma said to the Chuunin, "Go get all the teams and have them meet in the main arena area." He then started to issue directions of which team each Chuunin should go to.

"And Shikamaru, that leaves you with the Sand Team."

Shikamaru groaned. Did all of his superiors have some conspiracy against him?

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The kunai flew into the Sand Team's room, embedding itself in the wooden floor, wobbling.

"What the heck?" Kankuro asked, stopping to pick it up, "Oh. They want us down in the main room."

"Shikamaru…" Temari whispered.

Gaara raised an eyebrow.

"The coward." Temari growled, "He's the only one who wouldn't deliver it to us personally."

"Hmm, I wonder why that would be?" Kankuro asked sarcastically.

"Shut it." Temari hissed.

Kankuro raised his hands defensively.

"Sorry, sorry." he moved to grab his three summoning scrolls from the side of the room, "Shall we be going, then?"

Temari smiled evilly.

"Yeah. One thing he forgets, is that he has to be there too."

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The eighteen of them stood together in the main room with the statue (the fighting place), looking around at each other. Shikamaru had placed himself as far as possible from Temari while looking worriedly at the door. Are they going to make it? he wondered.

Team 8 was glaring at the Sand Team and Rock Team. The Sand Team had taken thief first set of medals, after all, and the Rock Team had attacked them in the village… Team 9 gawked at the presence of the Cloud Team, especially Neji.

"Are they for real?" Tenten asked.

Neji groaned.

"Those jokers actually made it…" he muttered.

"Ahem, attention everyone." Hayate called over the clamor and talking going on all around him, "There's only an hour left, and I doubt anyone else is coming. If they do, they'll be accommodated, but for now I'm going to tell you what's going to happen. As many of you here no doubt know, we're going to hold a preliminary exam to eliminate at least half of the competitors, to single out the best for the guests coming from all over the continent. Also, with less matches the tournament can progress quicker. Therefore, we are going to hold some preliminaries tomorrow morning, starting at 8:00, for this purpose."

Most of the people were unsurprised. They knew well about the preliminaries and workings of the Chuunin exams.

"So… Now I have to ask this… if anyone is uncertain or afraid at all, now is the time to withdraw."

Nobody raised their hand.

"Good… so with 18 of you, there will be 9 matches, and-"

And the door burst open, revealing three figures, one carrying another. Shikamaru's face visibly brightened.

"Told you they'd make it." said Rasha to Shikamaru.

"What'd we miss?" Sakura asked.

Team 10 walked in, Chouji carrying Ino. Genma frowned.

"With 21 the matches won't be even…" he muttered, "But if she's out then she can be-"

"She isn't." Chouji said sharply, "It's her jutsu, it sends her mind out for a time, but she's coming back."

"Yeah, she'll be in fighting condition." Sakura assured.

"But we still can't have an odd number of competitors!" Genma protested, "And nobody here wants to give up."

"Well neither do we, and we got through the test, same as they did." Sakura replied.

Genma sighed.

"Uhh, we can use the random name selector to select somebody to get a free pass to the next round." Shikamaru said, "Just a suggestion."

Genma shook his head.

"No. Nobody's getting by free, that would be cheating the spectators. And forcing someone to fight two battles would be unfair to that person. There's just no way to do an odd number and keep it fair." Genma replied.

"Well, I don't think it's fair to just disqualify them either." Tamaru spoke up.

"Maybe not, but what will we do?" Genma asked.

Nobody had another suggestion.

"Wait here." Genma said to all the Genin, "Chuunins come with me, we're going to have a meeting."

Genma, Shikamaru, and the other Chuunins left, Shikamaru looking back at Team 10, concerned, before following.

The others murmured a little, waiting impatiently. Ino returned to her body, smiling at first, but groaning in annoyance when they explained the situation. Of course they should be allowed to enter, Ino said. She just didn't know what they should do as a solution. But Team 10 had worked hard, and they deserved to compete, she said, and naturally, Sakura and Chouji agreed. Team 6 was in support of them as well, having fought by their side. The other teams didn't seem to care particularly one way or another, wanting to go back up to their rooms and sleep before the battle.

It was beginning to near midnight.

Then the Chuunins, led by Genma, walked out of the side room. Genma sighed.

"Because of the nature of the preliminary matches, an odd number of contestants does not work out well." Genma said, "We currently have a difficult situation on our hands. So, I ask again, if there is ANYBODY who feels scared, nervous, or even uncertain about competing, please leave now. You can die or get seriously hurt in these things you know. Last year, there was a Genin who almost had to quit being a ninja."

"And he is standing here right now." Lee said, irritated.

"You're not helping my point." Genma said back, "So please, I'll ask again. Does anybody want to quit now, for any reason at all?"

Nobody raised their hands.

"Then you leave me no choice." Genma sighed, "I am sorry, Team 10, but I cannot allow you to com-"

The door burst open for the second time in the night, interrupting Genma mid-sentence. A figure with arm blades held the door open, panting for two companions, a girl and a boy, to catch up. The light glinted off the headband, revealing the Mist logo.

"Heh." said the boy, stepping around the one with the arm-blades, "Miss me, Blondie?"

Ino screamed.

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Final Medal Count (in other words, the teams that made it)

Sand Team: 9

Rock Team: 9

Cloud Team: 9

Team 6: 9

Team 8: 9

Team 9: 9

Team 10: 9

Mist Team: 9

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Hi, Dark Eclipse here talking. I know I said last time that the preliminaries would start today and such… but I thought that the Mist-team bursting in was such a good ending I just left it like that. There's not much left to say though, so, next time…

Hyuuga's Bane?: The Preliminaries' Explosive Start!