As they got ready to fight, Michiko couldn't help her anxiety. As the fight kept going, she couldn't help her throat constricting at the sight of blood on Naruto's face. She was surprised when Naruto tricked Kiba, and almost fell over with laughter when he farted in Kiba's face. Kakashi could see her shoulders shaking slightly with silent laughter. Naruto won, and Michiko smiled warmly, saying, "Good job!" he smiled widely, nodding, before heading up to the viewing platform. As Kiba was being put on a stretcher, Michiko went over, stopping them. "How are you feeling, Kiba?" "Not so good…" she did some hand signs, and her palm glowed green with chakra. As she healed the more urgent injuries, the medical personal looked at her in astonishment. "Feel better?" "Lots!" she smiled reassuringly, saying, "You shouldn't be in the hospital too long now, but try not to hurt yourself, and rest. You need to regain your chakra." He nodded, and Hinata walked up behind her. "Hina-chan!" Michiko said with a wide, happy smile, giving her shy friend a small hug. "Ohayo, Michiko-chan. K-Kiba…" she held out a small bottle of healing ointment, saying, "Th-This is some h-healing ointment…f-for you and A-Akamaru…" Michiko smiled warmly, noticing how Hinata never seemed to stutter around her.
Michiko looked at the screen, but her heart jumped into her throat when she saw the names. 'Hinata and Neji…no…' She hesitantly went back over to the proctor, and she felt a pain in her heart when Neji tried scaring Hinata away. Soon, she couldn't take it anymore. "Stop it, Neji!!!" her voice rang through the large room, and silence ensued. "You know she's stronger than she thinks, and I don't appreciate you putting her down!! If she wanted to kick your butt, she'd do it!! Right, Hinata?" she saw her friends surprised face, but determination soon won over, and she nodded, activating her Byakugan. As the fight raged, Michiko couldn't help but feel proud of her friend. 'She's really gotten stronger…' 'But Neji's stronger…' before Michiko could question her, Hinata tried to strike Neji in the heart. An attack landed, and there was a moment of silence before Hinata coughed up blood. 'Hinata-chan's heart!'
Hinata didn't give up, but Neji stopped her, showing her the red spots on her arms. 'He hit her chakra points…' she remembered when Neji actually caught her and did that, and shivered involuntarily. Neji hit her hard in the chest, sending her flying back, and Michiko took an involuntary step forward, worry in her eyes. Hinata stood up again, after coughing up blood, and Neji went in for the fatal blow.
In an instant, Michiko had grabbed his wrist, and Hinata collapsed behind her. "We'll talk about this later…" she said in a demanding, yet disappointed and sad tone hid just under the surface. She released him, turning to Hinata. She listened to her heartbeat, and her heart beat painfully in her chest. 'She's going into cartiac arrest!!' She did a medical jutsu, healing her heart, and giving her some of her own chakra. 'Pull through this, Hina-chan! Please! Please…' Tears started scalding her eyes as she lifted her shy friend onto the stretcher, her hand never leaving her friends heart as she healed her. Kakashi came down behind her as they carted Hinata away, and said, "You did all you could…" "Yes…but I can't help but feel it wasn't enough…" she turned around, and he felt his heart tighten at the sad, hopeless look in her dark eyes. "She'll be fine, Michi…I'm sure of it…and Sasuke will be fine, too…"
Michiko nodded slightly, saying, "I guess…" she was about to say she wanted to leave, when the names for the next match came up, and she sighed, walking to her spot as Kakashi got an angry Naruto onto the viewing platform. 'Lee vs. Gaara…I'm worried…Lee could get really hurt…' she remembered how Gaara had killed that shinobi in the Forest of Death, and prayed to kami that Lee would be okay. As the fight begins, Michiko can clearly tell that Lee can't get past the Sand Shield, so he removes his weights. As they crashed into the ground, Michiko thought, 'Wearing weights like that might actually help my own training…' As Lee's high-speed Taijutsu proved capable of getting past the Sand Shield, Michiko can't help but think that there's more you need. 'You can't win with speed alone…I can't even do that, and I'm faster than Lee!' Lee tried to use the Primary Lotus, but the instant he cringed in pain, Michiko knew the attack was useless. Gaara attacked him again, though Lee recovered surprisingly quickly from using his attack.
Michiko's eyes widened in surprise when he opened five of the gates, and she even saw the spark of fear in Gaara's eyes. Lee uses another powerful attack, but the dust cleared, showing Gaara had softened the blow with sand. Lee tried to get away, but sand wrapped around his left arm and leg, and Gaara crushed them mercilessly. 'LEE!!' Before Gaara could finish off an unconscious, Michiko got in the way, and blew the sand away with her Chidori. There was an immense silence, and Michiko breathed heavily for a moment, saying, "Stop it, Gaara…you don't need to fight anymore…you won…" she could see the internal struggle in his eyes, and her own softened. Gai came down to check on Lee, and Michiko gave Gaara a slightly confused, disappointed look, before turning to Lee. Gaara had never felt bad about hurting someone, let alone hurting their feelings, but he couldn't help the pain in his heart when she looked at him like that. Michiko kneeled down next to Lee, checking his wounds, and couldn't help the guilt rising in her chest. 'He can never be a shinobi again…' tears stung her eyes, but she suppressed them, healing his wounds as best as she could, before letting Gai take him to the infirmary.
'Poor Lee…' she turned around to see Chouji and the other Sound Nin, Dosu, come down to fight. Chouji tried to run him over, but he made a crater in the wall, getting stuck, and Dosu immediately defeated him. Michiko sighed as the Third Hokage told them about the finals, and then they were dismissed. She decided to walk around, when Kakashi said, "I'm going to check on Sasuke…do you want to come along?" she nodded, and followed him to the hospital room. She saw the bodies of ANBU on the floor, and the silver-haired Genin from before standing over Sasuke. "Get away from him." She said in a menacingly calm voice, pulling out her swords slowly. "Michiko Hatake and Kakashi Hatake…the whole families here…"
Her glare became deadly as she said, "If you know what's good for you, you'd step away from Sasuke NOW…" He smirked, which irked her, and she cut him in half, only to find it had been a Shadow Clone. A body of an ANBU jumped out the window, and showed his face behind the mask, showing his smug face. Michiko punched the wall in frustration, making a large crater. "DAMN IT!!" Kakashi put a calming hand on her shoulder, saying, "Calm down…we'll get him…" "I know…" she said, anger evident in her tone, before she checked on Sasuke. "He'll be fine…" "That's what I told you…" "But I wanted to be sure…" Kakashi led her out, and she went to the training field.
She summoned her younger dogs and one older dog, Shiraishi, who had grown into a powerful canine. The puppies were playing amongst themselves, and Michiko started training them. When they had trained for a couple hours, she wondered who else she could summon, since these were all of her dogs. She did the familiar hand signs, biting her thumb until it bled, and said, slamming it onto the ground, "Summoning jutsu!!" A small tiger cub appeared, her cat green eyes familiar. Michiko picked her up, asking, "What's your name, little one?" It said, in a small voice, "Michiyo…" "Michiyo…I'll call you Michi then…" Michiko smiled. "That's what my dad calls me…" Michiyo nodded, and she put the cub down. As it ran around, stumbling every now and then, when it came upon a snake, which hissed at her.
Before Michiko could go to help her out, she grew into a huge tigress, at least Michiko's height at the shoulder, with large fangs like a saber-toothed tiger that reached her chest, and roared at the snake, which fled. Michiko had a confused look on her face before she thought, 'This could be an interesting little trick…'