Disclaimer: I own nothing except whatever OC's appear.

Last time: The prelims begin.

This time: The prelims.

"You see? I have a chakra absorption technique too. Shall we see which one is the stronger?"

A black cloud boiled out from Shino's pockets and from the high collar of his jacket. The stoic genin had released his bugs and they swarmed all around and on him with an audible clicking of mandibles and many-jointed legs.

"Yes," the Aburame answered with no change in tone. "Let's see which is the better."

The black cloud of bugs that roiled around Shino dove at Yoroi with a buzzing noise as the beetles deployed their wings and sped at the target, whom their master said was their next meal.

Yoroi leapt back and out of the way, hurling a pair of kunai at Shino, but a black cloud rose in front of him and the kunai were lost from view. A tendril extended from the wall of black and arched gently for the bug user, who held up a had to meet it and came away with the kunai that had been gently deposited into his palm.

"Impossible!" Yoroi shouted. "Those knives should've sliced those bugs to pieces!"

"You did," Shino responded, as he looked the throwing weapons over without seeming to care, "but don't underestimate a colony's strengths."

As if to emphasize the point and to take revenge for their fallen comrades, the bugs that had been hounding Yoroi rose up in an angry swarm that blotted out even the hard lights that hung high above the arena floor.

"What do you mean?" The other shinobi demanded as he bounced from place to place as he avoided the swarm that was trying to squash him.

"An ant is capable of lifting something many times its own weight," Shino answered. "When this bug works as a colony, they can cut a swath hundreds of feet in width through the densest of jungles. A locust swarm can decimate an entire civilization by eating all that year's crops, and Kikaichu, with their master's guidance, are capable of astounding things. Don't underestimate the insect world."

Yoroi grunted as he narrowly avoided another tendril of bugs and leapt up onto of the giant statute that was the centerpiece for the arena. Instantly, the hands began to turn black as the bugs landed on it and began to swarm up it, leaving Yoroi with no time to escape.

'Damn, nowhere to run now,' the shinobi noted. Then he saw that Shino had no bugs around him. He grinned beneath the cloth that hid the bottom half of his face. 'Good, now he's wide open for attack!' The ninja poured charka into his feet, using more than necessary since he expected to get it all back, then lunged at Shino, shooting off the hands right as it was totally enveloped in a black coating.

Shino started as Yoroi appeared right in front of him.

"Gotcha, brat!" Yoroi shouted as his glowing hand latched onto the stoic shinobi's coat. "Now your chakra's mine!"

All color bled from Shino then he burst into a cloud of bugs that began to swarm up Yoroi's arm.

The masked nin turned pale. "What!? NO! Get off! Get off! GET OFF!" He shouted, his arm flapping with each word, but no matter how hard he tried, they just wouldn't get off and Yoroi's arm began to prickle as the kikaichu bit him and began to drain his chakra. The shinobi's cries persisted until the swarm that was behind him rolled over him and he was lost amid a pile of clicking mandibles and legs.

Shino stepped out from the shadows of the balcony under which he'd hid during the whole episode. Even before Yoroi had lunged, he'd made a clone from the bugs and used Kawarimi to switch with it.

"It looks like I'm the one with the better techniques," Shino stated as the bugs left their target and swarmed back to their master. Yoroi was in bad shape, just laying there with small moaning noises, his skin red and raw from where the thousands of bugs had bitten him.

"Winner," Hayate said with a cough, "Aburame Shino."

Again no cheers from the crowd. In fact, even some of the veteran shinobi looked rather unnerved with the Aburame's methods. If nothing else, Shino knew, his bugs were the ultimate psychological weapon, since many people didn't like bugs in general and to face a swarm of them with the sole purpose of killing you or eating your chakra, well, it could be a rather unnerving experience.

The names rolled and stopped on Kankuro and Yoroi's teammate.

The match was short and brutal. The Konoha shinobi had tried to use his bloodline, which allowed him to contort like rubber, and strangle Kankuro, but the Suna nin had turned out to be a puppet that did the same to the Konoha nin while Kankuro emerged unharmed from the bandage-wrapped package on the puppet's back.

"That looked painful," Gohan muttered to himself as the unconscious shinobi was carted off and Kankuro resumed his place with his sister and brother.

The names came up with Shikamaru versus Kin.

It was another short match.

Kin used her powers with Genjutsu to try and make Shikamaru see many illusions of her. However, it was short lived as Shika used his Kage Mane no Jutsu to follow the string of the senbon that was the source of the genjutsu all the way back to Kin and take control of her shadow. After that, he'd forced her to throw shuriken at him while he did the same to her.

Of course, the Nara had dodged and Kin had looked relieved, since Shika's shadow forced her to follow along. That didn't last when she rammed headlong into the wall and was out cold.

The anticipation in the air following the conclusion of Kin and Shika's match was almost visible. It was down to six people, Gaara, Gohan, Naruto, Tenten, Temari and Ino.

"Come on," Naruto begged, his hands pressed together like he was praying, begging the board to come up with his name. "Please be me…Pleasepleasepleasepleasepleaseplease!"

The names stopped.

Ino vs. Temari.

Naruto groaned loudly as he sat down with a pout. "Dammit," he moaned. "It's never going to get to me!"

"Just wait Naruto," Gohan said with a light laugh at his roommate's behavior. "You'll get your turn eventually."

"Maybe when Hell freezes over," the blond returned as they watched Ino and Temari square off. It was a mismatch, just one of many in the prelims, but still, even Naruto could see that Ino was totally outclassed.

Ino was more like Sakura, someone who didn't have a whole lot of jutsu in her arsenal and had little to no knowledge of taijutsu.

Temari on the other hand, had a head like Shika's and power that was probably on par with a few of the lower ranked jounin, much less a chuunin, so it was clear that the winner was more than likely a foregone conclusion.

Still, Ino put up a good fight, trying valiantly to trap Temari with her mind control but Temari kept her moving with wind attack after wind attack from long range.

The Suna kunoichi's fan opened wide, showing three purple circles painted onto the folded materiel in the middle.

"Three moons," Temari stated, "when you see three moons, you lose."

"Oh yeah and how're you going to…" Ino never got to finish as she was blow off her feet and slammed hard into the wall, her head cracking against the hard material and knocking her out.

Shika looked odd as medics scooped up Ino's limp form and carted her off. It almost looked as if the Nara was wrestling with anger at Temari and concern for Ino.

"Ino…" He murmured softly to himself as his friend and teammate was carried away.

"Now all that's left is me, Gohan, that sand guy and the chick from Neji's team," Naruto muttered. He grinned as he looked back at his roommate. "Hey, Gohan! Wouldn't it be cool if we got to fight each other!?"

Gohan laughed. "It would be a pretty interesting fight, Naruto," he answered. "I wouldn't mind fighting you actually."

Sakura looked from one boy to the other then sighed exasperated. Still, she knew that boys would be boys and that in this line of business, more often than not, affections between men came out as blows.

"Me and Gohan, me and Gohan, me and Gohan," Naruto chanted over and over again as the names bounced between his, Gohan's and Gaara's and Tenten's.

"Uzumaki Naruto vs. Tenten!" Hayate announced.

"I'm up?" Naruto asked, not daring to believe it. "I'm up! Yahoo! Hell yeah, time to show you guys what I can do!" He vaulted over the railing and was beside Hayate within seconds.

Tenten smiled at his exuberance, taking her time and walking sedately over, clearly in no real hurry.

"So?" asked a new voice. Kakashi appeared in a puff. "What'd I miss?"

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura exclaimed. "How's…"

"Fine. The seal's been dealt with, but we're keeping an eye on him just to make sure." Both Gohan and Sakura looked relieved at the news. "So, which match is this?"

"Second to last," Gohan told him. "It's Naruto and Tenten, then me and the sand guy with the gourd on his back."

"You're going against Sabaku no Gaara?" Kakashi asked, looking rather startled.

"Yeah, why?"

The copy nin looked like he was struggling with some inner conflict then it passed and he shrugged. "No reason. Just be careful."

"Sure."

Naruto and Tenten were fairly evenly matched. Tenten's long-range attacks held Naruto off, but his tenacity and drive to win were unmatched.

"Naruto, nothing personal," Tenten said, "but just give up! You can't win if you can't hit me."

"Che, says you!" Naruto shouted as he hurled a volley of shuriken. Tenten calculated the trajectories quickly then hurled six senbon, the first three speeding through the volley and slamming into Naruto's chest in a way that would KO him and the next three knocking the shuriken out of the air with a tiny clinking noise.

Naruto lurched as the needles struck him and he fell to one knee, trying desperately to stay awake.

"It's no use, Naruto," Tenten told him. "I hit a series of pressure points that will knock you out in no time. Admit it. You've lost."

"I'll…never…ever…lose!" Naruto grunted standing up and visibly shocking Tenten. "EVER!" He yanked out the senbon and felt his head clear.

The blonde's hands came together. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" The arena floor was filled with copies of Naruto. There were close to thirty of them. With a yell that would frighten an army, they charged forward, mobbing Tenten.

She reached for her scroll and uncoiled it, but something slammed her from behind and knocked it from her hands and into the hands of a clone. A kunai descended from high up and pressed against her throat.

"Gotcha Tenten-chan!" Naruto said brightly as he held the knife against her.

Tenten grinned. "Maybe," she answered, grabbing his wrist and tugging him off balance, a kunai slipping into her hand from her sandal as her hand passed across it, "but I've got you!" The kunai pressed against Naruto's sternum. "Give up. You would've died if this were a real fight."

Naruto grinned and exploded into smoke.

"What!?"

Then she was mobbed again. When the blur of orange stopped moving, Tenten was being crushed by all the clones sitting on top of her.

She struggled as hard as she could, but couldn't dislodge the mass of blondes on top of her.

Hayate looked amused. "Since it looks like Tenten can no longer continue, Uzumaki Naruto is the winner."

"What!?" Tenten protested. "But he's sitting on me! This isn't fair!"

"Can you continue?" Asked the sickly proctor.

The kunoichi's mouth opened, then closed. "No." There was a poof as the Narutos vanished and the blond stood grinning.

"Sorry, Tenten-chan." He said. "It just kinda happened."

Tenten shook her head, but she smiled. "It's alright, Naruto. I underestimated you. Not many people could win by sitting on their opponent." She grinned then. "Come and find me sometime and we'll have a rematch." She turned to go back to the balcony. "and next time, I won't lose."

Naruto laughed and followed after her.

Gaara's face gave away nothing as the Suna Jinchuuriki appeared in a swirl of sand on the arena floor, looking up at Gohan with cold eyes that made the saiyan want to shiver. They reminded him of Vegeta's eyes before the saiyan prince calmed down, and of his uncle Raditz's eyes. Eyes full of range, hate and a desire to kill.

It gave the warrior pause, and that shocked him. Of all the fights in this world, only Orochimaru had given him any reason to be afraid, but there was something about Gaara that was unnerving him and it wasn't something nice.

'What is he?' Gohan asked himself as he vaulted over the rail himself and landed with only the whispering of his cape to herald the arrival.

The cork on the mouth of Gaara's gourd wriggled, as if something was trying to escape, then shot off like a bullet.

It whizzed by Gohan's face, missing by inches as the warrior's face went from openly speculating to deadly serious in the time it took to blink, the wind of passage pulling his mop toward it.

There was a puff against the wall at the other end of the arena as the speeding object hit and stuck.

"What was that!?" Sakura asked, shocked at the sudden opening.

Kakashi sounded tense as if he feared for Gohan's safety. "Look at Gohan's feet."

She did and there were marks in the fine dust that sat on the floor, just like some kind of high school gym. "Wait! Did…"

"Yeah. That cork would've hit him if Gohan hadn't moved."

"And he did it fast enough for us to not see it?"

"I caught it, but it was a blur," the jounin sounded like he was musing to himself. "With the seal gone, it's as if he's gotten faster than he was before."

"Wait, what do you mean 'seal'?" Naruto asked his teacher.

"Just watch," Kakashi answered.

Sand spilled from Gaara's gourd and coiled around him like some kind of snake.

Gohan dropped into a stance and got ready to go.

"Begin!"

Gohan launched himself backwards right as Gaara's sand lunged forward.

"Guh!" Gohan grunted as his hands flashed and ki blasts flew from his palms, slamming into the racing grains with a multitude of explosions that shook the stadium.

His foot touched the ground and he vaulted sideways, trying to get an angle on the Suna boy. Gohan's eyes flicked as he saw his chance and launched a blast at his opponent, who was standing there with his arms crossed.

The blast arced slightly and slammed on target, erupting in an explosion that obscured Gaara from view. The shaft of sand that Gaara had thrown earlier suddenly split, the new section speeding at the Saiyan warrior, who grunted again as he skidded to a stop and launched himself into the sky, the sand slamming to the concrete just behind him.

Gohan shot towards the ceiling then bounced off one of the massive supports that held up the roof and shot another few blasts into the smoke cloud that had yet to clear.

Yellow light and new explosions blossomed like some kind of psychedelic light show and Gohan stopped moving, floating stationary as he waited to see if he'd done any type of damage.

The smoke cleared and revealed Gaara.

Unharmed.

"Impossible!" Gohan shouted, noting the sand that seemed to be acting like a shield and protecting the genin. The top of the shield roiled and writhed, then another pillar of sand flew at him.

Gohan fazed out, reappearing on the floor and flying at Gaara, disappearing and reappearing as he dodged the small needles of sand that speared at him from the pillar that was still hanging in the air.

"Take this!" the saiyan shouted as he drew back and threw a punch.

Sand sprang up to protect Gaara without him even moving and Gohan's fist met it with a thud that echoed across the room and made the very floor shake. Blood dripped from Gohan's knuckles, torn open by the abrasive material. His fist had been stopped cold. It was more like punching steel than sand.

"How?" Sakura asked.

"The sand became hard like concrete, but it's still soft enough that the impact is dissipated. Gohan's in trouble," Kakashi told her.

A spike shot forward from the sand shield.

"Shit!"

Gohan threw himself back, going parallel to the ground, flinching when the spike grazed his cheek, opening a small cut. His hands touched the ground and he sprang once, twice, three times off of them, getting distance.

Sand came at him as he hung inverted on the third spring.

The warrior's hand flashed and a ki blast shattered the pillar, which writhed and contorted like a headless snake before recovering and shooting at him again. By now, Gohan was on his feet again and he threw another punch, the blow connecting and the sand exploding as effectively as if he'd used ki.

The grains rained down as Gohan again shot at the stoic shinobi, who had yet to even move or turn to look at what his opponent was doing. Sand sprang up in anticipation of the attack and Gohan smirked, launching into the air again, putting his palms together, fingers spread.

A ki ball began to shine.

"HAAAAA!"

A pillar of light shot earthward, detonating when it reached Gaara.

The smoke cleared and revealed the umbrella of sand that covered the genin's head.

"Dammit."

He touched down in front of the redheaded Jinchuuriki, who was looking rather annoyed.

"Is that all?" he rasped, his finger tapping lightly on his bicep. Gaara's fury seemed to build by the second the more he looked at Gohan. "Is that all you have!?"

A huge tidal wave of sand rose from Gaara and shot at Gohan like a runaway train.

"Oh man!" Gohan said nervously before running in the opposite direction, trying to get airborne and leaping and ducking under the tendrils that came from the wave and tried to snare him. He hit the wall and used his momentum to run straight up it. Gohan pushed off and threw another pair of blasts at Gaara, whose sand again rose up and protected him.

"You are nothing but a bug!" Gaara fumed as the smoke cleared and revealed a sand wall that was slowly dissolving. "A bug!" A sand pillar took a swipe at Gohan, who ducked under it, fazed out, and reappeared on top of the statue of the hands.

"Looks like I have to get serious!" He said, reaching up and clutching at his cape. With a deft tug, the garment slipped off and Gohan held it out to the side then let it go.

'Stupid,' Temari thought. 'As if that thing can possibly…'

The cape hit and the floor exploded.

Everyone but Team Seven gaped.

"Go Gohan! Kick his ass!" Naruto shouted. The other boy gave him a thumbs up then vanished.

Gaara blinked as his sand shield sprang up behind him then exploded. He turned towards the disturbance.

It happened again.

And again.

Again

Again.

Picking up speed until the shield wasn't able to form without exploding, Gohan only a blur as he hit the shield and moved on, slowly overwhelming the defenses.

A fist filled Gaara's vision before he was blasted across the arena and slammed into the hand statue, which held up briefly then crumbled in a cloud. Gohan straightened up and watched it expand.

"Come out!" He called. "I can sense your bloodlust. I know you're not dead!"

A shape became to come out, slowly walking forward until it was visible.

Gaara seemed unharmed, his gourd smashed and sticking out behind him…then Gohan realized that the gourd was made of sand too and it had been used to cushion the blow. The genin's face was crumbling as his skin just seemed to fall off, but it appeared that Gaara was using the sand as a type of armor and it had protected him from the blow and he was grinned, an insane grin that chilled Gohan to the bone.

"Finally! FINALLY!" Gaara screamed, his sanity leeching away before everyone's eyes. The Suna-nins were shrinking back. They knew that look. Gaara was giving into the Shukaku. "Finally I can kill you and validate my existence!"

"Kill me to validate yourself?" Gohan asked as he watched the sand gather again, forming that protective second skin on the Suna boy, who had calmed down somewhat, but his eyes were still shining with that same light to kill.

Gaara thrust one arm forward.

"Die!"

Sand shot at Gohan like a bullet, much faster than before.

'Fast!' Gohan thought as he flung his body out of the way, the sand whizzing past, just barely catching him and tearing a gash in his shirt's stomach. 'Much faster!'

A ki blast flew in retaliation, but the sand shield formed, again much faster than before and the attack detonated harmlessly. Gohan shot forward, becoming nothing but a blur then there was a clap like thunder as he broke the sound barrier and slammed his fist into the shield, shattering like an armor piercing round and drilling right into Gaara's gut, shattering the sand there as well and doubling him over.

A kick snapped forward and caught the redhead in the chin, lifting him into the air.

The sand was beginning to swirl around Gohan's feet and he knew he had to act right then. He grabbed the linen sash and tugged Gaara toward him.

"Where do you think you're going?" He asked before unloading into the Sand shinobi's stomach so hard and fast that he sprouted multiple fists. Gaara began gasping with pain as his exposed stomach was punished and blood came up not too long afterward.

Sand rose behind Gohan, who knew his time was up and kicked Gaara away into the wall just beneath the balcony that held the Suna and Oto shinobi. The sand sped after its master, just as the saiyan had hoped it would.

He'd taken a gamble not knowing if the sand would kill him first or rescue Gaara. It appeared that Gaara was the bigger priority.

Maniacal laughter filled the air.

"So strong!" Gaara shouted as he lunged forward from the cloud that had obscured him. "So STRONG! My mother is screaming for your blood!" Blood covered his teeth and lower face, making him seem even more terrifying and insane, as if he'd just gotten done eating someone.

Sand was beginning to clump up on his right arm and Gohan lurched as that evil feeling he'd gotten from Gaara before they'd started intensified, slamming his senses like a hammer. He staggered, holding his head as another wave slammed down on him.

"Kill you…Kill you…I'll definitely…KILL YOU!" The sand on Gaara's arm shot out, catching Gohan off guard.

'Its speed increased again!' he noted as he was scooped off his feet and propelled across the arena before slamming into the wall with enough force to even knock a couple of the assembled shinobi off their feet.

"Gohan-kun!" Sakura shouted, leaning over the rail as she tried to get a clearer view of what'd happened to the boy.

A yell and a flash lit the air and the sand and expanding cloud of powder were blown away, revealing Gohan, breathing hard and blood running down the right side of his face, right over his eye forcing it to close or get blinded.

As the sand gathered again for another strike, the saiyan boy wiped his face frantically, trying the clear the blood and get both eyes back. He'd need it for this fight, he knew.

The sand finished collecting and shot at him again, the end opening up and giving the impression of a giant hand reaching out at him.

Gohan rolled, the attack missing and slamming through the wall. A section disconnected and came at him like a water fountain's arc, forcing the saiyan boy to keep rolling if he wanted to stay alive.

The world became a blur of color with the sound of impacts, hard enough to crack the floor, filling his ears, the ground jumping with every strike.

He bumped into the wall.

The sand reared.

There was nowhere to go.

"Now I've got you!" Gaara crowed triumphantly as his sand began its descent.

"Gohan-kun!" Sakura shouted again, unable to see since what was going on was happening right under the balcony. "No!"

Another explosion rang out, the smoke roaring out from beneath their balcony like a hurricane's wind.

"Gohan!" Naruto called. "Damn you!" he shouted, rounding on Gaara, whose right side was entirely covered in sand. "I'll make you pay for that you bastard!"

"Thanks Naruto," said a voice. A shadow emerged from within the smoke. "But I can handle this."

"Gohan-kun!"

"Hell yeah! Now you're in for it you sand using freak!"

Kakashi was watching his newest student with a look that could've been akin to pride, but it was overshadowed by concern.

'Gohan, you may be used to stuff like this,' he thought, 'but Gaara is something you've never fought before. If you're not careful, you will die.'

The hybrid stood in front of Gaara again, who looked almost puzzled at his inability to take out one kid.

"Why?" he asked, making Gohan cock an eyebrow. "Why can't I kill you?"

"The better question is, why do you want to kill me?" Gohan answered, his tone slightly biting. "What did I ever do to you that made you want to kill me? I don't even know you!"

"Because you're strong!" Gaara answered, his right eye fading from teal to a faint gold with a star shaped pupil with four dots in between the points of the star as the sand crept over that side of his face. "I'll kill you because of that and make everyone acknowledge my existence!"

"That's your reason?" Gohan sounded shocked. "If you kill me just because then you're no better than an animal!"

"Yes!" Gaara shouted. "I'm an animal! Hated and despised by my village! I have nothing! And you…" his bi-colored gaze wandered over Sakura and Naruto and the rest of the Rookie Nine on the balcony, "you have everything and…" his voice dropped to an eerie hiss. "I hate you for it! So. Let me show you what it's like to have NOTHING!" His arm shot out, not at Gohan, but at the spectators from Konoha.

"Shit!" Gohan shouted as the jounin moved to protect their students, but they were startled when a shape appeared in front of them and took the hit.

It was Gohan, who crossed his arms to protect himself and was slammed into the wall in between Sakura and Naruto. The two watched in horror as Gohan spat up blood and was withdrawn from the hole in the wall and slowly lowered to his opponent's mercy.

The hand detached and started floating, held aloft by Gaara's chakra and slowly began to entirely envelope the saiyan, who was struggling to free himself.

"It's no use," Gaara told him, his face no longer human but a terrifying visage of some creature made totally of sand with purple veins running through it. "No one escapes my coffin."

The other boy ignored him, trying to dislodge the sand and get an arm free. If he shot a ki blast now, the explosion and concussion would tear his arm clean off. It was as Gaara said though and the sand continued its relentless advance, passing his elbows and moving on as inexorably as a glacier. Worry began to show in the trapped teen's eyes as he lost more and more movement room.

The sand passed his neck and totally enveloped him, leaving only his face showing. He could hear the screams of the Rookie Nine, muffled by sand and tried to break free, but then the sand passed over his face and he had to stop or risk suffocating.

"Now, you die and my mother gets to drink your blood," Gaara announced as he extended his left arm, free of sand below the elbow, "enjoy the after life! Sabaku Sousou!"

The sand moved in a half and inch, then stopped.

"What?"

Shafts of light, as bright and as golden as the dawn sun, pierced the shell of grains. The cocoon began to shake and tremble, then a yell became audible, muffled by the sand, but still there, slowly growing in pitch and volume as more rays burst from the sand coffin.

There was a flash and it exploded outward and the screaming reached an almost deafening pitch.

"Look out!" Kakashi shouted, tackling his team, right as the shockwave from the explosion reached them, passing over and slamming into the wall with enough force to gouge and pit it. When he let them up, the jounin was surprised to see that the rail in front of him was gleaming on one side and still painted on the other. His jounin vest was also shredded, the back ripped open as if by some unseen force. "Wow. Instant sandblasting."

Down in the center of the arena was a massive cloud, hanging like fog over where Gohan had been trapped. Gaara extricated himself from the remains of the hand statue. He'd been blown there when the shockwave had slammed in to him.

The sand began to swirl faster and faster, then the chirping became audible.

"You can hit me and even kill me," said the voice the chirping belonged to, "and I'll be fine with that." There was a whump and the smoke went from swirling to rippling outward like a stone that'd been thrown into a river. "But the moment you involve my friends is where I draw the line!"

Gohan emerged from the maelstrom, but he was changed. Gold hair blew gently in the breeze created by the rushing gold flaming that chirped and rippled around his body, and hard jade eyes drilled into Gaara's faint yellow ones.

"I'm going to end this here and now!"

"What is that?" Naruto asked as he looked over the changes that'd come over his roommate. "Is that Gohan?"

"That's not Gohan-kun is it?" asked Lee, who looked rather dumbfounded.

"So. He's decided to do it," Kakashi murmured. "This battle is going to heat up again."

Gohan gestured at Gaara, beckoning to him with one finger. "Come!"

Gaara's arm flew at him and Gohan ducked, his body blurring as he moved then launched forward with enough force to shatter the ground beneath him.

"HAAAAAA!"

His fist flashed and burrowed into the other boy's face, going through the sand and hitting the flesh beneath it, bouncing the Jinchuuriki off the wall behind him.

"DIE!" Gaara twisted in the air and launched his other hand at Gohan as he sprouted a tail that was ringed like a raccoon's. The Super Saiyan simple raised a hand and caught the incoming attack with ease.

His ki surged and the shock blew that hand apart.

"That attack won't work anymore," Gohan stated then flew at Gaara and kicked him in the ribs, sending him flying into the wall just above the double doors. He cupped his hands at his sides. "I'm sorry, but if you're going to involve my friends then I will stop you by any means necessary. I will not allow anyone to hurt them!"

A blue star formed in the warrior's hands and his emerald eyes narrowed as he spotted the movement in the cloud.

"Kamehame…HAAAAAA!"

The blue energy was thrust at Gaara and erupted forth like the storm surge of a hurricane, rocketing towards Gaara, who looked stunned at the size of the blast that was heading for him, then he was lost amid the blue-white light of the attack.

The explosion shook the room and knocked everyone off their feet.

There was a low rumbling noise as the smoke cleared and revealed a startling surprise.

A wedge-shaped shield of sand that sparkled like diamond.

"I-Impossible," Gohan stuttered, looking utterly surprised at the obstacle. "No way…"

The sand dissolved, revealing Gaara, now covered in sand, unharmed. He tapped the sparkle that hung in the air and the sand that had been turned to glass by the Kamehameha shattered.

"Kakashi-sensei, I don't get it," Sakura said. "How did Gaara stay in one piece?"

"That wedge of sand," the jounin answered grimly. "It split and deflected the force of the explosion instead of trying to absorb it all at once."

Neji snorted. "This guy is surprisingly stupid if he doesn't realize what the term absolute defense means."

"Hey!" Naruto snarled, getting in the Hyuuga's face. "Don't say that about Gohan you prick! Just you wait, Gohan'll beat this guy then I'll kick your ass in the finals!"

"As if Fate would allow me to lose to a Dobe like you."

"Why you…" He tried to hit the prodigy, but was stopped by Lee. "Bushy Brows!"

"I understand your feelings, Naruto-kun, believe me I do, but you cannot fight Neji here and now. Doing so would mean disqualification." Naruto looked for a moment like he would ignore the taijutsu master, but he turned with a huff and looked over at Gohan, who'd lost his stunned look and was trying to figure out a way to deal with this change in the plan.

'I'm having a hard time with him. A really hard time. I've got him outclassed in sheer power, but he's got the range and the flexibility. Also his attacks have been getting more and more fierce with the boost in speed. It's as if he's only borrowing the power from something and that something is starting to come to the fore.' Green eyes narrowed. 'I have to get him on the defensive.'

Gohan winked out.

Gaara's eyes went wide right before a foot flashed from beneath him and caught him in the chin, launching him into the ceiling. He bounced off and began to head down.

Gohan appeared next to him and booted him across the arena again, zooming after him in a blaze of gold light, catching and passing the flying genin then belting him into the ground. Gaara bounced with a crunch, rising just enough for the follow-up kick to get underneath him and punt him straight up.

Gaara crashed through the ceiling and kept going, breaking through the pinnacle of the tower, hanging in the air for a split second.

"HRAAAA!"

Gohan appeared above him, hands behind his head and clenched together. Down they came and burrowed into Gaara's gut, folding the Jinchuuriki around them before he blasted back toward the earth, tearing second hole in the ceiling. All down the tower, the windows blew out and smoke belched from them as the sand covered genin passed through the levels and the very foundations shook as Gaara slammed through the last level and crashed into the ground in a blast of wind and dust.

In the center of the arena was a massive crater from which a single arm stuck up, the sand streaming away like water from a sieve until it was human again.

Gohan appeared in a blur, touching down with only the soft tap of his shoe's thin rubber soles to announce him.

Silence prevailed as everyone took in the results before them.

"No…way…" Was the only thing Kankuro could say.

"He…He did it? He really beat…Gaara?" Temari asked, clearly stunned at the outcome.

"To defeat Gaara in one on one combat. Such a thing is unheard of," Baki added. Beside them, no one noticed the greedy expression on the Oto jounin, who's features vaguely resembled Orochimaru's but not to the point of being able to tell it was him.

'Excellent! Simply astounding! Gohan-kun has a tremendous amount of power, even more than I anticipated! To have that power for my own…' The gold eyes were backlit by an insane light. 'That would make me unbeatable in this world and the next!'

"So…" Kakashi said, clearly at a loss for words. "This is the power. This is what he tried to do that day at the bridge."

"Kakashi-sensei?"

"This is the power of a Super Saiyan is like."

"Super Saiyan?" Naruto asked. "The hell is that?"

Kakashi pointed at the gold-haired warrior below. "That," he said simply.

"That kid…did this?" Anko asked the Sandaime, who was looking rather alarmed himself at the devastation Gohan had caused. "Isn't there a rule against brats being this powerful? I mean, before he was jounin level at best. Now I think he can take on a Kage and stand a chance of winning or if not, a draw!"

"We should count ourselves fortunate that Gohan-kun is in possession of a good heart, stable mind, and sound judgment. Were he as unstable as Gaara-kun seems to be, I shudder to think of what state the world would be in." Despite all she'd seen and all the horrific things she'd seen Orochimaru do, the mental image of Gohan with Gaara's personality made Anko tremble.

"Let's hope nothing happens to make him that way," she said fervently. The Sandaime could only nod.

Gohan dropped out of Super Saiyan, doubling over and heaving great breaths. Cleary the fight with Gaara had drained him more than he'd let on. Everyone present made a metal note to never judge Gohan by his appearance. If he could be that tired and still put up that strong a façade, then there was no way to gauge him by his face alone.

Hayate stepped up, looked rather wary of the Super Saiyan. "Winner…Son Go-…" he trailed off and no one bothered to ask why. The ground was shaking and rumbling. There was a flash of light and once again the arena was filled with the pulsing chirp of an aura. Cracks began forming in the ground and Gohan leapt back, right as one snapped open beneath him and spewed a plume of sand.

All over the floor, the fractures opened and began to spew sand.

One opened beneath the Kage's balcony, forcing the Sandaime to move to the genin's viewpoint as sand impaled the vantage point right where he'd been standing the moment before.

"Hokage-sama!" One of the plainclothes ANBU shouted. "What's going on here!?"

Across the way, the Suna-nin were all against the wall, trying to get as far from the danger as possible.

"We have to split, Baki!" Kankuro shouted. "We have to go now!"

"But Gaara…" Temari protested. Despite his relentless threats to kill her and her brother, Gaara was also Temari's brother and she wasn't about to just abandon him. "What about Gaara!?"

"There's nothing we can do for him," Baki answered, the side of his face that was visible grim. "You've all won your matches. Let's go."

They ran for the exit, but a wall of sand blocked their way and forced them to the balcony with the Konoha group.

"Nobody's going anywhere!" Announced a high-pitched voice. It seemed to come from Gaara himself. The hand that was visible was twitching and jerking violently, as if Gaara was having a seizure. "No one leaves unless they're in a body bag!"

There was a noise akin to an explosion and Gaara rose up as an indistinct shadow with glowing golden eyes.

Despite himself, Gohan gulped nervously as he prepared for the second round.

"And," the voice announced, leveling a 'finger' at him. "I'm gonna start with you!"

So, that's that. Sorry for how rushed the first part of the chapter was, but I'm sure the Gohan vs. Gaara made up for it, right? I hope so. I was listening to various Japanese songs as I was writing this, from Zips Remix by TM Revolution to Colors by Flow. What else...Oh yeah, I know I said updates would slow down, but somehow they've sped up and the reason for that is school is too damn slow! I'm sure it'll pick up and if not...Well, you all get the benefit of faster chapters don't you. Anyway that's all I've got, so see you next time!