AN

DarkRavie: I dunno, it's not that either fits him better than the other, they both complement him perfectly in one way or another- Ino is the perfect motivational tool as a best friend moved up in status to more- while Temari is another perfect motivational tool in that she threatens his status as the 'guy' in the relationship. In both cases they are perfect foils to his laziness. The timing of it was just off- Shika was coming into feelings for Temari- they hadn't fully blossomed, but because of the frequently close proximity danger- his feelings for her developed faster than his long budded feelings towards Ino. Either way you really have to feel a little sorry for Shika- and even more for Ino. I mean- nobody decent ever WANTS to turn down someone who loves you… But sometimes you have too. And Ino, shot down just as she realized exactly how she felt…

Serenity Maxwell: yeah, Ino got the rough end of that deal. First Sasuke, then Shika… and yeah, nothing for almost a month- then suddenly three chapters- SPLAT…

InARealPickle: xD Oh I so like your response. But actually I thought I was doing at least somewhat well on Reviews- oh well- I am hoping to hit more than 100 reviews before chapter 30- we'll see if that works . ;. As for plodding fics- I tend to run into more of the opposite- really short fics that would be totally awesome is they're just put some more effort in and write an actual story- not a summery. Telling whole chapters worth of story in three paragraphs- it's depressing… But anyway, I'm an English major- so I may not be perfect and still make mistakes- but I try not to have the obvious eye gouging ones. It's only over IM that I tend to ignore proper English- and still hypocritically complain about AIMspeak (or whichever term you use for eye bleeding non-words that far surpass me in high school, when English was my worst subject). As for the emos- bah! If they're suicidal- they're stupid- I don't mind goth or emo, but I think anyone who would truly commit suicide is an absolute moron.

Damn, from under 25k to over 26k in one night- woot!

End AN

Lyle had only barely slapped a bandage over the needle damage Sakua had managed. He stepped out from the arena in time to see Naruto bound past him, jumping into the field. Lyle sighed and put both arms behind his head as he turned around and followed Naruto onto the stage. After commenting on each other condition Naruto smiled, "I see Sakura used the needles- I always thought she preferred the giant tomahawks…"

Lyle smirked, "Scythe does matter, but she needed the precision of the needles for what she was doing in our fight."

"Yeah, I saw, I bet that hurt."

Lyle spun his tonfas with a flick of his wrist, a way of showing he was ready. Naruto took to a relaxed pose. Lyle saw Naruto's confidence and smiled back, standing straight he tossed his tonfa's down, then reach for a zipper at each wrist and opened his jacket's sleeves, leaving his jacket as a vest. There were a few light bruises left from his fight with Sakura, but they were negligible, obviously not very deep if they were already at the surface.

'Well if that's all Sakura's punches amounted to, obviously brute force isn't the way to go,' Naruto quickly realized, 'and by tossing his weapons he must be saying he's better without them, the tonfas, the sleeves, must be buffers for him to control his strength, well, I may have to lose control a bit too then.'

Naruto smirked and took a more aggressive stance. Naruto moved to summon some clones to feel out Lyle's style, but before he even finished the seals Lyle moved, with a speed that could only come with a massive burst of chakara. Naruto immediately flew onto the defensive. Naruto felt as Sakura did with each touch Lyle drew away some of his chakara.

Naruto spun around and slammed his foot into Lyle's back- but felt the blow buffered. Naruto pushed off and tried another jutsu- Lyle turned around just as fast, not giving him time to do any of his techniques. Lyle kicked Naruto in the head and moved with another extreme chakara burst, coming behind Naruto he grabbed both Naruto's arms and held them against his body, even wrapping his legs around Naruto's, he topped Naruto over face down and kept his hold. Naruto felt Lyle's pull on his chakara much more strongly now. Lyle switched his entire attention to pulled Naruto's power while he had him pinned. As Naruto fought the urge to scream out, Lyle's eyes glowed with Naruto's chakara, his whole body displaying massive surges of chakara manifesting around them.

Naruto finally yelled out as he lost control and his chakara turned red. Even Lyle yelled out as Kyuubi's chakara started tearing at him uncontrolled. Lyle kept pulled at Naruto's chakara, even as the Kyuubi's chakara threatened to tear him from the inside, until he couldn't take anymore and pushed Naruto violently away from him while screaming in pain.

Lyle's breathing was short, but so was Naruto's.

'I couldn't take in enough to finish him, but he's in control again, so I must have taken the edge off- and I MUST have drained away all his own Chakara- so why is he still standing'

Naruto clutched at his chest, he could still feel the Kyuubi boiling inside him, but it seemed distant, almost an ocean away and the usual whiskers on his face were only faintly still there…

Naruto barely had the strength to straighten up as he looked over at Lyle. He could see, but his eyes felt glazed over- and he just felt so weak. Naruto fell to one knee, splashing water as he did. Touching the water he suddenly felt a little comforted. He put one hand in the water and closed a fist.

Lyle took a step and drew Naruto's attention again. Naruto looked over as Lyle took an unsteady step towards him-

"I'll give you this, when you do finnaly cut loose, there's no question," Naruto chuckled until he coughed. Lyle smirked back, but he wasn't in any better shape- the Kyuubi's chakara had torn up his body inside and out.

Naruto pulled himself back to his feet, one foot still in the water. He looked down at his reflection beneath him-

The world seemed to spin- he immediately recognized the mindscape, he'd been here before, this was where the Kyuubi was sealed in him. The Kyuubi was lying down, looking as worn out as him. The Kyuubi was curled into the corner of its cage, doing its best not to look beaten, and just barely fighting the urge to whimper.

Naruto walked over to the bars where the seal was. As he touched the bars he heard the sound of a drop hitting a pond, instantly the bars dissolved into water and spun around him-

Naruto straightened up, rising to his full height. He started doing seals with his hands; the water around him lifted up and shot out as a wave at Lyle. Lyle braces himself and rode out the attack, to see it followed through with Naruto sweeping into a sideswiping kick at his side, the same side Sakura had left vulnerable…

Lyle made a long and drawn out sound of discomfort before he fell to his knees, clutched his side, and fell over, out cold.

Shirei looked down from the stands at Naruto with a strengthened curiosity. "Water suppresses fire, for it, it itself is suppressed," she chuckled as she headed down to the exit...

gaGAgaGAga

Everyone in the room was shocked- not by who won, no matter who won it would not have surprised them. But because Lyle had sucked away huge portions of Kyuubi's chakara- and survived, and then to top it off- with none of his normal chakara- or even the Kyuubi's chakara, Naruto managed to summon even more strength from somewhere to blow Lyle away and finish him off.

Tsunade looked away first, contemplatively. Gaara followed suit, but was nearly dumbfounded.

teTEteTEte

Temari had been silent for quite some time, debating exactly when it would be appropriate to say something again, "That was- good, that you made sure she made it home safe, didn't do anything rash…"

"She's my friend and my teammate- really more, it was- I had to do that, it was my fault she was like that-"

Temari stepped in front of Shikamaru and stopped him, "Whatever you may think, it's not your fault. And many lesser men wouldn't have been so nice- most that I've met."

Temari took Shikamaru's chin in one hand and placed her forehead against his. She didn't kiss him, it would have spoiled the sentiment. But she felt she needed to be physically close to him in that moment. She placed her other arm around him, then slid the one from his chin, over his shoulder. Lastly she took a step back and slid her arms back and took him by both hands.