(A/N) And we are back! Thank you to all who wished me a happy birthday, I certainly had a good one. Hell any day with a bushel of crabs to eat is a good day in my book.

Now I have to say that quite a few of my reviewers have little faith in Ino, as you seemed to think that she would be destroyed by Sasuke in a fight. Well you'll see what happens, but I would like to remind you that she is not a fangirl anymore, and hasn't been since she graduated.

By the way, something that I usually remember while I'm not typing and forget when I am typing, is that Hinata has the same whisker marks that Naruto and Kurama have.

So without further ado, on with the story!

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Chapter 29: Preliminaries, part 1

When the screen settled on Ino vs. Sasuke, a sickly looking jonin stepped forwards and said "The first match has been decided *cough*. My name is *cough* Hayate Gekko, and I will be proctoring *cough* the preliminary matches. Will everyone *cough* but Ino and Sasuke please *cough* go into the stands to observe the fights. Once everyone *cough* is there, we will *cough* begin. Also, since there are twenty-three genin, one person gets a free pass to the finals."

With that, everyone but Ino and Sasuke headed towards the stands.

(In the stands)

Once everyone was settled, a certain cycloptic jonin spoke up and said "I hate to say it, but Ino's going to lose. Sasuke may be an arrogant son of a bitch, but he does have skills. Ino doesn't stand a chance."

A voice then said "That's where your wrong, Kakashi." Kakashi turned towards the voice to see Asuma walking towards him.

"And why would I be wrong, Asuma?" asked Kakashi.

"Simply put, Ino's no longer a fangirl." Answered the jonin as he lit a cigarette. He took a drag from it and exhaled a puff of smoke, before continuing "Ever since Naruto and Hinata pointed out her faults, she's worked extremely hard to get rid of her previous reputation as a weak fangirl. She's actually managed to become some sort of prodigy within her clan in the short time that she's stopped being a fangirl. She's mastered quite a few of the lesser known Yamanaka clan techniques, some that even her father couldn't even master. Like the one that I'm sure she will use to end this fight. Now let's watch, it's about to begin."

(With the combatants)

"Round one *cough*, Ino Yamanaka vs. Sasuke *cough* Uchiha. Hajime!" called Hayate, before leaping away from the combatants.

Ino got into a ready stance, while Sasuke just stood there arrogantly. He then said to Ino "You should just give up. There is no way that you could stand against an elite Uchiha!"

Ino scowled and said "Your arrogance is so disgusting! What I ever saw in you before, I'll never know, but I'll prove to you that just being an Uchiha doesn't mean squat!"

Ino then started going through handsigns, before ending with a unique handsign that had her fingers makeing a triangle that pointed at Sasuke, and called out "Yamanaka clan genjutsu: MIND TERROR!"

Nothing happened for a few seconds, causing Sasuke to throw back his head and begin laughing. He then looked at Ino behind closed eyes, which he opened to reveal his Sharingan, each with a single tomoe. He then said "Is that it? What did you even do? You are pathetic! Allow me to show you the power of-AAAAARRRRRGGHHH!"

Sasuke suddenly fell to the ground screaming. He then stopped screaming, and his body started shivering uncontrollably. Ino then turned to Hayate, and said "The match is over. He won't be doing anything other than shiver for at least an hour."

Hayate nodded and said "The winner of *cough* round one is Ino Yamanaka!"

Medics appeared carrying a stretcher, and they proceeded to put Sasuke onto it, and then carried him off to the medical ward.

(In the stands)

Kakashi watched wide eyed as the medics carried Sasuke off, and he turned to Asuma and asked "What did she do to him?"

Asuma chuckled and said "She used a Yamanaka style genjutsu. This particular one is called Mind Terror, and it forces the recipient to relive their worst experiences. And given Sasuke's past, it was not a pleasant thing that he re-experienced. That jutsu is one of the Yamanaka clan's strongest, and most terrifying. Inoichi was never able to master it, and he is hailed as a genius. That jutsu is why Ino is probably the worst opponent for Sasuke to ever face. Although, there were several other jutsus that she could have used to achieve the same result."

"If there were other jutsus that she could have used, why did she use that one? It just seems like it's a little…"

"Sadistic?" finished Asuma for Kakashi. "That's precisely why she used it. Ino changed after her father introduced her to Ibibi and the rest of the T & I department. She is now quite sadistic to whoever pisses her off. And if I had to guess, Sasuke's arrogance pissed her off."

At that point, Ino had arrived in the stands and heard the last bit of the two jonin's conversation. She then inputted "You got that right Asuma-sensei. I gave the bastard what he deserved. Maybe he won't be as arrogant when he wakes up. Now let's see what the next match is."

The screen on the wall began cycling through names, and settled to a stop. It settled on Shikamaru Nara vs. Kin Tsuchi.

The two in question made their way down from the stands and stood apart from each other.

Hayate stepped forwards and said "Round two *cough* is Shikamaru Nara vs. Kin Tsuchi. Hajime *cough*!"

Kin immeadiately threw some senbon at Shikamaru, who dodged to the right and slipped his hand into his tool pouch. He took out what appeared to be a metal canister, and tossed it high into the air behind him. Kin's eyes followed the canister, until it exploded into a huge flash of light, blinding everyone in the room except for Shikamaru, his team, and Naruto and Hinata, who had seen the canister and known what it was, so they covered their eyes.

The light lasted for five straight seconds, but three seconds in, those who were listening closely heard Shikamaru say "CHECKMATE!"

When the light finally died down, and people blinked away the spots in their eyes, they were treated to the sight of Kin lying on the ground unconscious, while Shikamaru was yawning and starting to head back towards the stands.

As the medics rushed towards Kin, Hayate stepped forwards and said "The winner *cough* of round two is Shikamaru Nara!" He the added to himself in his thoughts "Although I have no idea what he did…"

(In the stands)

Shikamaru had just gotten back up, when Naruto said "Nice work with the flashbangs I gave you. Which jutsu did you use along with it?"

Shikamaru yawned again and said "It's troublesome, but I chose to use that Kage Osae (Shadow Presser) technique that I learned in one of your scrolls. I figured it was the easiest way to ensure a knockout. I have a lot more control over that jutsu than the Kage-Kubishibari (Shadow neck bind), and I didn't want to accidentally kill her."

Naruto grinned and said "I knew that jutsu would come in handy for you. Glad to know that you've gotten good control over it, but wasn't that jutsu rather chakra draining?"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes and said "That's exactly why I said it was troublesome. Now shut up so we can see who is in the next match."

The screen began cycling again, and this time it settled on Neji Hyuuga vs. Misumi Tsurugi.

The combatants made their way down, and Hayate once again stepped forwards and said "Round three is Neji Hyuuga against Misumi Tsurugi. Hajime!"

The match was over in an instant. Neji sped towards Misumi faster than he could react, and slammed his palm into Misumi's chest, right where his heart was. Neji then turned and began walking back to the stands, and said "It was fate that chose him to be my opponent. It is also up to fate whether the medics can restart his stopped heart in time to save him from death."

As the medics once again rushed in and tried to restart the man's heart, Hayate stepped forwards and said "The winner *cough* is Neji Hyuuga."

As Neji walked back up towards the stands, Hinata watched him with a frown on her face. All she thought was "What has my former clan done to you?" When Neji walked by Hinata, he shot her a look of absolute loathing, which only caused Hinata's frown to deepen.

Back on the field, the medics had managed to put Misumi in a temporary stasis, so they rushed him off to the hospital, so they could work on restarting his heart. The Jyuken strike apparently made the typical ways of restarting a heart useless, so they needed to resort to using equipment that they didn't have in the medical ward in the tower.

With the personnel out of the way, the screen began cycling through names once more. This time it settled on Haku Nii vs. Sakura Haruno.

Once the contestants reached the battlefield, Hayate stepped forwards once again and said "Round four is Haku Nii vs. Sakura Haruno. Hajime!

Once Hayate had jumped away, Haku said to Sakura "You should just give up. You are and will always be worthless so long as you chase after that arrogant man. He is blinding you from what you could actually be."

Sakura charged at Haku with her fist cocked back and said "Sasuke-kun isn't arrogant! He is the strongest ninja that the leaf has!" She let her fist fly once she got close enough, and Haku effortlessly caught it in her own. She then grabbed Sakura's arm and threw her to the floor.

Sakura hit the ground so hard that she coughed up blood, and Haku continued speaking, saying "That man is far from the strongest of the leaf. He is in fact one of the weakest. If you do not get your act together, he will drag you down even further than he already has. You have potential, but you are doing nothing to let it come to light."

Sakura was nursing the arm that Haku had grabbed. It had a very minor case of frostbite on the spots where Haku's hands had touched her. Sakura shakily stood up and said "What do you even know about Sasuke-kun? He is not weak!"

Haku just said "I know enough about him to know that his mind is probably in the weakest state that I have ever seen. And he is weak. Did you not see the girl defeat him with just one genjutsu? And might I add that genjutsu shouldn't effect someone with those eyes of his. If he was strong, he would have fought against the genjutsu the moment he heard the girl say that she used it, but he did nothing, and it proceeded to consume him."

Sakura just stuttered out "But…but…he…"

Haku sighed and said "I've had enough. Maybe someday you will see that there are in fact others who hold YOU dear, and will recognize them. But in the meantime, your heart is as frozen as I will make your body. Hyoton: Odayaka Arechi. (Gentle Wasteland)"

The air temperature in the entire room started dropping rapidly, and, with Haku as the epicenter, ice began forming on the floor. It slowly spread outwards, and when it got to Sakura, she started shivering. The ice began creeping up her legs, slowly but surely covering her body in a thin layer.

Suddenly there was a blur of green from the stands, and Lee appeared next to Sakura and picked her shivering body up. He turned to Haku and said "That is enough. You have made your point. I am one of those who holds Sakura dear, and I swear by my youth that I will protect her. I agree with what you are trying to do, and I will help you." He then turned to Hayate and said "Procter, this match is over. Haku wins. I will take Sakura to the medical ward."

With that, he walked away, holding Sakura close to his body so that his body heat would keep her from going into shock.

The slightly shocked Hayate stepped forwards and anounced "The winner of the *cough* fourth round is Haku Nii! We will be taking a short *cough* break in between matches to *cough* defrost the field. In the meantime, talk amongst yourselves.

(In the stands)

"So what did you think of the first four matches?" asked Kakashi to no one in particular.

"Short and boring, except for Shikamaru's on the boring part." answered Naruto.

"What do you mean that Shikamaru's wasn't boring? We didn't even get to see what he did." Asked Kiba.

Naruto chuckled and said "Well I know what he did, as I found the jutsu he used in my clan's library and gave it to him. And I have to say of all of the shadow jutsu, Kage Osae is the least boring. If Shikamaru was a cold hearted killer, or if that Kin girl was an enemy of the leaf, he could have squashed her into a one inch sphere. He barely used any of that techniques potential, as he just put enough pressure on her body to knock her out."

Kiba was wide eyed at Naruto's explanation of what Kage Osae could have done, and he whirled around to Shikamaru and said "Could you really do that?"

Shikamaru sighed and said "Damn it Naruto! Did you have to tell them that? Whatever, it's too troublesome to argue. But yes, I could have left her as a sphere, or square, or any other shape that I wanted to. But dealing with dead people is especially troublesome, so I just applied a little pressure to some spots on her head and knocked her out, even though it uses less chakra to just completely squish someone without control."

Kiba just said "Remind me to never get on your badside, Shikamaru!"

Naruto laughed and said "Or you could just get on Shikamaru's bad side and not worry about it, since Shikamaru would find it "to troublesome" to do anything about it."

Shikamaru surprisingly chuckled at this and said "It's troublesome, but your actually right, Naruto. Anyways, I found Haku's match pretty interesting since she actually tried to knock some sense into the banshee. None of us have gotten close enough to try it, since the volume of her voice is just too troublesome to deal with."

"I guess I can agree with you on that, Shikamaru. The fact is that until recently, Hina-chan and I actually couldn't get to close to the banshee without blasting an eardrum, or else we would have staged an intervention like we did with Ino. But the match was still rather boring since Haku-chan only used the weakest version of her Arechi line of techniques. This whole room would have been an ice cube if she used the strongest, and that would certainly have been interesting." Said Naruto.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes and said "Interesting for you, maybe, but not all of us have merged with a demon that has its own special version of fire. It would be rather troublesome for the rest of us if the room turned into a giant freezer. Anyways, it looks like they have finished defrosting everything, so let's see who is in the next matchup."

The screen once again began cycling through names, and this time settled on Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze vs. Sabaku no Kankuro.

Naruto was immediately overjoyed that it was finally his turn to fight, but that joy was quickly squashed when Kankuro called out "Procter, I forfeit."

Ignoring Naruto's cries of protest, Hayate said "Very well! The winner *cough* by forfeit of round five is Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze!"

Back in the stands, Kankuro said to Naruto "Sorry, but I don't feel like getting my ass handed to me today. Finishing the second exam in two hours is no easy feat, and I overheard a jonin say that you came in with six other teams' scrolls. By the way, I'm sorry for calling you weak, as you obviously aren't."

The screen began cycling once again, and the next match was decided as Sabaku no Gaara vs. Yoroi Akado.

Instantly Naruto snapped out of his funk and called out to Gaara via an extended mindlink "I checked all of the files of everyone who got to the second exams, and long story short, this guy isn't really a leaf nin. If you want to keep up the insane charade, you can kill him if you want to."

Gaara acknowledged Naruto with the slightest of nods, before turning into sand and flying down into the arena. When Yoroi arrived, Hayate said "Round six is *cough* Sabaku no Gaara vs. Yoroi Akado. Hajime!"

Yoroi instantly charged at Gaara with glowing hands, ready to suck out his chakra. However, the moment Yoroi reached out to grab Gaara, his hand was blocked by a wall of sand that seemingly appeared out of nowhere. Yoroi tried to jump back, only to find that the wall of sand was gathering around his arm and slowly beginning to encompass his body.

As the sand was surrounding him, Gaara started speaking in an insane tone "I can hear her. She's asking for blood. Mother will get her blood. You will satiate mother's needs. MOTHER WANTS YOUR BLOOD!"

At this point, Yoroi was completely encased in sand, and Gaara was holding out his hand in a claw like fashion. He suddenly shouted "SABAKU SOSO!" and squeezed his hand shut. The sand imploded, crushing Yoroi to bloody paste. Yoroi's blood leaked out of the sand and onto the floor.

Gaara gave an insane grin before turning back into sand and flying back into the stands. Once there, everyone instinctively took a step away from him.

As the janitors came out and began cleaning up the blood on the ground, Hayate stepped forwards once again and said "The winner *cough* of round six is *cough* Sabaku no Gaara."

Meanwhile, Naruto was talking to Gaara via an extended mind link once again. He said "Damn, that was creepy as hell. I know that I told you to keep up appearances, but still…"

Gaara replied by saying "I just acted how I did before you cured me. It wasn't that hard."

Naruto mentally sweatdropped and replied "I'm really glad that you're on our side now. I think I'm going to have nightmares about you and your "mother."

Their conversation was cut short as the screen had begun cycling again. This time it stopped on Hinata Uzumaki-Namikaze vs. Zaku Abumi.

Hinata warped down with Sorime, and waited for Zaku to get down. When he did, Hayate called out "Round seven will be Hinata Uzumaki-Namikaze vs. Zaku Abumi. Hajime!"

Hinata began the fight by saying "You should probably forfeit. With your arm in a sling like that, you won't be able to do anything against me."

Zaku just laughed and said "As if. I'll show you what I can do, you freak!"

Hinata muttered "Says the one with pipes implanted in his arms…" before saying aloud "Very well. Don't blame me when you find yourself unable to move." With that, she took Shin'en off of her back.

Zaku just thrust his arm forwards and yelled "ZANKUHA!" As the large wave of sound and air shot forth at Hinata, she mockingly yawned and held Shin'en in front of her. The wave hit Shin'en and completely dissipated, leaving Hinata completely unharmed.

Hinata then smiled as she said "Is that all you've got? I've stopped attacks stronger than that in my sleep!"

Zaku then yelled "You little bitch! How about you take this!" He took his other arm out of its sling, and screamed "ZANKUKYOKUHA!" The wave of sound and air that shot out this time was at least ten times bigger than the previous, but again, all Hinata did was hold Shin'en out in front of her as the wave was turned completely harmless.

Zaku was speechless. His strongest attack had been completely nullified without any effort. However he did not think about that long, as he suddenly received a huge horizontal slash across his chest. The weird thing was that Hinata hadn't even moved. She was just standing there, smirking.

Zaku yelled out "What did you just do?" before another slash appeared, this time cutting deeply into his face. Suddenly, a tree sprouted right beneath Zaku, pushing him upwards, before it vanished. While Zaku was in the air, he began receiving multiple cuts out of nowhere. He landed painfully on the ground with a THUNK, and looked up to see what looked like a large bomb sitting in front of him, with its fuse going down.

There was a large explosion, but it wasn't the fiery kind. Instead, the bomb was apparently a large firework, as it exploded into a multitude of colors. However, it still sent Zaku flying forcefully into the side of the room, with the impact pushing the surrounding wall in. Needless to say, Zaku fell off the wall and onto the ground, unconscious.

A clearly confused Hayate stepped forwards and said "Ummm…I guess the winner of round seven is Hinata Uzumaki-Namikaze."

At this, Hinata gave a bright smile, and warped back to Naruto's side.

Once there, he gave her a huge kiss and said "Excellent use of the brush. The cherry bomb was a good finish. Ammy is quite proud of you."

Kakashi spoke up and said "What the hell did you do to that guy? And what do you mean by brush? And who's Ammy? Whatever you did, my Sharingan couldn't copy it."

Hinata giggled and said "Sorry Kakashi-san, but what I did is a secret. Ammy is a lot of things, but she is the one who taught Ruto-kun and I how to do that. She wishes to remain anonymous for now. And your Sharingan couldn't copy it since what I did was not using any jutsus."

Kakashi obviously wasn't happy with her answer, but he remained silent and watched as the screen cycled once again.

The next match was Tenten vs. Sabaku no Temari.

Once the contestants got down, Hayate began the match. Tenten immediately jumped back and gave herself distance. She made the first move by throwing a few kunai and shuriken, which seemingly missed Temari.

Tenten narrowed her eyes at Temari when the tools didn't hit their mark. She tossed a few more kunai, with the same result.

Temari laughed and said "If all you are going to do is throw things at me, you might as well give up. Thrown weapons will never hit me."

Tenten said "We'll see about that!" before placing two scrolls on the ground. She made a few handsigns and leapt into the air, with the scrolls exploding and unrolling around her. Midjump, Tenten pulled a huge variety of weapons out of the scrolls and began chucking them at Temari. All of them missed.

Landing, Tenten said "I think I've figured it out. You are constantly cycling the air around you somehow, and whenever any of my weapons get close, you increase the cycling slightly so that they miss."

"Oh, I'm impressed." Answered Temari. "You're the first one to guess that right. But you must now know that chucking things at me will never work."

Tenten nodded and said "Tools might not work, but what about fire?" She then took a scroll out and unrolled it, holding it in front of her at Temari. She channeled chakra into it, and a large fireball shot out of the scroll towards Temari.

Temari just smirked as the fireball got closer and closer. She didn't do anything, and once the fireball got within a meter of her, it got caught in the air current that surrounded Temari. The fireball followed the wind and started spinning around Temari, getting bigger and bigger. Suddenly, the air current shifted, and the fireball shot straight back towards Tenten.

Tenten barely managed to dodge the huge fireball by jumping over it, but her left arm still got heavily burned as she jumped. When she landed, she said to Temari "I did not expect that to happen. I didn't realize that you could control your wind so well, and I got burned because of it. Literally." Turning to Hayate, Tenten said "Procter, I forfeit the match. I can't fight with my arm burned like this."

Hayate nodded and called "The winner of the eigth fight is Sabaku no Temari."

Instead of heading back towards the stands, Temari walked up to Tenten and said "That was a good fight. You're the first person to realize that I controlled air currents like that, and wisely chose to use a fire attack, thinking that the fire would overwhelm the wind. If I hadn't trained as much as I have to combat my elemental weakness to fire, I probably would have lost. Let's get you to the medical ward to check on that burn."

With that, the two walked off. The screen began cycling through names again, and this time stopped on Choji Akimichi vs. Dosu Kinuta.

The two walked down to the center, but before Hayate could even begin the match, Dosu said to Choji "You should just give up fatso."

Immediately, Choji responded by saying "What did you just say?"

Dosu rolled his visable eye, and said "I said that you should just give up, fatso!"

Choji suddenly got a scary fire in his eye, and said in a quiet, but somehow very audible voice "Procter, begin the match. There's somebody that I have to turn into road kill."

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And that's a wrap. I'm splitting the prelims up like Junior the Wolf suggested that I do. There are only two fights left after this one, but they are going to be the biggest ones, or at least the most environmentally destructive ones in the entire prelims. For your information, the people who haven't fought are Kiba, Yugito, Lee, Fu, and Shino.

Who will fight who? More importantly, who will win?

Find out next time.

Slice N Dicer