Drifting

by AlphaDelta1001

Naruto is many things; troublesome, wild, unpredictable, adventurous, untamable, unique. But there's a benefit to being wild and unpredictable; no one has the faintest idea what you're going to do next. NarutoHarem

27. Chunin Exam Arc II - Dance to the Beat

NARUTO

Drifting

Dance to the Beat

Flashback…

Land of Water…

Clutching a hand over her stomach when it gave another low, audible growl, a seven year old Tsubaki cringed painfully and looked down at the part of her that was making all the noise. When she heard the sounds it was making settle and massaged the offending area to sooth the pinches of hunger, she then wrapped her arms around her waistline and returned to shivering once more.

On top of the cold cutting into her skin like knives, causing her to bundle herself up in whatever rags she'd been able to find around the garbage heaps, and the dirt covering her, making it look like she'd been pushed through the mud, the girl was also excruciatingly hungry.

It was painful just standing where she was and feeling her stomach practically eat itself. That's how far down the line of starving she was. Clenching her jaw tightly and rubbing her foot against her leg to try and warm her numb limbs, Tsubaki crossed her arms and legs even tighter as she stood there at the entrance to the alleyway in the small village on the edge of Kirigakure she'd wandered into. It wasn't a big community or an overly crowded one, but the district she was in did have quite a number of people walking through it and many stalls setup by the villagers there trying to make an honest living.

With the gentle haze of mist hanging in the air and a light rain coming down from above, it was surprising that there was anyone out at that time of day, period.

Managing to find shelter in that narrow, dank and forgotten lane, Tsubaki curled up against the wall quietly and listened to her stomach growl at her once again.

Her body was telling her that she needed food. Anything. Even a crumb from a whole loaf of bread would suffice. However, quelling her baser needs, knowing she needed to keep as quiet as possible so as to not draw any attention to herself, she then looked up and across the street at the man standing by one of the food stalls trying to sell fruit to the locals passing him by.

She'd been watching him for quite some time now, taking in his routine, watching how he interacted with the villagers, counting the number of times he sat down and watched his stock, and basically mentally jotting down all the times his eyes and attention span lapsed. This was important for her, because for all she knew, her next move in this part of the village was a matter of life and death.

If she didn't get any food into her stomach soon, then she was going to die. Full stop.

Narrowing her eyes when she saw the man stand up yet again and start bartering with a couple of people looking to buy some supplies, Tsubaki saw an opening.

Seizing her chance, she went for it. Dashing out of the alleyway, she dove under the stand's raised barrier and directly under the displayed fruit. As soon as she arrived within reach, she stood up and grabbed as many applies or whatever she could get her hands on, and legged it.

She scampered down the street with her head held low and bundle in hand, hoping to heaven she didn't get caught.

"OI! You little thief! Get back here!"

Apparently even if you had the whole thing planned out, any strategy you inevitably came up with wasn't going to be completely full proof. Nevertheless, Tsubaki got what she came for and she wasn't turning back. Knowing she would be beaten if she was caught by the stall owner, the homeless girl sprinted for her life, disappearing into the crowds and turning down random roads, all in an effort to put as much distance between herself and the man she'd stolen food from.

Clutching the fruit she'd managed to snag like it were the most precious thing to her in the world, the orange haired youngster passed down another street at full speed, her feet making loud squishing sounds against the soggy ground with every step she took as she sprinted through the light drizzle. However, just as she was beginning to feel like she was home free and looked over her shoulder to make sure she wasn't being followed, her bid for freedom was suddenly cut short when she unexpectedly crashed into someone coming around a corner. Letting out a cry, Tsubaki tumbled backwards, her fruit scattering across the ground as she fell onto her backside.

Splashing in the mud, Tsubaki quickly sat up and regained her bearings. "Ow." Groaning in pain, the girl looked around slowly, wondering what the heck she'd ran into before gasping when she realized what had just happened. "My food!" Despite the conk to her head, the girl desperately started crawling around and picking up the apples she'd gotten. However, just as she was making a grab for the orange, a hand reached down and picked it up, stopping Tsubaki in her tracks and getting her to look up sharply through the rain.

When she did, she saw a middle-aged man with moused-up, blue hair, with an eye-patch over his right eye and wearing the uniform of a Kirigakure shinobi. He also wore a talisman on each ear, which Tsubaki thought were earrings on first glance.

Though it took her a moment, Tsubaki quickly figured out that this was the person she'd ran into and had knocked her over.

Studying the dirty orange he'd picked up momentarily, the shinobi then noticed the girl in front of him and blinked in surprise. Looking between the soaked and filthy girl and the fruit he was holding a couple of times, he then smiled and held it firmly, "Hello there, little one."

Skirting away under the person's gaze, Tsubaki looked up at the man fearfully and curled up a little. Looking at his outfit, he was clearly a ninja of this country's village. To her that meant he was a killer.

Was he here to take her life for stealing?

If he was…

Seeing the child look back at him with fear clearly reflected in her eyes, the man gave a laugh and extended his free hand to her, "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you." When he saw her get to her feet and step back, he withdrew his gesture but continued smiling nonetheless. "Are you lost?" He saw her shake her head. "Are you… alone?" A firm nod was his response. "I see." Smile saddening slightly under the rain, knowing who it was he'd accidently bowled over, the person nodded to her. "My name is Ao. What's your name?"

Gulping under the man's beaming gaze, the orange haired child nodded to him in kind, yet continued to keep herself tightly wrapped up and the apples she held firmly in her grasp. "T-Tsubaki."

"Tsubaki?" Ao tested, before holding up the orange he'd collected. "Stealing is wrong, you know, kid. But I guess that can't be helped… seeing as how hard it must be for you to get food around here. Living rough?" He didn't need an answer, seeing as how cold and worn-out the girl appeared, on top of the shivering. Still, the fire in her eyes and the stare she sent back at him afterwards showed the shinobi that this kid was far from giving up yet and that she still had life left in her. Chuckling when she saw Tsubaki tighten her arms around her small bundle of fruit, Ao stood up and held his hand out to her. "Come on… I'll take you somewhere where you can have something warm to eat… and you won't have to sleep in a gutter anymore."

Still viewing the person with uncertainty, Tsubaki then looked around the place she was currently in and then towards the fruit in her arms. Seeing as she was the only one here, standing with this man in this part of town, and was unable to see anywhere else to go except back to the alleyways she'd come from, the child then turned to the shinobi once more and, albeit with great hesitancy, stepped forward. Instead of taking his hand, the girl waited for him to withdraw it, and followed after the smiling Ao when he started to walk down the main road.

Though she had no idea where she was going, hopefully it was somewhere better than this place.

If anything went wrong she could always turn tail and run. She had two feet and a good pair of working legs.

What other use could they've been for?

OOO

A few weeks later…

Sitting outside on the grounds of the orphanage, hiding behind a tree close to the fence, Tsubaki watched quietly from her safe little haven under the shadow of the trunk as the other kids she knew from the dorms played tag out on the field.

Being orphans from different parts of the village or country sent to the same place, the kids weren't in any set age group. They were a mixed bunch, all of them wearing different clothes donated by families and people who cared, and all of them had their own stories to tell that made them who they were. Those playing out on the yard, laughing and having fun together were the kids that had grown up here or had taken to the place fast enough that any bad memories from their pasts remained well below the surface. Others kept to their own tight groups, having fun in their own ways but keeping out of the way of the larger groups. And then there were the few that had only one friend and played games with them in their corner, and pretty much trying to have fun in their world.

Though Tsubaki had found refuge here in this small institute on the edge of Kirigakure, with food and a warm place to sleep, the girl still hadn't grown completely accustomed to the inner workings of the place. For one, she didn't want to hang around for too long with the other kids. She'd had many bad experiences with people in the past, most notably strangers that had kicked and pushed her around because she was a street urchin, and someone who was easy prey. Her past few years growing up alone had kept her from approaching other people her own age and hanging out for the sake of interacting and making friends.

Clearly, she was someone who appreciated her own company, because she was the only one she could fully trust with her secrets.

Turning away from watching the children playing, Tsubaki glanced down at her hand and flexed her fingers several times. Upon which, she then saw sparks of electricity begin coursing between her appendages until her hand flickered into an energized, incorporeal form. This form broke apart into a sliver of electric energy that fluctuated and waved freely in the air in front of her for a few seconds, before eventually reforming back into her hand, which she continued to stare at.

It hadn't been too long ago since the day she first discovered she had these powers. Since then, she'd done a very good job of hiding them from the others and practicing with them.

Something like this wasn't something she wanted to go flashing around to the general public, as she felt it could lead to a lot of serious trouble for her in the long run. Even though she was young, common sense served her well in making this decision, something that had helped her in keeping quiet about this for the few weeks she'd been here.

She intended to keep these abilities hidden for as long as she was able to.

"So you've got special powers too!"

Gasping in surprise, Tsubaki looked up into the tree above her. Wondering who the hell could have snuck up on her without her noticing, the youngster then saw a blonde haired girl sitting on the lowest hanging branch with her legs hanging over the side.

Dressed in an oversized jumper and dark pants with patches on it, the girl with the bright eyes and incredibly long, wild hair grinned brightly when she saw the startled orphan at the base of the oak look up at her. Upon which, the newcomer quickly swung around the tree, dangled there from one arm for a bit, before dropping to the ground directly in front of the seated Tsubaki. Crouching there in front of the youngster, the smiling, energetic child with the wicked, golden locks beamed and bounced excitedly on her toes.

"That's so cool! Show me again!"

For several moments the two just looked at each other silently, with Tsubaki staring at the stranger with a straight face while the other waited eagerly for a response. However, when she got none, the blonde figured she knew what the issue was and grinned again. She then held out her own hand, and showed her fingers and knuckles to the orange haired one sitting up against the tree in front of her.

"Hey. Don't worry. I won't tell anyone," the newcomer chirped when her limb sudden became covered in cold, black metal right before the other girl's eyes. "I've got special abilities too. See."

Blinking in amazement, Tsubaki reached out and tapped the almost synthetic looking appendage the girl was now showing her, feeling the cold ping of steel under her finger tips. After touching it a few times and assessing the material, the orange haired orphan then looked back at the beaming one with yellow hair and, adhering to her earlier request, raised her hand. Just like before, Tsubaki allowed sparks of electricity to shoot over it again, a sight that had the stranger awe and stare at, and continue to do so until the light show eventually ended.

"Wow," the blonde murmured, before a wide grin crossed her face once again, "I'm Kiyoko. What's your name?"

A bit surprised at first by the sudden introduction and the volume of it, the more sedated child gave a slight giggle and smiled in a clearly more chipper mood, "My name is Tsubaki."

The happy greenhorn, Kiyoko, tilted her head curiously as she looked the orange haired one over, "How long have you been living here?"

"Only a couple of weeks," Tsubaki replied while bringing a knee up and wrapping her arms around it. "What about you?"

"A few days? Did your mummy drop you off?"

Tsubaki gave the girl a strange look, "No. I was… found wandering the streets by a ninja from Kirigakure. He took me here and told the manager lady to look after me."

"Oh. So… you don't have a mummy or daddy," Kiyoko murmured, before plopping down on the grass. After a few moments of trying to keep a composed and bright outlook, a sad expression then overcame the blonde child and she looked down at the grass in front of her, before deciding to pick at it. At first confused by Kiyoko's sudden change in moods, Tsubaki soon learned why her visage saddened so unexpectedly when she continued to speak. "My mummy took me here. She said that because of my special powers, the people from my village would be afraid of me and that if daddy ever found out about them… then he and his friends would try to kill me… so we ran away."

Tsubaki stared at the girl for a minute, and tilted her head at her, "Your… mum left you?"

Kiyoko nodded, feeling tears appear under her irises and brushing them out. When she panned back up to the girl now looking at her through sympathetic eyes, the blonde gave a small grin and continued in a softer voice. "She said that I would be safe here… and that if I'm nice to people and if I keep on smiling, then everyone I meet will like me and I'll be able to make lots of friends, even with my special powers."

"Really?"

"Yep! She also said that if I become big and strong, then someday I will be able to change this country and make it good again. She believed that I could do it." Her smile then faltered a little when she looked across at the girl staring at her seriously, before starting to rock back and forth nervously under her gaze. "D-Do you… like me?"

Remaining silent for a few moments, Tsubaki considered the newcomer in front of her. She was a little bit strange, acted completely carefree and was ridiculously cheerful, even for someone her age, she was new to the orphanage, and above everything else, it was quite clear that she really liked talking to others. Even though she'd been left here by her mother, it had all been to protect her from people who would want to hurt her, all because of her powers. In a way, she was very similar to her. The only differences between them that Tsubaki recognized were that the blonde didn't lose her parents in a battle and was left to wander the streets to fend for herself. Not to mention the fact that she was a lot happier than her and actually had a few last words with her mother.

However, looking down at the girl's hand and then her own, Tsubaki also realized that they both had something in common with one another. They both had a special power that normal people in this country would be afraid of, and something that they would try to eliminate from the world. It was this fact that had the orange haired girl's immediate interest in Kiyoko, which she wasn't afraid to address in the form of a small smile and a nod.

"You're weird."

Balking at this response, Kiyoko puffed her cheeks out indignantly and scowled, "Mo. I don't mean to be."

Tsubaki giggled a little and wrapped her arms around both her legs when she pulled them up to her chest. "But… even though you're a little bit weird, I still think you're really nice."

Blinking in surprise, Kiyoko stared back at the girl momentarily before giving her a bright grin. After which she then laughed, a response that she then shared with the girl across from her leaning against the tree, who giggled under her hand.

OOO

Some years later…

Standing around a class of forty-plus children, all of whom were lying scattered across the courtyard floor and groaning from various bruises and burns that had been inflicted upon them, a perfectly fine Tsubaki panted heavily as she wiped her hand across her forehead. Flicking away the sweat that had accumulated, the girl looked around at all of the boys and girls she'd managed to take down in their little skirmish, leaving her the only one left standing in the group of academy students.

You could tell it had been a fierce fight between them. This having been a test and all, the kids had clearly fought their hardest to stay as far into it as they could, before eventually succumbing to the pressure of the undisputed victor.

Positioned on the sidelines of the small arena with notepads in hand, a couple of Chunin level shinobi from Kirigakure could be seen standing side by side with one another and observing. Next to the two instructors, there also stood a large man wearing sunglasses, a bandana and had three distinct, broad, blue striped markings on his face. He also wore prayer beads around the standard pinstriped turtleneck top with a dark-blue robe over that with a light-blue trim. Alongside him, there also stood an equally tall man with blue skin, shark like characteristics, wearing a dark Kirigakure uniform with a large sword wrapped in bandages sheathed on his back.

The two imposing individuals looked upon the scene of the young girl standing above her fallen teammates with intrigue. After seeing the battle that had transpired, you could say that they were mildly surprised that a kid so young could take on a class of much older and supposedly stronger teens so handily.

Chukichi smiled, "Well… she's an interesting one. Superb reflexes, excellent sense of timing, impressive speed, especially for a beginner… and her intelligence is also quite remarkable." He then glanced across at the blue-skinned man next to him. "What do you think, Kisame-san?"

The Jonin wielding the enormous weapon gave a short chuckle while leering across at the orange haired youngster. When he saw Tsubaki turn and look back at the proctors, and saw the Chunin scribble down more notes to add to the material they'd already collected, the swordsman responded in kind, "I think I may have found my new muse for the next few months."

This got a chuckle from the other Jonin present, before Chukichi looked back to see Tsubaki step over the injured bodies towards them, "Just take it easy… and play nice with her, alright. You don't want to piss her off like you did Mangetsu and his brother while you were showing them the ropes. If you're not careful, this one might actually come to bite you in the ass."

"Hmph. We'll see," Kisame chuckled, stepping forward when Tsubaki stopped in front of the four proctors. When he saw the girl look up at him, the blue-skinned swordsman placed his hand on top of her head and ruffled her orange locks. "You're pretty tough, kid. That was a really good show you put on for us out there. Do you want to become a shinobi of Kirigakure some day?"

Tsubaki didn't need to be asked twice. She nodded affirmatively in an immediate response. "Yes."

"Well then… how would you like to hang around with me for a bit and put those impressive skills of yours to better use?" Kisame asked with his characteristic, shark-like smirk.

Blinking in surprise as she looked up at the current leader of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist giving her the toothy grin, the orange haired youngster thought about his offering for a moment. Considering the opportunity to learn under one of the village's best and the skills she could accumulate from it, Tsubaki then gave a small smile of her own and gestured firmly with her head.

This brought on another chuckle from Kisame, "My training is pretty rough. But give me a few months and I'll turn you into something truly terrifying."

OOO

A year or so later…

Choking up blood as she lay there, her body absolutely riddled with scars and cuts from a bladed weapon drawn across her like a pen, a slightly older Tsubaki, wearing a more covered version of her present attire with a jacket, now ruined from a fierce but quick battle, glared up towards the man that had so handily and effortlessly put her down. However, the person that had beaten her wasn't a bandit, mercenary, civilian or a shinobi from a different village. No. This was someone she knew all too well, and someone who she once thought of as a great man.

"Interesting. You actually lasted more than twenty seconds this time. Not bad, kid."

Glaring up at his form bathed in the shadow of a nearby tree from the forest surrounding them, gazing down at her with the eyes of a demon and the face of a person equivalent to one, the tall and imposing form of her teacher Kisame stood glaring down at her. His sword embedded in the ground directly beside him and making various clicking sounds as if it were alive, the man then pulled his primary weapon up and propped it over his shoulders, while at the same time watching the girl try to crawl forward and out of the crater she was also buried in.

Try as she might though, Tsubaki was unable to muster the strength to stand. All she could do was lie there and bleed out, and feel even more blood drip down her face from the cuts in her head.

Clenching her fist around the dirt beneath her, the girl choked, "W-Why… Kisame…-sensei?"

"Why what, my dear?"

"Why… did you… betray the village… our home…?"

The man smirked as he looked down at his student, before stepping forward and crouching in front of her. When he leveled with her somewhat, he spoke with the same, amused tone of voice he always did. "You want to know why? Because I got bored, Tsubaki-chan. That's all." He then waved his hand in the air dismissively, like what he had to say meant as little to him as a fly caught on the wind, "You could say that I killed all of those people because I was getting sick and tired of all the idiotic missions that I was being sent on lately. Or… you could say that I lost interest in this country and started having a little bit of fun of my own, just to kill some time."

The real reason he'd done what he did he kept to himself. After all, he didn't want to give away all of his surprises. This was not the time or place for him to be talking about such stuff.

He'd sworn loyalty after all… loyalty to a completely different cause. All he was doing right now was, in a few words, entertaining the 'audience'.

Tsubaki gritted her teeth as she looked up at his shark-like face. "That's it? You… plotted to overthrow this country… because… you were bored…?"

Kisame grinned and poked her in the head lightly, "What do you think?" He saw the look sent back at him, and breathed an exasperated sigh as he crouched there before the girl with his sword rested over his shoulders, finger tapping against the handle rhythmically. "Look, it's a cruel and bloody world out there, kid. You should know this better than anyone, seeing how you started out in life. All things considered, you should be able to see reality in the same way as I do every single day… so you should know why I did what I had to do." Watching the girl cough up more blood and glare hatefully at him, the shark-faced man then blinked when he recognized a familiar glimmer in her eyes. "Unless… you found something else that's keeping you from seeing the same thing as me?"

Clenching her fists again, a spark of electricity ran up Tsubaki before she faltered, coughing up more bodily fluids immediately afterwards and panting raggedly.

Seeing this as his answer, the man gave another laugh and rose to his feet. "I see. So that's it. You've grown attached to this place… in spite of how badly it's treated you. You found yourself some meaning in this wretched country… a petty little thing worth fighting for." Scrubbing his head and giving another sigh, Kisame shook his head at his wounded student. "I guess it can't be helped. As much as I despise that sort of ideal, you're still just a kid… and I have to say I had loads of fun beating those survival skills into your head for the past few months. I can see my stubbornness has really rubbed off on you." The man then trained all of his focus onto the kunoichi in training, with his grin flashing under whatever light there was to be seen. "Too bad it'll take more than stubbornness to defeat me."

Teeth gritting, Tsubaki coughed again and glared up at her powerful instructor. "I will… stop you… Kisame-sensei."

"In your current state, I highly doubt that that'll be possible, my dear," Kisame stated, bringing his sword around and holding the tip directly over her head. "It's like I've told you many times before. The weak are meat, the strong eat. Only the toughest, sharpest, and most powerful shinobi will ever survive in this world. I am strong… and in spite of all your gifts and strengths, you're nowhere near as strong as I am. You're weak prey… just like everybody else. In the great scheme of things nothing you do has the least bit of significance." The swordsman chuckled, "It's time you learned that lesson the hard way."

Tsubaki braced herself as her former teacher raised his sword over his shoulder to slash down at her and finish her off. However, just when it seemed like he was about to snatch the life right out of her, the man suddenly stopped and blocked a series of kunai flung at him from across the way. Looking out through the misty forest in alarm, the swordsman sensed a series of approaching figures coming his way while also spotting one of them spring out of the brush.

Rushing towards the man, an angry looking Kiyoko with her hair waving about in the air and a desperate look on her face shouted, "Tsubaki-chan!"

Said girl gritted her teeth and looked over her shoulder through pained eyes, seeing her friend approaching through a gradually blurring vision. "K-Kiyoko… run…" There was no way her friend could stand up to this monster. Not on her own.

He was going to kill her.

Clicking his tongue in annoyance and sheathing his sword when he saw several more figures leap into view, including a couple of his fellow swordsmen, Kisame then glared down at his former student for a few more seconds. Upon seeing the girl look up at him with excruciating effort, he returned her agonized expression with a smug one of his own and grinned.

"It looks like your reason for staying in this village has just saved your life. Guess we're going to have to have our final lesson some other time," Kisame stated before turning heel and nodding his head firmly. "See you around, kid." He then vanished in a shunshin, leaving the area in his dust.

A few seconds later, just when more shinobi from Kirigakure started spilling into the clearing, Tsubaki's eyes rolled into the back of her head and she lost consciousness, the muffled voice of her best friend being the last things she heard…

End flashback…

OOO

Shaking her head at the memories that shot through her in a haze, Tsubaki breathed a tired sigh before starting to make her way back toward the competitor's balcony. Slipping her hands into her pockets and marching under the awe and adulation of the audience, the orange haired Kiri Genin tried to put aside these troubling thoughts from yesteryear and focus on the now.

Because now was where everything was happening.

Nevertheless, her past still reverberated strongly within her, and under the influence of both the good and the bad, she clenched her fists tightly.

"I am not prey… and I am not weak."

The Uchiha had given her a tough battle. If he was this difficult to deal with that she was forced to show one of her cards, then she was going to need to keep her head in the game to face off against her next two opponents before the finals.

"I will not lose," Tsubaki thought, eyes narrowing with determination as she glared ahead of her with her cold and unwavering expression. "I will be strong… not just for myself… but for Kiyoko-chan, Utakata-kun and my village. I will become strong enough to protect them from men like him. There's no way I will fail… not here."

OOO

(Stadium – Team Instructors Section)

Biting his teeth together, Genma glared out at the scene of Tsubaki walking across the field while Sasuke was carefully lifted onto the stretcher for transport. After everything that had gone on, their entire section had gone deathly quiet. "What the heck happened out there?"

"Did Sasuke screw up his attack?" Kiba asked, looking a little bit pissed off himself. Upon seeing the girl stomp over yet another competitor while barely breaking a sweat, you could say that the Inuzuka's mood was quite livid. His expression of outrage matched that of his companion's, who barked and growled as he saw the teen in question vacate the area. "How could he mess up? We saw the whole thing. He was right on the mark."

"Perhaps he lost focus through the execution and was unable to maintain his technique in the follow-up," Shino suggested helpfully. "Maybe he released it unintentionally."

Byakugan activated, Hinata shook her head. "No. I saw it. His chakra flow was perfect and he hit Tsubaki with everything he had. The attack should have gone right through her. B-But she stopped it… and…"

Everyone in the isle turned to her, since she had clearly the best perspective on the situation.

"But what?" Kiba asked.

Hinata's fists clenched as she glared out over the ring, the veins of her doujutsu pulsing. "It's strange. The moment his technique made contact, all of his chakra got sucked into his opponent, l-like it was absorbed."

"Absorbed?" Kurenai murmured, only for her eyes to widen before she turned back to the stadium's center. "Wait… don't tell me… can that girl absorb chakra?"

"No. I don't think so," Asuma murmured, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "If she was able to absorb chakra, then all of those fire release techniques Sasuke used before would have gotten sucked into her as well. Every other attack thrown in her direction just passed right through her, like she was a ghost. The only jutsu she absorbed and actually made some sort of contact with was the Chidori."

"Chidori is a lightning release technique, isn't it?" Gai asked, turning to Kakashi to see the man had watched the whole scene with his Sharingan. Eyes narrowing on his rival, the man in green continued on with an idea evident in his expression, "You don't think…"

"It's… plausible…" Kakashi said in a low voice, pulling his headband back over.

Both he and Gai had a theory, something that Anko, Asuma and Genma quickly came to recognize from their faces. However, they set the matter aside for the time being, so as to watch how the rest of the tournament played out and confirmed their suspicions.

While the Jonin were left to ponder over this development and the mystery surrounding the Kirigakure team's heavy hitter, the Genin who had been knocked out of the competition in the first round and were sitting in their own isle near the others still in the game were looking down at the arena with expressions conveying varying levels of upset and displeasure.

Sakura and Ino in particular were deeply shaken by the results of the battle, while everyone else felt a grim sensation come over them as they watched Tsubaki return to the box and to her team. After seeing the victor eventually leave the sight of the cameras, the two ardent Uchiha supporters then jumped from their seats and ran off to the sick bay to go see if their idol and crush was going to be okay.

OOO

(Stadium – Competitors Balcony)

Breathing out in a disgruntled manner, Shikamaru rubbed his head, "It looks like even Sasuke wasn't a match for her. This is bad." The Uchiha was viewed as a smart, extremely talented and strong shinobi who was touted to win this tournament at the very start. But with the conclusion of his latest match and the results displayed as clear as day upon the board for the entire world to see, and even though he put up a fantastic fight, it seemed that there was an even greater prodigy amongst them. "And to top that off, she's a monster."

He made sure to keep these comments to himself as he, along with the other Genin up there, watched as Tsubaki walked on in through the balcony's main entrance and strolled over to her team. Moving past the Konoha contingent that remained, her presence caused a chill to run down the group's spines at the sensations they received from it. Topped with the fight they just witnessed, it was no wonder they were all stricken with concern.

Tayuya, Shikamaru and Samui in particular, all of whom glared after the orange haired kunoichi when she returned to her teammates' sides. The same could be said for the two Suna members still up there with them.

The only one who wasn't showing the slightest bit of worry was Naruto. Instead of regarding the Kiri team's presence with concern, he merely showed a hint of interest and a positive flare in his gaze as he cut towards them briefly before turning back out to stare at the stadium.

Eyes twinkling, the Uzumaki was barely able to contain the excited grin that came across his lips, but made sure to keep it out of view of the others as his fists clenched tightly.

"Sasuke couldn't beat her… he couldn't even touch her… that means she's super tough," the jinchuriki exclaimed in his head, calming himself down enough to raise a fist and glance briefly over at the Kirigakure team. "I'm going to be fighting Kiyoko next. If I win, I just might end up facing Tsubaki… unless Samui moves on to the next round and beats her first." Of course, he held every bit of confidence in him that the girl from Kumogakure would do insanely well. After all, she was the coolest character there.

And from the way she'd fought, he knew she was also one of the smartest. She could figure out a way.

Speaking of which, the voice of the proctor suddenly blared up over the speakers. "Could Utakata and Samui make their way down to the center ring, please?"With the next two names announced, all attention from the competitors and the crowd returned to the tournament's procession.

With the shock of Sasuke's defeat lifting, albeit barely from all those adamant supporters of the clan's only surviving member and resident genius of Konoha, everyone looked to see the next two participants step up. While Utakata from the Kirigakure squad walked past to make his way down to the pitch via the main exit, Samui stretched her neck and massaged her shoulder soothingly before moving up to the guard rail. Once she was done warming up, she gripped the metal bar and looked over at Naruto, Tayuya and Shikamaru standing beside her.

"If I win this one, I'll be moving on to fight that Kirigakure kunoichi in the next round," she informed with an unchanging, serious visage. "I don't intend to lose… not until I face you." It was then a smile sprouted on her face when she nodded towards Naruto, who looked back at her curiously for a moment before grinning as well.

He gave the girl a respectful nod, "I'll meet you in the semi-finals then, Samui-chan."

Beaming, Samui turned and prepared to head out. However, before she could mount the guard rail, she paused. "Hang on. I forgot something." When she stepped off everyone wondered what it was that was keeping her from leaving, but all of their confusion stopped dead when the blonde turned around, grabbed Naruto's face, and unexpectedly kissed him full on the mouth.

For a few seconds the pair stayed like that, with Shikamaru's jaw hitting the floor and Tayuya looking at them in shock. Eventually, the girl released the bewildered Naruto, who gazed at her with red in his cheeks as she returned his expression likewise, but with a fond smile in play.

She bowed her head to him gently, "For luck." That said, she turned heel and sprang off of the balcony, diving down to ground floor where she landed gracefully, and then began sauntering her way out to the middle with confidence.

Well that was out of the blue.

"W-What just happened?" the stunned jinchuriki of the Kyuubi stammered in his head.

Remaining speechless for a moment, Naruto slowly processed exactly what had happened before turning to the others standing next to him. While he saw Tayuya was smirking devilishly at him and Shikamaru was absolutely confounded, glancing across the way, he not only saw the stunned look from Temari and the glare from Gaara, but also the shocked looks from the two Kiri girls that were still present.

Apparently even the stoic could be swayed by unforeseen circumstances.

Their gob smacked expressions had Naruto laugh nervously and turn to rest his head on his hand while he leaned atop the railing.

"Yeah… something tells me I'm going to be getting an earful from a few people when I get home…"

OOO

(Stadium – Kage Section)

While the crowds looked on silently at the recent picture taken of the competitors leaving the balcony and the events that transpired thereon, the village leaders were currently in the process of trying to figure out how the hell the blonde haired runt from Konohagakure had two girls from different countries pretty much steal first base from him and had done so while in the presence of the other.

The sight was just as unfathomable as the abilities they had seen been displayed down in the arena.

Eyes wide like saucers, Onoki clicked his tongue. "Huh."

"Yeah," the Fourth Kazekage cleared his throat.

"That was… unexpected," the Raikage also spoke with a surprised look of his own.

Hiruzen, who was known for being the best presented even in the worst occasions, was unable to stop the pipe from falling out of his mouth and hitting the ground. Ignoring the scattered ashes and his smoking piece, he just stared up at the screen as he attempted to comprehend the recent turn of events.

Hiroto meanwhile, was regarding the Mizukage with a little bit of caution, since he could see the equally stunned look on her face turn into a bit of an amused one, before she started giggling in a very creepy manner.

"Heheh… isn't that sweet," the woman chirped, her fingernails digging into the wood of her chair. "Young Naruto-kun has two girlfriends while I can't even find ONE boyfriend." The dark aura that started to waft off of her had the leader of Yugakure lean away to avoid being frozen by the cold that came with it.

OOO

(Stadium – Team Instructors Section)

The entire contingent of Jonin from the hidden leaf village was presently a little bit on edge themselves due to the atmosphere being emitted by a certain someone sitting amongst them. While it was well-known within their ranks that Gai would normally be the one who stuck out the most in a crowd, in a surprising turn of events, it was in fact the quietest and shiest one amongst them that was giving everyone their current cause for concern.

This came in the form of one Hinata Hyuuga sitting in between Shino and Kiba, who was at the moment staring up at the screen with a blank gaze, fists tightly clenched on her lap, and a weird, very un-Hinata-like smile on her face. The fact that a shadow had fallen over her gaze and she was emitting a visible, purple aura wasn't helping everyone relax that much.

The Jonin were all looking warily at her, including Kakashi and Gai.

The Hyuuga giggled as she tilted her head to the side while she staring unblinking at the television screen. "Oh, Naruto-kun has two girlfriends. Th-That's nice." At that moment, the face of a demon suddenly appeared to hover behind her, getting everyone in the area to scoot over a tad when its red pupils flashed dangerously. "Why didn't he say he had two girlfriends… and why didn't he ask me to be one of them?" Her head then rotated like a doll's and her unmoving gaze fixed on the brown haired Inuzuka next to her. "Kiba-kun… why does Naruto-kun have two girlfriends?"

Sweating up a storm, the Inuzuka leaned away while holding up his hands. Even his partner Akamaru whimpered nervously. "Hi-Hinata, can you please stop doing that? You're scaring the shit out of us…"

Meanwhile, some ways over in the other isle where the former competitors were sitting, every individual there was also staring with mixed expressions of shock and disbelief at the jumbo-tron.

A still present Shiho, Kaede, Kurotsuchi and Shirotsuchi were beside themselves, mouths moving but words failing to escape their throats. Omoi was also appearing stunned, but not as much as Karui beside him who had dropped the drink she had been holding when she saw what was going on in the competitor's section beside them.

Neji on the other hand, composed as usual, looked over at Tenten with a bit of concern when he finally managed to get it through his head the situation at hand. While everybody else was losing their heads and whatever was currently on their person, he was the only one keeping it real. "Uh… are you okay?"

Processing the scene quickly, the shuriken user gave a slight laugh and smiled back at the Hyuuga prodigy of her team. "I'm alright. Just a little surprised, is all."

OOO

(Konohagakure – Chunin Exam Stadium)

Meanwhile, many miles away, Jiraiya, who had previously just been watching the screen with rapt attention, had suddenly pulled out his little writing pad and was going bat-shit crazy over it. With a lecherous grin, the man scribbled furiously across the pages the abundant amount of ideas that had suddenly come to his head.

It was like Kami himself had unlocked the iron gates inside of his brain and was letting all of his potential concepts and inspirations run free. They poured down upon him like much needed rain after a serious drought. The possibilities were infinite and all that kind of crap, and the man loved it.

"Kid, you're going to make me the greatest author on the face of this planet," Jiraiya practically shouted, continuing to flip through the pages one after the other.

While he was doing his thing, over in the front row, a lot of the villagers there had to move away a bit due to the increased presence of a certain two girls. One of them, the purple haired one in bandages, was giving off a very unpleasant aura and had cracked the seats with her fingers from how tightly they squeezed the surface. The second one was the raven haired girl, who was glaring hard up at the screen with a twitching eye.

"Let's… see if I've got this straight…" Kin murmured.

"Naruto-kun gets kissed by a girl I've never even met before, while I've known him for over two months and haven't even said anything about my feelings to him." Isaribi immediately led off, looking absolutely discolored. It seemed out of character, but the truth was that a girl's rage was an unguided weapon that could be fired by anyone with an itchy trigger finger. Her fists clenched so tightly the bones in her knuckles audibly popped. "When he gets home, I'm going to have a really long… long talk with him."

Kin, who'd had her own rant cut short before it could gain any traction, breathed a deep sigh and nodded, "Yeah."

While she didn't say it out loud, the raven haired kunoichi was quite livid about the situation as well. Though as to the reason why, she didn't want to think about it.

What the blonde idiot did in his free time outside of the apartment was none of her business; even if it did irk her for some preposterous explanation. She allowed her flaring temper to settle and returned to her normal self seconds later.

OOO

(Stadium – Arena)

Clearing his throat at the passing of the rather… remarkable scene, Tenga drew the crowd's attention back in and raised his hand. "Match 6 between Utakata of Kirigakure and Samui of Kumogakure: Begin!"

With the whistle blown, the final fight for this round of matches began under a chorus of cheers and whistles from the crowd. Jumping away, the proctors gave all the room needed for both Genin to start scrapping, which they were all too happy to proceed with, seeing as how the last few fights had been on such a large scale; the biggest having been Naruto and Temari's tornado festival in the center hill, which was now long gone.

They'd had to move them over to another flat area where everyone could see them. The arena had really taken a pounding from all the competitors fighting each other on top of it.

With the area cleared and no one to get in their way, both coolheaded competitors stared one another down, with the boy in the blue robes narrowing his eyes on the stoic gaze of his opposite. Pulling his bubble blower out from the obi wrapped around his waist, he held it to his side, out of sight under the length of his sleeve, while at the same time making sure to keep his foe fixed squarely in his sights.

This one was smart and deceptively quick. He didn't intend to make any mistakes with her.

"From what I gathered from your last battle, you've probably already worked out a strategy to defeat me," Utakata spoke calmly, bringing his pipe up and taking aim. "I'll be sure to keep this battle at my distance to prevent you from executing it." Without even taking a breath, he blew through his shoot and sent a stream of large bubbles flying at speed towards the blonde haired Kumogakure ninja.

The kunoichi responded quickly, leaping straight into the air to dodge them. She'd seen what those things did when they made contact with an object.

As she expected, the stream of bubbles he sent at her exploded when they hit the ground, the force of the simultaneous blasts ripping the space apart. While focusing on the spot she'd previously been standing, she missed the bubbles flying at her above the cloud of dust formed from the opening assault. Looking up at the last second, she crossed her arms over her face and curled up, a split second before the attacks smacked into her. When they exploded, they ripped into her and sent Samui blasting backwards through the air.

Letting out a cry, the blonde hit the forest canopy and crashed through the branches one after the other before hitting the ground. From his position, Utakata saw her landing.

He also saw when her body went up in a puff of smoke and revealed a log lying in her place with a cracked surface. This had him furrow his brow before looking behind him when he heard the sound of footsteps and saw the kunoichi just feet away, swinging in at him with her tanto. Alarmed, the boy swayed out of the way from the first blow and ducked under her right cross, before crossing his arms over his chest to block the kick that she followed up with. The blow knocked him off his feet with a crack, but after a short flight he flipped and landed back onto his feet, sliding to a stop.

Immediately upon stopping, Utakata used his bubble blower and launched a wall of the airy substance straight at his opponent, who barreled out of the way to avoid the attack that would have knocked her into the next clearing. Every one of his individual bubbles had the force of a kick behind it and the capacity to knock her down if they hit her. The fact that he blew them in such vast quantities meant that a single stream could cause some serious damage if she didn't defend herself properly.

Upon rolling successfully out of the way, Samui drew a set of shuriken and threw them across the range towards her foe. The Kirigakure jinchuriki moved out of the way and responded with another stream of bubbles, trading projectiles from her with his own barrage that drifted towards his target at a surprisingly fast rate. Jumping backwards from left to right and following a non-linear path, Samui avoided the attacks that racked the ground with pummeling hits. After falling back enough, she then jumped out of the way when a large bubble floated down from above and smacked into the ground, exploding with concussive force.

The force of the blast was enough to send an evading blonde tumbling away. When she slid to a stop on all fours, she looked up with a slightly grungy look and frowned.

"He dislikes close combat, but he covers up this weakness by being able to dodge well and harry his opponents around through use of his bubble style ninjutsu at long range." He could launch so many of them at the same time it was close to impossible to keep track of all of them. While bubbles could be seen at a certain range because they distorted the light that passed through them, they were still transparent and were really hard to spot from certain angles. This made avoiding them a difficult chore. This had Samui furrow her brow. "This will be difficult on open ground. I need to take this to an area where we'll both be at a disadvantage."

With that idea in mind, the Kumo kunoichi drew a kunai from behind her and chucked it, sending the blade flying straight towards her opponent. However, before it could reach the Kirigakure Genin, Utakata blew another, much larger bubble out of his pipe that enveloped him and surrounded his body in a round, transparent seal. When the kunai struck it, it bounced off, unfurling the paper wrapped around its handle, which detonated safely on the other side of the barrier.

When the fire and smoke cleared, Utakata, now no longer covered by his shield, took in a deep breath before once again firing off a stream of bubbles at his foe. These ones scattered throughout the air above the field and traveled much faster than his previous attacks, before all of them converged on his foe's position. When they came within range and surrounded the blonde haired girl, he raised his hand and snapped his fingers.

"Suiton: Homatsu no Jutsu!" (Water Release: Bubbles Technique)

The moment his fingers clicked, all of the bubbles he'd blown exploded simultaneously in a spray of moisture and the force of numerous paper bombs going off all at once. The cluster of bubbles surrounding Samui decimated the hill she'd taken up and ripped apart the ground, filling the air with steam and dust, and blocked out all view of her position. This left Utakata waiting patiently to see for himself what had happened, and when the mist faded and it revealed an utterly ruined hillside with no body to be seen, the boy knew right then and there that she'd escaped.

"She's fast," Utakata murmured, glancing to his right when he began tracking her path. Spotting a faint shadow vanish into the woods, he furrowed his brow and raised his pipe. "Were you training to combat somebody else?" It sure explained her great physical prowess.

Deciding to leave that thinking for later, the Kirigakure boy enveloped his body in another large bubble, which then lifted him off of the ground and took him into the sky. Getting comfortable at the bottom of it, the teenager began his pursuit of his target, staying a safe, elevated distance above the canopy so that he could respond to any attacks sent his way.

While drifting on the wind, the boy began blowing bubbles and scattering them over the woods, setting them off with a snap of his finger and blasting the forest with his special, liquid bombs. Eyes scanning the shadows carefully and sending wave after wave of transparent spheres into the green, he began driving his opponent towards the nearest clearing, putting on quite a show with his awesome display of firepower. Eventually however, after sending rain after rain of bubbles into the woods, he saw his opponent jump out the other side of the thick and into the rocky area of the barren region of the arena.

Quickly taking to the towers of bedrock around the region, the blonde disappeared around a bend and didn't come out the other side. Furrowing his brow, Utakata drifted over the spot to try and find the girl, but saw that she had disappeared.

"Tsk." Clicking his tongue, Utakata brought his pipe up again. "Ambushing me here won't do you any good… and hiding won't save you either." Taking a deep breath, he then blew on his pipe. "Suiton: Santoka!" (Water Release: Acid Permeation) The bubbles he launched were much smaller than the previous, basketball sized spheres he fired before and the stream was also much longer. At the same time he filled the air with the floaters, he rotated, scattering them throughout the sky he held as his territory and over the entire wasteland.

As the bubbles drifted down, they came down in a manner reminiscent of snow. However, the moment they made contact with any surface and popped, instead of cracking or damaging the surface with force, the liquid it scattered burnt and ate away at the point of impact. Due to the high number of bubbles raining down, his technique began slowly eating away at the stone landscape, a loud hissing sound echoing throughout the stadium, with the audience watching as bedrock was literally dissolved under the cascading bubbles. The instructors actually winced at the volume and the toxic smell that came with it.

Utakata continued blowing streams, intent on driving his opponent out into the open. The enormous amount of acid he was unleashing actually caused a couple of the smaller rocky mounts to collapse and a couple of unfortunate trees caught in range of his technique to fall apart. Removing the pipe from his mouth, he then watched quietly for a result, a blink coming from him when he sensed nothing.

"She's either no longer in the area or is just keeping quiet. If it's the latter, then I must commend her for a job well done," Utakata thought, looking around.

It was then when his attention was averted elsewhere, a kunai flew up at him from his blind spot. Sensing an attack, the boy looked in the direction of the approaching blade and willed his bubble to move, dodging the knife that exploded a couple seconds later. Clicking his tongue, the boy tracked the origin of the kunai to a small rock surrounded by a couple of taller pillars. Spotting his opponent's shadow on the other side, the boy lowered his altitude and spoke up.

"You led me into an area that hampers both of our movements," Utakata remarked, not expecting a response but knowing his foe was listening. "Unfortunately, with my skill set, rocky outcrops and barriers don't matter to me. In the end, all you've managed to do is maneuver yourself into a corner." Using his bubble blower, he sent more bubbles up into the air and sent them to converge on the girl's position.

Still hiding behind the stone boulder, sporting several burns from the rain of acid, with her outfit in a bit of disarray, Samui then looked up in surprise when several enormous, transparent spheres floated down from the sky and surrounded her. They were larger this time, like blown-up, aerobic ball sized, and had positioned themselves in prime detonation spots to cause the most damage.

Frowning, the girl looked around her cover again, where she saw her target lift his pipe back to his lips. He was about several meters out; supposedly out of range of the explosions to come.

"They are the charges," Utakata informed before bringing the tip of his blower to his mouth. "This is the detonator. Suiton: Kibakuho!" (Water Release: Explosive Bubble) Blowing on his pipe, a small, oddly shaped bubble formed at the end before being fired like an arrow straight out of his hovering sphere towards his target. The moment it struck the boulder she was hiding behind, the bubble exploded with a yellow flash.

This triggered the other bubbles he had positioned around Samui's hiding spot to go off, deafening the area with a wicked blast. The explosion was so great it created a shockwave strong enough to rattle the stands and the people sitting in them. The audience awed at the misty flash of the massive bubbles he'd formed going off all at once and consuming his opponent within the concussive blast. Eventually, when the fog cleared and Utakata got a good view of the result, he saw nothing but a few smoldering craters lying in the area where Samui was once hiding.

Squinting, Utakata hovered down to get a closer look. When he did, he was able to spot the tattered, grey top of his adversary's lying buried under the smoldering dirt. It had been ripped to shreds by his explosive bubbles and left utterly ruined.

While the traces of his foe were all well and good, Utakata knew better than anyone that that kind of explosion wasn't strong enough to utterly disintegrate his target. He knew how his jutsu worked.

That was not how it worked.

Furrowing his brow, the boy continued surveying the area until he saw a trench that had been filled in by the explosions he had set but had previously been obscured from his view by the boulder he'd blown up. This trench sat behind the shirt and went right over the edge of a small, dried up riverbed just behind it, which he thought he'd blocked off from his opponent with his larger bubbles.

This immediately clicked with him when he reran the scenario in his head.

Eyes widening, Utakata spun around in his bubble transport. "Shit! She baited me!" He immediately locked onto the tors behind him, which rose much higher above the ground then the others and were not too far off from him, and were within kunai throwing range. "She escaped through a blind spot and the bubble explosions hit nothing. She wanted to make it look like I had her trapped!" Eyes scanning the sides of the rock pillars, he then spotted a faint shadow shift up against the side wall.

Focusing closely, he saw it was none other than Samui…

And she was taking aim.

Hugging the rock face on a narrow ledge, in a position no ordinary person would have been able to spot her, the kunoichi from Kumo had her right arm and index finger extended, with the base of her right hand resting in her left palm like she was holding a gun. However, the gun in this case was her finger, and she had it trained on the boy floating in the bubble a dozen or so meters away.

Perfect.

"You stopped attacking," Samui said, one eye shut as she got him in her crosshairs. "I won't miss this time. Raiton: Kōsoku Tensō!" (Lightning Release: High-Speed Transfer) The moment she said that, her finger glowed blue before a beam of light shot out of it, cutting through the air at blinding speed towards her target.

"Fast!" Alarmed, Utakata got to his feet and, using his blow stick, struck out with it through the air, at the same time throwing a wall of bubbles from his protective sphere to form a thicker barrier in front of him that expanded at speed. He was quick enough to put the wall in front of him to see the spearhead of the beam of blue energy just come within a few feet of making contact. His gaze narrowed. "If it's a lightning release technique, I'll simply redirect it! Even though water conducts electricity, depending on the surface make-up, I can-" Before he could even finish, a shocking development took place.

In the blink of an eye, the straight traveling beam of energy suddenly shot upwards just inches away from the bubble wall at a perfect, ninety degree angle. As soon as it reached the top, it turned again and continued along its previously horizontal route of travel, only it went completely over Utakata's head. The teenager had but a split second to follow it when, after watching it pass overhead, it shot downwards behind him and then changed course again, all at ninety degree angles, and shot straight for his back.

"No way!" the jinchuriki thought in alarm while looking behind him just in time to see the beam of light pierce his bubble sphere and close the final feet of distance between it and him. "It changes directions in midflight?"

The realization came too little, too late, as the beam struck him in the back before the bubble surrounding him could even pop.

OOO

(Stadium – Competitors Balcony)

Naruto pumped his fist and an excited expression appeared on his face when he saw the move Samui used against her enemy. "She got him! Alright!"

"That was a terrific shot," Tayuya laughed, looking just as awed and enthusiastic by the turn of events as the people around her.

Sparing a grin of his own, Shikamaru leaned forward on the guard rail and looked out over the field. "Who knew she could redirect and aim a beam of compressed lightning traveling at that speed?" It took only a second for the beam to travel from her finger to reach her opponent, and even less time to go over his shield, get behind him and cut him down.

Due to them being shinobi and having reflexes hundreds of times faster than an ordinary person's, their perception of time was on a whole other level. While they definitely could see what had happened, to actually keep up with it with their bodies was another thing entirely.

It had been a spectacular performance.

While the Konoha group celebrated, the Kirigakure team on their end was in shock.

Gripping the railing tightly, Kiyoko leaned forward in bewilderment, "UTAKATA-KUN!" Eyes shimmering in fear, she looked up at Tsubaki.

The orange haired girl, eyes wide, conveyed her own level of disbelief at seeing the scene and how it played out, before clenching her fists and gritting her teeth in frustration. "There was no way he could dodge an attack moving that fast through the air. With the amount of power behind it, the angle and its impact point… it's highly unlikely he'll be able to get up after taking that jutsu to a blind spot."

"He's done…"

OOO

(Stadium – Arena)

A shot of electricity traveled through Utakata and the boy let out a cry of agony, his body sent blasting forward through his own wall of bubbles before crashing into the solid ground of the rocky, barren terrain. His back burnt black, the teen tumbled violently to a stop across the hard surface, landing on his front and his bubble blower thrown well out of reach.

Face scrunched up in agony, the still remarkably conscious Utakata opened up an eye and glared ahead of him. When he did, he saw Samui appear to him at ground level, wearing only her ninja mesh as her top since the other one was in tatters. When their eyes locked, the downed jinchuriki spoke, "H-How…?"

Samui smiled, "Simple. I lured you into an area where I would be able to use the terrain to my advantage and limit your field of vision. When I made you believe you had me trapped, I ducked into the dried up riverbed to avoid your bubble explosion and swung around to take you from behind. When you descended to a low enough altitude, I pounced." She then held up the finger she used to shoot and blew on it. "That attack I used against you was my fastest jutsu, one that I made myself. It doesn't follow a straight line either, which you've probably just now realized."

Appearing stunned, the shaken and pain racked Utakata focused again, trying to maintain his consciousness. His back looked like it had been laid out on a barbeque and stabbed with a hot poker at the same time, and though he was considering it, he didn't want to draw on the powers of his biju to win this battle.

With the amount of damage he'd taken, he didn't think he would even be able to. Not at his level.

And even if he could, he knew he wasn't able to control its powers yet. He was not willing to push his luck any further than this.

"W-Why didn't you use such a move at the start?"

The kunoichi smirked somewhat, "A smart ninja will always follow a plan. I would have shown my hand too soon if I'd used it at the outset of our battle and missed. Plus… it wouldn't have been as cool." The twinkle in her eye showed just how important that last aspect was. She smirked when she saw his body twitch. "I used enough chakra to break your defense and stun you. I could have killed you… but that's not the point of this exam. It's to show the judges and the audience how you act in an impossible situation and to show what steps you take to defeating your opponent."

Looking at her one last time, Utakata then gave a strained smile before relaxing himself. "You… really are… dangerous…" His eyes then shut as he allowed the sleep of unconsciousness overtake him. His fight was over.

Jumping down into the area and checking Utakata's condition, Hayate then stood, cleared his throat, and spoke through the mike to the audience and announced the results. "Winner of Match 6 by knockout: Samui of Kumogakure!" When the applause and cheers came down, and Samui was allowed to vacate the ring of her own accord, the proctor continued on as he called in for the staff to carry the jinchuriki away on a stretcher. "This match concludes the end of the first round for the day and will allow us to move into the quarterfinal segment. We will have a half-an-hour break period while we reset the stage and tally up the remaining competitors."

OOO

(Stadium – Kage Section)

"Now that was a good show," A chuckled, leaning back comfortably in his seat with his head rested on his hand and elbow on the chair's arm. "I knew Samui was good and all, but I never expected her to get this far in her development. She truly is a genius of this generation." That attack she used was very similar to Darui's Storm Release: Laser Circus technique, a fact the Raikage addressed by briefly glancing in his bodyguard's direction. The white haired man in question smiled back in response.

"She certainly is a cool customer. There's no question about that," the Kazekage stated while linking his fingers together and holding them up to his chin. "From what we saw, she was able to take on an incredibly skilled and cautious long-range fighter, who was also one of the advancers from the Kirigakure team, and defeated him on her terms. Not only that, but he was also one of the hidden mist's two jinchuriki."

"But the biju or its powers didn't play a single role in that fight. It was all fought by the boy himself and done so under his own power," Hiruzen spoke up, looking over at the other leaders to see their expressions steel under that bit of information. "For a jinchuriki to not rely on their tailed-beast's abilities is a smart and levelheaded way of battle. It means that they can fight using their own two hands as well as with their head. Now that's something to think about."

Scrunching his face up a little, the Raikage nodded, albeit a bit reluctantly seeing as this was coming from the leader of Konohagakure. "I agree."

Hiroto smiled at the leader of the hidden mist, who was gazing down at the arena with a warm glow on her face as she watched Utakata get carried safely out of the field. "You must also be incredibly proud to have such gifted shinobi in your ranks, Mizukage-sama."

Hearing this had Mei giggle and smile back at the kind leader of Yugakure. "Even though he lost, I'm pleased to see that my Genin fought so well."

Onoki, rapping his fingers against the arm rest of his seat, grunted while looking up at the big screen. When the chart was redrawn, they and the entire crowd were able to see the score and who was left in the running. Now that the competition had been thinned out and only the toughest and smartest of those fighting remained, it was now down to six participants.

XXX

ROUND 2

(Bracket 1)

Match 1: Gaara vs Tayuya

(Bracket 2)

Match 2: Naruto vs Kiyoko

(Bracket 3)

Match 3: Tsubaki vs Samui

XXX

"Six left," Onoki read, a small smirk forming, "Two from Konohagakure, two from Kirigakure, one from Kumogakure, and one from Sunagakure."

"I guess it's clear to see which village has the most promising prospects," the Kazekage commented with a small smile on his face, while glancing across at Hiruzen and Mei. "The strongest from the initial lineup have made it through; each one wielding key strengths and specialties that make them all unique. I wonder who will make it into the final round." The tone behind his voice indicated who he had his eyes set on, a vocal implication that was easily picked up by the other Kage.

Hiruzen chuckled as he looked up at the screen, finding the results from his own list quite interesting. "I wouldn't be making any calls on the fights just yet. Judging from the competitors that have made it through and their skills, the matches can go either way."

The Raikage smirked somewhat while glancing over at the Tsuchikage, "You're still interested in watching the fights even though your village is no longer in the running, Onoki?"

"Hmph. I'm only interested in staying because it will give me a better idea of who to look out for in the future," the short old man replied while folding his arms and looking across at the others. "We still need to get word from the judges on who they think is eligible for promotion. I believe I see a lot of promise in Shirotsuchi securing a vest for herself by the end of the day."

"And a few others if they're lucky," Hiruzen added while relaxing back and watching the replays of all the fights come up onto the jumbo screen one by one.

There was going to be a bit of a wait, so there was plenty of time to kick back, have some small talk, or perhaps go to the loo in time for the next round.

OOO

(Stadium – Middle Section)

Hanabi smiled at the results on the board and looked across at her father sitting alongside her. "Naruto-onisan has made it into the next round." It was hard, even for her, to hide the excitement and enthusiasm she had on her face at the knowledge that the boy she'd come to idolize in the few days he'd spent with her had made the cut. After watching the invigorating match between him and Neji and that deceptive trick he played in his second match against the fan-wielding girl, you could say she was more than pumped for the round to come.

His opponent was that Kiyoko girl, who'd recently shown to the entire audience that she was capable of handing a crushing defeat to a boy imbued in an over-powered kinjutsu that would have otherwise rendered an ordinary opponent crippled or dead. It didn't take somebody with a degree to figure out that she was a unique character from the rest of the competition, and that she was bound to put up a tough fight. However, Hanabi had every bit of confidence in the blonde haired boy who'd helped her out a couple of weeks ago that he would do his best.

Her father also invested some interest in the next line of matches. With everything that has transpired so far, they were definitely in for a series of good fights in these next matches.

Meanwhile, sitting further back behind the prominent members of the Hyuuga clan and a collection of other individuals, Iruka was also looking up at the screen with a beaming smile and great intent. Seeing the replays flash by, including Naruto's fight with Temari in which he managed to fool everybody in the entire stadium with his play of being grievously injured, he was looking forward to seeing how his most unpredictable student would handle his next battle.

"That Kiyoko is going to be a tough nut to crack. I wonder how Naruto will work his way around her."

It was a good question, but first he had the match with Gaara and Tayuya to watch next. There was bound to be some drama in that one.

Much further up into the back row, Haku could be seen standing perfectly still by one of the support pillars looking down at the arena with her unflinching gaze. The girl with the massive sword on her back smiled as she watched the staff move about cleaning and decided to wait patiently for the next battle.

Half an hour wasn't too long, but enough of a wait for the competitors to ready themselves for their next bout.

OOO

(Stadium – Beside the Competitors Balcony)

Arms folded, Neji lowered his head. "Next up is the match between Tayuya and the boy from the sand village."

"He's not going to be an easy one to beat, that's for sure," Tenten added with just as serious a look on her face as she painfully remembered her brush with the Genin. "That sand of his is fast, and I'm sure with the way he fought he can attack and defend at any range he wants. Getting past it and straight through to him is going to take a lot of time and energy."

Rubbing his chin, Shiho looked across at the two older teenagers. "If I remember correctly, that boy also has an armor of sand over his skin… and not just the stuff in his gourd or on the ground."

Neji nodded, "That will be a big problem." Knowing the make-up of that stuff and seeing how durable it was, unless you had a sure way of disabling it or getting through it, there was no way you could deal him any serious blows.

With Kaede indulged in discussion with Choji over the next coming rounds and how the remaining competitors would fair, Kankuro was stressing over on his corner. Arms folded and still bearing the bruises of his fight, the boy furrowed his brow and tapped his finger against his bicep edgily. It wasn't the other battles he was really focused on. It was the one with his younger brother in it.

"I know sis is still with him… but I have a really bad feeling that this next fight is going to turn real ugly," the boy with the war paint thought anxiously.

Basically, the play of the next battle would all depend on Gaara's current mood. What with their history with him as his siblings and members of the same team, chances are with everything that had gone on with this tournament so far… the puppeteer had a sickening feeling in his stomach that the next round wasn't going to be as clean or exciting as the last ones.

He just hoped that Gaara's opponent was smart enough to throw in the towel before things went too far.

OOO

(Stadium – Competitors Balcony)

Arms crossed over her chest tightly and with a strained look on her face, Samui breathed out uneasily when another cold chill hit her. "Damn… though I prefer the cool air to summer time, not wearing a shirt in this climate sucks." Since she was only wearing ninja mesh now over a bra, she couldn't help but feel the cold of the breeze that hit the participants' waiting box run right through her.

While Shikamaru had gone off to find the toilet and the other contestants had scattered trying to keep a cool head, this left the Kumo kunoichi alone with Tayuya and Naruto, both of whom were currently talking with her.

When the jinchuriki saw the girl start to shiver and heard her comment on the room's quality of space, he immediately acted on instinct. Unzipping his slightly dirty jacket, just like the time before at the waterfall, he stepped around Samui and draped it over her shoulders. Taking it, the kunoichi smiled fondly at him when he moved back around, now only wearing a blue top.

His orange jacket with blue trim and arrows on the shoulder areas was his favorite piece. However, he could afford to part with it temporarily when somebody else was in need of it.

"Don't want you getting sick before your next fight. That kind of stuff can really spoil your day," Naruto said.

The Kumogakure girl chuckled. "Even with a handicap I can promise you my opponent won't find me to be easy prey. Against me… you would need every advantage you can get."

Smirking at the girl's response, Tayuya nudged her favorite jinchuriki in the side to get his attention. When he turned to her, he saw the look of devious amusement reflected in her eyes. "She has a point, you know. She can really throw down when she wants to."

"Of course she can," Naruto replied while looking smugly towards the blonde now trying his jacket on. When he saw her slip her arms through it, he raised an eyebrow at how well it fitted her. "I'm sure she'll be able to take her next opponent with one arm tied behind her back."

"Well… I'm not too sure about that. However, if you want to make some sort of bet?" Samui got a shake of a head in return. "No?"

"It's better not to take risks at this stage. The three opponents we're going to be fighting next are tough… I'd rather not try to mess around with them too much," Naruto said, glancing across the balcony towards Gaara and his sister. The Kirigakure team had excused themselves to go to the medical bay to check on their teammate, so this left only four of the competitors still up there and waiting.

Speaking of which.

"You look like you took some really bad hits during your fight. Even though you dodged most of his attacks you still got clipped by his bubble bombs," Naruto said, looking across at Samui and taking in the burns across her skin that was visible. He winced at a particular sore on her leg. "Do you want to go see a doctor about those?"

The kunoichi looked at the injuries in question and dusted them off. After a moment she gave a careless shrug. "They're just minor scrapes; nothing to go losing your cool over."

Still not convinced, Naruto quickly stepped over and knelt down in front of her. Reaching into his pouch and pulling out a small bag, he opened it up on the floor and picked some of the berries lying in it. Squeezing the liquid out of them and smearing the gel over his thumb, he suddenly took her leg and rubbed it against one of the wounds. Samui recoiled a little at his actions.

"What are you doing?"

"Natural ointment. The juice from these berries will help stop any infections and neutralize any acids left behind. I figured this out for myself after I kept falling out of trees learning how to swing and jump through them, and got poisoned by some of the plants that secreted corrosive sap," Naruto replied, working on the wounds he was able to find on her bare legs before grinning up at the Kumogakure Genin. "Though sometimes you can't help it on a battlefield, unless you have some awesome healing ability it's best to treat any injuries like this as quickly as possible. You never know what kind of long-term effects it could have."

Blinking in surprise, Samui smiled warmly and nodded, kneeling down to meet him and holding out her arm. Taking this as his message to proceed, Naruto went ahead and continued rubbing the stuff over the red burns. Once he was done with her arm, he then looked over his shoulder towards Tayuya, who was watching with a small smile.

"Do you need any, Tayuya-chan?" Naruto asked, looking his roommate over. "You didn't take any damage from your fight, but you should still sit down and have a rest."

Giggling, the musician did as suggested and sat down right beside them. "I burned more chakra than anything else, but physically, I'm in perfect condition. Could use with some food though."

It was then as Naruto returned to checking on the damages inflicted upon Samui, the group was interrupted by a shadow falling upon them. Surprised, they turned to see Omoi and Sakura standing over them, the latter looking on with a bit of red in her cheeks and awkwardness in both her posture and her expression.

Silence falling, the two groups looked at one another momentarily before the bright, pink haired one decided to break the ice with a quick cough and a head shake.

"So…" Sakura began, a small smile tugging on her lips when she looked at her teammate. "Two girls… both of them here. What's that like?"

Oh. She must have seen it on the television in the medical bay. No surprises there.

When Naruto saw Tayuya and Samui look at each other and then smile towards him, they all shrugged and turned back to the new pair pleasantly.

"Cool," Samui said.

"Fun," Tayuya chuckled.

"New," Naruto offered helpfully.

Omoi rolled his new sucker between his lips considerately and grunted, "I think it's weird." He then glanced across at his blonde teammate to see her passive stare. "Though I don't like prying into you about these things, I'm just curious… why him?" This question was followed by a quick nod to the jinchuriki.

It wasn't just confusing because the guy clearly already had one girlfriend, seeing as this conflicted with things somewhat, he was also genuinely interested as to why his genius teammate would pick him?

Considering the question and the boy it was referring to, Samui looked at Naruto momentarily before looking back at Omoi with a small smile.

"He's strong and cool… the rare kind," the kunoichi replied, giving a slight shrug. "You know how much I like that stuff. Finding it wrapped up in his character is only a bonus."

The blonde could even say that after everything she'd seen of the Konohagakure jinchuriki, she was deeply impressed as well as moved. She was perceptive and could see things about another person other people could not, and though others would find the kind of attraction she had unusual and hard to understand, Samui knew what she wanted more than anyone. It also helped that the red head that was already with him was receptive about their situation; otherwise she wouldn't have done anything and remained quiet. And apparently Omoi wasn't willing to argue against it.

He merely nodded at her answer and smirked.

Scratching the side of her had, the pink haired kunoichi looked between the three teenagers that had taken the world by storm before turning to Naruto. "How the hell does this thing work? The 'having multiple girlfriends or partners' thing? Isn't anyone here jealous… or angry… or pissed in some way?" She sure as hell would be. She wouldn't want to share her Sasuke-kun with anyone, especially that Ino-pig. That was abundantly clear to anyone with any sort of history with her.

Thinking for a moment, the jinchuriki got a bit of an edgy feeling at the back of his mind and gave his teammate a bit of a sheepish look. "Actually… I think somebody out there is pissed at me… I just have to wait till I get home to confirm my suspicions."

"But… for the time being, none of you are bothered by the fact that you're basically in a polygamous situation?" Sakura asked prickly, pointing down at the boy trying not to look guilty while also panning across the others.

Tayuya snorted at the girl's accusing tone of voice, drawing the newcomers' attention towards her and then smirking up at the kunoichi when she had her gaze. "Come on, pinky. Look me in the eye and tell me straight up that if your Sasuke-kun wasn't such a brooding emo loner that he wouldn't be in several committed relationships at once as well."

She could see it clearly; a smiling, dashing Uchiha with a more welcoming, lover-not-fighter personality, flirting shamelessly with the girls and popping out roses out of nowhere, and none of the other girls were at all bothered by the fact that they could share him.

Now that would be an interesting sight to see. Too bad that kind of Sasuke didn't exist in this world and only served as a perfect subject of a loner.

Sputtering, Sakura gritted her teeth and stomped towards the red head. "Sasuke-kun's not like that! He would never be like that!"

"Really? The guy's got so many girls following him around wherever he goes he's basically got a laundry list of potential wives to choose from should the day finally come for him to settle down and start popping out little Uchihas. Have you seen the suburbs he goes too around the village? All of the girls his age practically fall at his feet whenever they catch a whiff of him in the area." She also noticed it while they were walking through Yugakure. The guy even had his own cheering section here in the stadium, something that Tayuya heard while his first round match was underway. "Face it, pinky. You can either fight the competition or go with the flow… or miss out on the chance altogether, but that's your choice."

Samui, sprouting a smile, shuffled over to Naruto's side on the floor and laid her head against his shoulder like she was lying against a couch in her living room on a regular day. "I agree. It's too much of a hassle to fight, and wastes valuable time and energy. Naruto-kun is a strong ninja and probably the only member of his clan remaining, so I'm sure a man of his level of ability can handle more than one woman." This statement alone got a new shade of red to cross the boy's face and forced him to look away from the prying eyes of those focusing on him.

Choking on words, Sakura tried to come up with some sort of retort, but was just unable to when she saw Tayuya and Samui lay their heads against either of her teammate's shoulders. While she was standing in place and looking speechless, Omoi breathed a sigh and stepped forward, holding up a bag of what the group on the floor immediately identified as food.

"Anyway, we bought you three some Yakisoba from the stalls inside. We figured you might be hungry," the boy said with a growing smile. "Better to fight on a full tank than an empty one. If you don't have fuel to burn, you end up stalling and losing strength. Wouldn't want that to happen to you unless your main intention is to faint in the middle of the ring." He then looked up thoughtfully. "Actually… maybe that's a good thing considering who you're set to fight next. I mean, that Gaara kid is one thing, but that Tsubaki girl…"

"Omoi," Samui spoke up, interrupting the boy from a potential rant. When she saw her squad mate look at her in surprise, she smirked. "Food?"

"Oh, right. Sorry." Chuckling, the youngster stepped forward and held it out for his teammate to take. When she did, he passed both her and Naruto a smile. "Look, though I'm normally chattier about these sorts of things and am a pretty pessimistic person at times, I also like to keep an open mind. As long as my teammates are happy, then I can move on with life without any worry or concern." He nodded towards the jinchuriki in question. "Treat her well, alright. She can be very surprising when she wants to be, and though her tastes are a bit of a mystery and her interests are just as confusing, I know she's pretty firm about stuff like this when she wants to be and I don't like getting in the way of our squad's rising prodigy. When she wants something, she gets it."

Chuckling, Naruto nodded in understanding to the boy. "Sure thing."

Omoi then laughed a little nervously and followed up with another statement, "Karui on the other hand is not. She'll probably beat your ass over this when she gets a hold of you."

"Yeah, I'll… keep an eye out for her."

While Naruto, Samui and Tayuya opened up the noodles and Omoi stood back, Sakura looked on with interest over the group as they started to eat. While doing so, her entire world went silent as she simply watched the three teenagers talk with one another and have lunch, with the red head amongst them saying how good the food was and asking the boy who gave it to them which stall he got it from. After that, they began making quick comparisons between the noodles they're used to having and what the differences were. When Sakura saw them acting pretty much like a normal bunch of friends with no underlying tones or intentions behind it, it made her completely forget about that whole kissing thing on live TV and brought a smile to her face.

If they were comfortable with this, no matter how strange and illogical other people found it to be, as long as they enjoyed their time together then she had no complaints to make. It was just one of the things she'd come to accept of Naruto's personality.

He was someone with the capacity to earn the affections of a lot of people. That was him in a nutshell.

Samui looked up from food momentarily and back up to the pair standing before them, "Where is Karui, anyway?"

"And how's everybody else doing?" Naruto followed up.

Omoi chuckled and thumbed over his shoulder. "Karui went down to the snack bar and is ordering a ton of food. You know how she eats when she's angry…" After which she then goes out to practice kenjutsu like crazy, burns off the calories like she didn't put any on and starts cutting through shit like they were butter. It was just her way with coping with situations that were otherwise unfamiliar, aggravating, or completely beyond her comprehension. "The Konoha and Iwa guys are doing alright too… except for one of them. He's probably still in the hospital." That was Akatsuchi if he remembered correctly. Poor guy.

Hearing the Kumo boy finish, Sakura rubbed her cheek and smiled grimly. "Sasuke-kun is okay too. He has a couple of cracked ribs and muscle tears, but he's up now." She then frowned a little bit when she remembered something else. "He… was also suffering from internal and external burns. It's weird."

"Burns?" Samui blinked.

"Yeah. They said he received it from his opponent before he was sent flying into that boulder. Not sure what it means, but I think they were made by one of Tsubaki's abilities," Sakura finished, getting everyone within earshot to look at her curiously. It was a thought that sent a chill down her spine because no one, not even the most perceptive of their squads had been able to come up with a concrete answer to what the Kirigakure girl's abilities really were.

The Jonin's had an idea, but they needed solid proof before they rested on any cases. For all they knew, she had some sort of other unnatural ability.

Thinking about it for a little while longer and wondering what could have caused such damage to Sasuke's body, they were then interrupted by another presence coming to stand close to them. Looking over, the group got quite a start when they saw Gaara standing there, just a few feet away, glaring at them with his arms folded.

Looking the kid in the eyes, they saw his pale irises had darkened over somewhat and he was staring at them quite hatefully. While the sight of the boy had both Sakura and Omoi back off, those three sitting on the floor remained as they were and, apparently, under the scrutiny of the red haired sand ninja. This didn't change for the next minute or so, with the whole Konoha and Kumo side looking back at the scowling competitor, while his older sister stood in the background watching the scene nervously.

After glaring between the three on the floor, Gaara decided to speak. "What a pitiful display. All of the noise you're making over here is annoying."

Surprised, Omoi looked in confusion at the others before glancing anxiously at the youngster. "Uh… sorry?"

Gaara's eyes cut to the sword wielder, startling both him and the kunoichi beside him, "I wasn't talking to you weaklings." He then turned back to the three who he knew were still in this competition. "Any hope you have of winning this competition is meaningless, because neither one of you will make it past the final round." His eyes then cut to Tayuya. "You on the other hand… you won't even make it past the next round."

A little bit confounded at being directly threatened, Tayuya smirked and uncorked the holster where her flute was. She didn't grab it though, since she didn't want to be on the unpleasant end of the boy's sand if he decided to get violent. It was just a precaution. "You sound so sure of yourself."

"That's because I am," Gaara hissed, his eyes shadowing over, "Because I'm the strongest one here… and I will solidify this claim by crushing you and bathing this entire arena in your blood. Killing you will safeguard my existence and give me a reason to keep on fighting." His sea foam eyes fixed on all of them in a very manic and bone chilling way. "If I kill you and offer your blood to mother, it will make her happy. If she's happy… then I won't disappear from this world. I will continue living…"

"Alright… creepy," Samui blinked, watching as the boy started mumbling to himself and this 'mother' inside him, who was apparently quite restless. When she saw him talk the voice down and looked across to see the rather fearful looks on Omoi and Sakura, it became obvious to the Kumogakure advancer that even they were being affected by the killing intent being emitted by the Suna Genin. The tension failed to lift even when the sand user turned and redirected his attention. "I've seen some crazies in my time, but this one takes the cake."

Her sensei was nothing compared to this wacko. He was just downright nuts.

Just as Gaara was about to walk away, he then glanced down at Naruto to see him looking up at him curiously. When their eyes met, they stared at each other, the Sunagakure boy's gaze transforming into a glare that he used to magnify his anger upon the blonde who merely returned it with a smile.

Shrugging off the pleasant grin, the sand user turned his face towards him more, showing off his stoic yet hate filled expression. It was a sight that did not go missed by the blonde. "You defeated that girl who calls herself my sister. As pathetic as your performance was in your match against her, your abilities and strength still caught my attention." He pointed at him with a stiff finger. "You advanced into the next round. That's worthy of my acknowledgement. However, know that if you make it to the finals and you come to stand before me on the battlefield, I will show you no mercy."

Blinking at the threat, Naruto grinned. "We'll see."

Before any form of physical confrontation could take place, Temari came up to her younger brother still glaring at the jinchuriki and placed a hand on his shoulder. "G-Gaara. Come on. Don't start any trouble with them. You need to get some rest." Her hand was then violently shrugged off when the boy turned to glare at her.

"I'm fine. Don't touch me," he growled, walking past the girl with his arms crossed and his furious expression in play.

Shaking her hand of the sand she ended up grabbing, Temari watched him leave before looking at the ones he'd been speaking with. Glancing down at Tayuya, she saw the girl staring back at her impassively, which earned an anxious look in return.

"If you want to live, I recommend surrendering," Temari warned, shaking her head. "Gaara is not the kind of shinobi you want to face out on the field. If you don't want to end up like that Tenten girl who fought him in the first round, throw in the towel before you're forced to fight a battle you don't want to."

Tayuya smirked, "Thanks… but I'm still going to fight him." She held up her flute. "My sound moves faster than his sand. If Tenten came close to taking him out, then I'll just finish what she started and drive it all the way through."

Sighing, the fan-wielder looked back at her worryingly and nodded, "Alright… but I warned you." She looked across at Naruto, who she could see was staring and listening intently. Upon meeting his eyes, Temari gestured towards him pointedly. "Good luck."

Acknowledging her wishes and warnings, the group then watched her return to her younger brother's side, which she gave quite a wide berth. As time ticked by and the group of five slowly recovered from the close encounter with the scary and dangerous sand Genin, they proceeded to wait and rest for the beginning of the next round.

In the silence that prevailed, Naruto turned to Tayuya and nudged her to get her attention. When she turned to him and asked what was up, he leaned over and whispered in her ear.

Eyes widening slowly as he finished telling her what he had to say, she looked back at her boyfriend disbelievingly. "Are you sure?" When she saw the serious look he sent back at her as well as the nod of confirmation, the girl gulped and returned the gesture with understanding. "Okay… I'll… I'll be careful."

Yeah. Against her next opponent, now knowing that he was a jinchuriki and a badly shaken one at that, there was no way she was going to give him any leeway. Since he wasn't like Naruto in terms of personality but every bit as strong as him, she needed to be extra careful.

OOO

Half an hour later…

With everyone back in their seats and the arena floor cleaned of any mess that may have been left behind in the wake of the previous conflict, occupational health and safety and everything, it was time to carry on with the tournament. The Kage and daimyo waited patiently as the proctors returned to center stage and took up position on the now flattened field that used to be grass but wasn't anymore, as the participants had gone out of their way to apply a plough and hoe to the entire open area.

Kicking some of the rocks at his feet away, Hayate cleared his throat and addressed the audience, silencing the clamor with his voice. "Attention. We will now begin the first match of the quarter-final session of this tournament. I hope you all had a good break, because we'll be getting straight into it." Coughing into his hand, he then gestured up to the massive TV behind him again, the lineup filing through the remaining names and resting on the first two, "Could Gaara and Tayuya please make their way down to the arena."

At that announcement, the crowd gave a loud cheer as the two Genin made their way down to the center along their respective routes. Gaara made his way through the corridor, whereas Tayuya jumped from the balcony in full view of the cameras and marched out at her own pace. It would be a couple of minutes later till both competitors were out in the middle and staring one another down.

The red head wore her devil-may-care smirk while her opponent had his stoic look in play. Though it seemed like overconfidence on the former's part to be throwing her bloodthirsty opponent such an irritating look, the girl was genuinely excited at the prospects of actually fighting this kid. As terrifying as he was and as strong as she knew him to be, the kunoichi was more determined than ever to battle him, defeat him, and advance into the next round to fight with Naruto.

She had no doubt in her mind he would make it through, and that made her want to win even more.

"Are both fighters ready?" Hayate asked, looking between the pair cautiously. "You don't need for me to explain the rules again?"

"No," Gaara hissed, his brow furrowing dangerously. "You'll just be wasting your breath. This won't take long."

Tayuya grinned, "Agreed."

At that statement, the Suna boy's head scrunched up slightly in pain as he gripped the side of it. Letting out a slight groan, he then fixed his glare back onto the girl, who slowly edged into a stance at the sight of his contorting expression.

A look like that wasn't really a good thing. Whether it was for the person being afflicted by such pain or the person nearby the girl was unsure, but it was clear that Gaara wasn't a normal person at all. At least in his head he wasn't.

When the cork popped from his gourd and a cloud of sand started to billow out, Tayuya knew the big hits would come the second the whistle was blown.

After seeing the pair move, Hayate held his hand out. "Okay. Match 1 between Gaara of Sunagakure and Tayuya of Konohagakure." With one last glance, he threw his hand up. "Begin!" He then jumped back.

It was a good thing that he did too, because the second he shouted and the crowd gave a cheer in response, Gaara's sand exploded from his gourd and whipped out at Tayuya. The girl back flipped the second she saw the tendril strike out at her, dodging in time to see the attack mash the ground she'd been standing on and send dust flying into the air. Upon jumping away, the musician quickly started to retreat as the sand got pulled up and hovered in the air in front of her opponent, who had stopped gripping the side of his head and was standing normally again with his arms folded.

Watching the sand cloud undulate and more start to emerge from the massive bottle on his back, Tayuya drew her flute and held it up to her lips.

Just before she could begin playing, Gaara quickly became aware of her intentions and immediately sent the cloud of sand he had summoned after her. "That's not going to work on me." The single cloud formed into several streams of sand that rushed towards the girl from different sides. The sight of the approaching attacks forced Tayuya to lower her instrument and dodge. She began jumping backwards left and right, having to perform some very acrobatic maneuvers to slip around the tendrils that whipped at her this way and that.

Eventually she was forced to jump to the elevated position of a tree, where she then observed as a single, thin tendril of sand whipped towards her. The speed behind it had Tayuya frown, and she quickly jumped away and allowed it to slam into the branch she'd been perched on.

"Damn. Trying to keep me from using my flute, huh?" Tayuya thought and looked up, where she saw her opponent was glaring after her as she sailed through the air. A grin reappeared on her face as she reached behind her and drew a couple of shuriken. "Smart bastard." She threw her hand out in her descent, sending the two stars flying at her foe. Just when it seemed like they were about to hit, the sand that Gaara had floating around him quickly cut around and protected him with a thin shell.

The metal stars embedded in it before dropping to the ground uselessly. However, in spite of failing to hit, Tayuya still managed to draw the sand's attention away from her as she landed, and then began sprinting a lap around her target.

The distance between them had increased to twenty meters. Even though this was her range, she was still wary of the sand Gaara had sent after her returning to hover around him as she began making plans.

"He can protect himself on all sides no matter where the fuck I attack him from," Tayuya thought, remembering how his sand automatically came to block the hail of kunai and shuriken from his fight with Tenten. "An ultimate defense, huh? Well… let's see how ultimate it really is!" Quickly skidding to a stop, the girl changed courses sharply and sprinted towards the boy, surprising the audience at her sudden intent for direct assault.

Furrowing his brow, Gaara sent another tendril at the girl, watching her jump to the side to avoid the jab and continue on unimpeded. Immediately seeing her beginning to close the distance, the sand hovering in front of the Suna Genin dropped to the ground in a heap, before rising up and taking the shape of a person. Upon acquiring definition and detail, the figure revealed itself to be an exact copy of Gaara, only in sand form.

As soon as the clone formed, it lashed with its arm and sent another whip of sand at the approaching girl.

Tayuya slid under it, at the same time countering with a couple of shuriken. The projectiles flew around the tendril from a blind spot, with one hitting the clone in the face while the other one aimed for Gaara. The sand clone however leaned to the side and caught it in the face as well, which suddenly morphed and shaped into an enclosed fist. The body made a complete switch as it reshaped and reformed into a sand clone again, only this time it was holding the shuriken.

Both the original and the copy watched Tayuya hook around and dash in at them again when she was only five meters away. When she swung in with a right overhand, the sand clone standing in front of Gaara fell to the earth into a pile of sand, which shifted into the path of the approaching musician, before jumping up to form a clone again. The copy attempted to guard against the punch, but ended up taking the blow to the collar area, giving a somewhat surprised expression as the girl's fist buried into it, moments before the sand of the clone started to envelop her arm.

Gritting her teeth, Tayuya jumped off the ground and spun in a cartwheel motion, twisting her fist around inside the clone's neck beginning to pull her in and slamming a kick into the side of its head. The blow disintegrated the upper body and pushed her away, where she then acrobatically landed. Now just three meters from her opponent, the girl sprang off the ground and went at him, with her path no longer blocked by the clone.

However, even though the sand clone was no longer in play, Gaara's sand still was. The pile the copy had been reduced to floated up from the ground and began forming a wave, which headed towards the approaching girl to counter and catch her. The audience held their breaths as they watched in slow motion as the sand reached out to the kunoichi, who was beginning to throw a wide hook.

At first it looked like the wave of grains was going to get her.

However, just as she was inches away from the converging wall, the girl suddenly pivoted her foot, stopped her momentum dead, and vanished in a blur. The dust kicking up indicated her path of travel.

A previously stoic Gaara looked up in complete surprise when he lost sight of her. "What?"

OOO

(Stadium – Next to the Competitors Balcony)

Neji blinked in surprise at what he saw. "Th-That's…"

Also appearing stunned, Tenten grinned and leaned forward, raising a fist in triumph. "That's just like Lee's speed! Sweet!" She didn't know the girl could do that.

OOO

(Stadium – Arena)

When he heard the sound of feet landing directly behind him, Gaara spun around, just in time to see Tayuya uncorking a right straight directly towards his face. "She's fast!" Before he could comment any further, the fist crashed across his mug, cracking his sand armor encasing him and sending him flying through the air at the power that had been put behind the blow.

The Suna Genin was thrown several yards from his spot and was set to make a painful landing, but his sand was quick to catch him and slowed his fall to the ground before helping to lift him up. As soon as Gaara was back on his feet, the cracks around his cheek formed by the punch slowly spread before chips of his protective layer on that part of his body crumbled to the ground. His glare hardened. "Interesting…"

Grinning, Tayuya dropped down into another crouching start and sprinted straight towards her adversary, determined to get him before he could recover. Before she was within reach, she vanished in another red blur.

Responding immediately, Gaara threw his hand up and across, sending a wave of sand to catch her. However, the blur that was the kunoichi darted around him and came at him from behind, the boy looking back with a start and raising another wall to take her out. Tayuya however swayed around it and spiraled along the floor, throwing a swift, backwards spin kick that slammed across Gaara's face, cracking his armor more.

Growling, the boy responded immediately by summoning towers of grains from the ground around him to bring down upon his prey, but the girl responded by slamming a foot on his leg and hiking up his body, kicking off of his face and jumping back in a spectacular flip when two tendrils of the sand he manipulated came around to grab her. But the girl was already outside of his defensive circle and in full retreat. This annoyed Gaara even more, who manipulated his element and sent a whole wave hurling towards his retreating foe.

Spotting it, Tayuya once again sprang away in a stunning flip, avoiding the giant hand that crashed into the ground she'd previously been standing on.

Immediately after dodging it and sliding to a stop, the musician smiled at her opponent as she watched him withdraw his sand and begin running damage control. With some of the defense he was using moving to his face and covering the cracks, the red haired musician raised her hand and bit into her thumb.

"That armor of yours is really built solid," Tayuya remarked, drawing blood before raising her arm. "Conventional attacks can't pierce it, not even weapons. However, I'm willing to bet it can't stand up against a certain amount of brute force." She then slammed her palm into the ground, a sealing array spreading out and encompassing the area. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" (Summoning Technique) A blast of white smoke clouded the air, alerting Gaara to the presence of another entity on the arena.

He and the rest of the crowd watched as the white wall slowly faded away, revealing the three enormous Doki Tayuya had summoned in her second match standing before him. The giant demons in all their stitched up glory gave low growls as they stomped forward, the girl pulling her flute to her mouth and willing them to move. As they marched along and approached the boy wielding the sand, the musician grinned.

"What do you think?"

Gaara, arms once again folded, grunted indignantly. "Pitiful." The sand he had formed a ring around him on the ground began to float into the air again, with some of it coming to hover level on either side of his head. Brow furrowing somewhat as he saw the girl stare him down behind her three companions, the Suna Genin then did something completely unorthodox and began pushing the sand he had hovering on both sides of him into his ears. "Don't think I'll be fool enough to fall for your flute strains like those other weaklings." Upon sealing his ears shut, whatever sand remained went about floating around him.

Lowering her flute, Tayuya's stare turned into a harsh glare. "Oh, you clever fuck." She then smirked and brought her instrument up again. "Doesn't matter. I can still make your life a living hell." She began to play, and the second she started to, her three giants suddenly rushed forward and leapt into the air.

Surprised at their sudden agility, Gaara looked up to see the massive one with the bandages falling towards him feet first. Reacting quickly, the boy drew his arm across and summoned a whole mass of sand from the ground that intercepted the massive foot and blocked it. The earth shook violently when the enormous creature landed and attempted to squash its target, only for the Suna Genin's defenses to cushion the blow. As soon as the giant wrapped in gauze stopped, the second one with the enormous club landed behind the boy and swung at him with it. The sand user looked behind him and in response, willed another thick wall of sand to jut up on his other side, and blocked the enormous weapon that crashed into it. The force of the blow caused the ground to shake again, which put quite a bit of pressure on Gaara as he attempted to stop both ogres from utterly crushing him.

When she saw her Doki's attacks stopped, Tayuya played a different chorus and got both of them to jump away, as soon as they did, the giant marionette with the bone gauntlets and exposed flesh standing nearby unstitched its mouth and opened it up. When it did, a snake-like ghostly apparition with multiple mouths flew out and began making its way towards Gaara.

"Makyo no Ran!" (Revolt of the Demon World)

Seeing this new attack, the sand user quickly willed his sand to intercept it. The tendril of particles he sent out knocked it back. At first this seemed to work in deterring it from its path, but then when he saw some of the mouths bite into the cloud of sand and rip out what looked like the chakra inside the sand tendril, his cloud of particles fell apart, and the sand returned to the ground to its usual state. The sight of this immediately had Gaara look at the apparition with a more concentrated glare.

"So… that thing eats chakra?" the boy thought, crouching down and putting both hands to the ground. "These annoyances will be a problem. I'll get rid of them first!" Looking around at all three of the giant ogres now surrounding him and seeing the mouths of the other two open as well to produce two more snake-like ghosts, the sand Genin focused his efforts on his next attack. "Sabaku Kyu!" (Sand Binding Coffin) With that said the field in three separate spots around him cracked and split, moments before sand suddenly erupted forth from underground and quickly washed towards the Doki in the form of waves. These large waves of sand brought out from the earth enveloped all three giant puppets, snaked their way around them, washed over them and consumed them completely, till all that could be seen of them were their flailing arms and those snake ghosts from hell sticking out of their exposed mouths.

Upon trapping the enormous ogres that attempted to fight against their prisons, Gaara rose to his feet and stared impassively at the synthetic creatures. Upon seeing them struggle, he raised his hand up. "These things are nothing but pests. Be gone. Sabaku Soso!" (Sand Waterfall Funeral) He then closed up his hand. The moment he did so, the massive sand cocoons encasing the three twitching Doki imploded at high speed, crushing them and dispelling them effortlessly, returning them to the dimension where they'd originated from. It was a sight that shocked the entire audience at how quickly that actually got rid of the summons and gave everyone a rather unpleasant image of what that would probably be like if a human being were actually caught by his sand.

Lowering his clenched fist, Gaara scowled. "What a waste of effort. Not a single drop of blood." His eyes then cut around the area through the clouds of white smoke from the dispelling Doki in an effort to seek out his foe again. His brow crinkled irritably when he couldn't see her. "Hiding from me won't do you any good either."

"Who says I'm hiding? Mateki: Nōshintō Ken!" (Demonic Flute: Concussion Sword)

The second those words were uttered, a loud gunshot rang out when a sonic boom exploded and smashed straight into the side of Gaara's face, and sent him barreling across the field like he was fired out of a cannon. As soon as he was blasted off of his feet, Tayuya materialized out of thin air in the exact spot next to where her opponent had previously been standing, with the tip of her flute pointed directly outwards. The grin on her face became all too evident as she literally shimmered out of the air with an effect reminiscent to heat waves lifting off of the ground on the horizon, and watched her foe sail away across the field.

The attack she used had been launched from the very tip of her flute and blasted outwards in the form of a compressed shockwave, the effect of which having resembled that of an artillery gun firing an invisible round.

The crowd literally gawked as they watched the Sunagakure Genin tumble across the field like a boneless ragdoll before slamming into the far wall, where he was buried under chunks of stone that caved in on him. After seeing the cloud of dust choke the air and block all view of her probably out-of-commissioned enemy, Tayuya stood up out of her stance, twirled her flute and then holstered it like a gun.

"Did you seriously think sound-based genjutsu were the only ones I could use?" the red head asked, her grin widening. "Assumption is the mother of all fuck-ups… not that you can hear me or anything." She then swiped her thumb under her nose and chuckled. "And that's how it's done." Big hit made, Tayuya turned to the competitor's balcony and gave the thumbs-up sign.

OOO

(Stadium – Competitors Balcony)

Naruto, grinning from ear to ear, punched the air in victory. "Nice one, Tayuya-chan! Way to go!"

"GAARA!" Temari shouted, leaning over the railing with an incredulous look on her face. "I don't believe it… she actually got him." It was shocking enough to both Kankuro and her to actually see their younger sibling be dealt a physical blow and knocked off his feet. But to see him receive a jutsu of significant blunt force and power like that, and at close range to boot… it was beyond comprehension.

In spite of how hostile Gaara acted towards them, how cold he was in regards to his older siblings' approaches and how dangerous he was, Temari still felt genuine concern for his wellbeing. This feeling of worry and fear was clearly evident on her face as she looked out over the arena towards the newly formed dust cloud. After hearing the shout, all those up in the balcony had actually turned to look at her, with Naruto being the only one left staring in her direction when everybody else turned back to the ring.

When he saw the girl's fist clench and eyes shimmer with alarm, a small smile appeared on the blonde's face before he looked out over the field as well.

He wasn't being condescending towards her after seeing her brother get taken down. Naruto was actually just pleased to see her respond to her brother's plight.

It showed she genuinely cared. That was all good for him in the jinchuriki's book.

OOO

(Stadium – Arena)

Tayuya grinned widely at seeing the overall effect of her jutsu and the end result. "Good luck getting up after that. I hit you dead in the temple at pointblank range. A shockwave like that would've scrambled your brains if it didn't crack your skull open." However, just as she was beginning to think her fight was over, her eyes widened when she saw the dust clear and the form of her opponent materialized out of the cloud. Slumped over and looking as though he was unconscious, Tayuya then watched in astonishment as all of the color on the supposedly knocked-out Gaara turned a sandy brown before cracks started to appear all over him.

These cracks spread over the entire boy's body, before pieces began to fall off of him, revealing nothing but a hollowed out shell underneath.

Baffled, Tayuya then gave a wry grin as a bead of sweat ran down her face. "I see. You managed to use your sand armor as a dummy and slipped out of it before I could launch my attack. You knew something was up when you couldn't find me after you dispelled my Doki, and in turn hid yourself while I was using my genjutsu to approach you from behind." Feeling the chilling presence of her foe fall upon her, the red head looked over her shoulder across the open ground, where she saw a mound of sand rise up out of the ground and sprinkle back down to the floor, revealing the murderous and manic look of her opponent hiding within. The sight actually got the girl to chuckle weakly, "Despite the way you act, you really are quite the intelligent one."

"When my father, the Kazekage, sent assassins to try and eliminate me, I had to quickly learn and adapt to all of the life or death situations I was presented with," Gaara stated through his cracked face as he covered himself once more with his sand armor. At the same time, he summoned more clouds of the stuff from the area he popped out from to billow about him, shadowing Tayuya with the sheer amounts of the matter. "Your feeble tricks and tactics will not work on me. You are too far beneath me for that."

Okay. Supreme-being complex. Weird.

However, there was one thing above all that that stood out, and it had Tayuya frown. "Your own father tried to kill you? Why?" She didn't have parents and even she knew that that was outrageous.

Why would you want to kill your own son?

Gaara frowned, "A presence that is too powerful becomes a presence that is feared. To my father, in his role as Kazekage, I was the village's most powerful weapon, but at the same time, I was a fearsome and dangerous object." His eyes darkened as the billowing sand formed into large hands that threatened to come down on Tayuya at a moment's notice. "To the people of my village, I became nothing more than a relic that they wanted to get rid of… a monster that everyone hated. So why, I asked myself, why do I continue to live? In order to exist you need a purpose. To exist for no reason is the same as being dead. From this I came to the conclusion that I would love only myself and fight only for myself. If all other people exist to magnify that love, then there is no more a splendid universe then this one… my existence will not vanish." A grin then once again appeared on his face, which quickly alerted Tayuya to danger. "That is why you will die here today! Your death will preserve my existence!"

The sand hovering around him then lunged at Tayuya, the enormous hands making a grab for her. In response the girl leapt back as quickly as she could, avoiding the clouds that slammed into the ground and split the ground. The red head retreated from the waves that followed as fast as she could, eventually leaping up onto a tor and positioning herself as far out of reach as she could of the mass quantities of grains beginning to form around her opponent. When her eyes locked onto him again and saw his murderous grin latched onto her, the musician quickly decided on her next course of action.

Reaching behind her, she pulled out a scroll, a sight that caught the audience's immediate attention. "He blocked his ears with his sand so that my sound based genjutsu wouldn't work on him. He was also able to counter my visual genjutsu and he defeated my Doki." Dropping the scroll at her feet and unfurling it, she revealed three storage sections inscribed upon its length. She glared down at them. "I was saving these three for my fight with Naruto-kun… but it looks like I'm going to have to go all out for this one." Flipping through hand seals, she then slammed a foot down on the center. The moment she did so, three larger seals fanned out over the ground in front of her as she pumped chakra into her next technique. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

Three more blasts of white smoke exploded around the girl, sending fumes shooting in all directions and temporarily masking her presence. Gaara watched patiently and with interest as the smoke slowly lifted, and when it eventually did, the crowd was genuinely surprised at what they saw next.

Out of nowhere, the crowd saw the unmistakable forms of the Three Legendary Sannin emerge from the mist to stand before the red haired musician. With the white haired Jiraiya in the center and the other two flanking him on either side, Tayuya had brought seemingly brought out three of Konoha's strongest shinobi to the field, all of them dressed in their shinobi gear from the last Shinobi World War and all of them set in their prime. The only things that set them apart from the originals was the visible stitching around their necks and faces, their age, and the fact that they lacked life in their motionless eyes as they stared ahead of them at attention.

OOO

(Stadium – Kage Section)

A raised an eyebrow when he recognized the girl's new summons. "Now that's interesting."

"So her next trick involves three marionettes based on the three Sannin of Konohagakure?" Onoki asked with a smirk forming. "I'm not sure what this will do for her, but she's certainly got their looks and appearances down pat. I haven't seen the three Sannin standing together side by side in ages."

Hiruzen, the Kazekage and the Mizukage remained silent as they saw the last of the smoke from the summoning technique disperse, and Tayuya rise back to her feet behind her new partners. While it did indeed surprise them to see the girl bring in a new set of figures to help her battle against her opponent, their main concern now lay in what practical applications these new three marionettes had to offer.

They'd seen what her Doki were capable of. Their sheer size and strength masked their deceptive speed, and they could also call upon transparent spirits from their mouths to snatch chakra out of their targets. The question that stood before them now was what these three new models could do for her and how they would affect the course of this battle.

Meanwhile, many seats away in her own part of the stadium, Tsunade's expression hardened when she pretty much saw herself and her former teammates make their grand appearance to the stage. While Shizune was pleasantly surprised by the new development, her master was having a mixed reception to the sudden step-up in the play.

OOO

(Stadium – Arena)

As soon as she had a clear sight of her opponent through her three new recruits, Tayuya gave a grin and brought her flute up to her lips. "I'm not sure how much chakra this stunt will take, but hopefully all of that training with shithead will help." With that thought, she began to play, and the three marionettes she'd summoned jerked into life. "Go out there and kick his ass!"

As her melody started to filter out over the entire arena, the three adult-sized puppets jumped off of the outcrop and charged towards their target. Breaking off, the Jiraiya copy sprinted down the center while the other two split up and went left and right respectively, aiming to encircle the Sunagakure Genin. Gaara of course, responded accordingly to the new attackers and sent his thick tendrils of sand flying at the one approaching him from the front, intent on wiping the white haired one out.

The young Jiraiya ducked around the first shots before acrobatically leaping into the air, performing movements reminiscent of a superb shinobi in his youth.

"Fast!" Gaara thought, glaring into the sky and sending more sand up at his incoming opponent, aiming to knock him out or trap him. However, the boneless marionette expertly weaved through the streams that attempted to whip him out of the sky, before hiking off one and forming a hand seal. This alerted the sand user to a danger and forced him to bring around more sand in front of him to defend.

A split second later, the descending toad Sannin cracked his mouth open and began shooting out fire balls that rocketed towards its target like rounds from a cannon. The simultaneous attacks crashed into the sand wall one after another, exploding like bombs as they racked the barrier and attempted to bring it down. But the shell arcing over Gaara protected him from the concussive rounds, the boy gritting his teeth as he held off the assault.

After blocking the heavy attacks, the sand user then became aware of another figure coming at him from the side and looked left, just in time to see the Tsunade copy sprinting straight at him. The Genin responded with yet another wave of sand, but she leapt clean over it and flipped over him, his eyes following her maneuver till she landed on the other side of him and spun around. The kunoichi puppet lunged, sending a punch flying at him. The sand at Gaara's feet quickly jumped up and blocked it, as well as the backwards spin kick and the hook, the clouds being pulverized by the swift attacks, but dispelling the force of them nonetheless.

Another quick wave of sand fended the Tsunade-copy off, forcing her to jump away. When she did, the blonde puppet threw her hand forward and fired off a cluster of arrows from her open palm, revealing an in-built crossbow.

The arrows speared the sand wall that leapt up to block them, but they still buried deep enough for the tips to poke out the other side. While Gaara was distracted fending off the Tsunade puppet on his right, the Orochimaru marionette suddenly landed on the ground to his far left and stuck its left arm towards him, taking aim. The sand user looked around to see the snake Sannin replica's extended fingers suddenly shoot out in the form of cables, the heads of which formed into snake-look-a-likes that rocketed towards him and began wrapping around him.

The moment he saw the cables whipping towards him, Gaara crouched down on the floor and slammed his hands together into a hand seal. Focusing intensely, the mass amounts of sand he had around him formed a protective dome, surrounding him on all sides. This dome came to his defense before the cables began encircling him, forming many loops before tightening considerably, as if to bind him. However, instead of binding the Genin himself, they ended up binding the dome.

OOO

(Stadium – Competitors Balcony)

The sight of the dome forming had Temari's eyes widen considerably.

In the few instances she'd seen Gaara manipulate his sand wall in that manner was when he was under a considerable amount of pressure or danger. The fact that he was utilizing this ability now meant that this Tayuya girl was pushing her younger brother to a stage she'd never seen anyone push him before. Normally he was more cool and composed than this and would not result to this kind of measure, but now…

She clenched her fist tightly when another worrisome thought crossed her mind. "I hope… he's not using this shield type to perform that technique…"

Was he desperate enough to use it? If so, then his opponent was in serious trouble…

OOO

(Stadium – Arena)

Gritting her teeth at seeing her opponent avoid the steel cables, Tayuya pressed her lips to her flute again and continued to play, willing her Orochimaru puppet to tighten his hold and the Jiraiya marionette to back off. When the latter got to a distance, he threw his mane of hair forward and launched a wave of senbon hidden within it, peppering the perfectly round ball of sand and attempting to puncture it. However, no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't get through it.

"Do you think you can hide from me?" the musician thought, eyes cutting across momentarily as she willed her third team member into action. "Your sand can protect your body from normal attacks and knives. But I wonder how it will hold up against the force of an earthquake at pointblank range?" With that idea in mind, she began playing a faster, stronger verse from her flute, which took hold of her Tsunade puppet and propelled her into action.

Running a full lap around the dome concealing her master's opponent within at speed, the Tsunade marionette focused her attention on an open point provided by Orochimaru and Jiraiya's positioning around it. Quickly honing in on the area in question, the blonde puppet dove for it, sprinting as fast as it could towards the dome and cocking its right fist back. Leaping through the air and continuing a direct advance on the target, the Tsunade marionette's arm suddenly procured a massive silver brace from its forearm, which cracked open and emitted a blast of steam from the limb like a hidden, automatic weapon. The moment she was within range of the dome, and massive spikes suddenly shot out of it to take her down, the marionette dove under the counter and thrust the fist forward.

The punch smashed into the sand barrier, digging in before, a split second later, the fist made a cocking noise like the sound of a shotgun being loaded, before it unloaded the mother of all seismic charges. With a clap of thunder and a blast of fire and heat, an invisible shockwave shot out of the Tsunade copy's fist and went straight inside the dome, at the same time destroying much of the barrier standing in her way. The explosion dispelled the sand and got through to the person inside, Gaara's body being picked up by the explosion and sent blasting across the arena. Shooting out of the fireball trailing smoke, the Suna Genin bounced repeatedly across the hard ground before crashing into a far-off wall, where he was quickly buried by rubble.

The crowd looked on in shock as the cloud of dust faded with the three Sannin puppets jumping back to rejoin their user. Finishing her script, Tayuya lowered her flute and looked on, watching as the mist wall surrounding the landing site of her opponent dissipate, revealing a large crater and a pile of ruined slabs of rock. For the next minute or so nothing happened, with the musician beginning to believe she'd finally won. However, just as it was starting to appear the fight was won, one of the enormous chunks of rubble wall that had buried her opponent was pushed aside, revealing a still okay Gaara.

However… he wasn't quite… himself anymore.

Panting heavily and drawing ragged breaths, the slumped over sand Genin stomped forward, gripping his left eye with his palm. Baring his teeth and growling angrily through each breath in what sounded like agony, he glared hatefully across at his foe. From her spot, Tayuya could see he was still adorned in his sand armor, but it had cracked and split all over, and was falling off of him in chunks.

This showed that the damage had actually gotten through to him, because not only was his armor cracked, but he was also bleeding a bit from his nose and the corner of his mouth.

Temari and Kankuro, as well as the Kazekage, were stunned to actually see Gaara had physically been hurt and that he was genuinely bleeding. After all their years as a group, this was the first time they'd seen someone actually do him real damage.

But now, with the current expression on his face and the amount of killing intent he was emitting, things looked like they were getting really bad.

"Y-You…" Gaara growled, alerting his opponent to the fact he was now speaking to her. "You hurt me… YOU HURT ME! ME!" The boy screamed in a voice and tone that had chills run down spines. "You, who are considered strong… you, who are determined… eyes of pain… similar to my own! I'll exist in this world as one who erased everything of you by killing you! Only then… will I be able to experience life!" Both his eyes snapped open and dilated, several moments before an agonizing cry erupted from his mouth and the sounds of bones crunching echoed throughout the arena.

The audience then had the pleasure of watching on in horror when the sand from Gaara's gourd came around and molded to his arm, extending it, thickening it, encasing it completely, before growing in size. His entire right side twisted and contorted as his sand armor consumed him and transformed him into something akin to a beast. Only his left side remained human, while his right side had transformed into a sand colored beast with blue lines, and an eye that looked like a black star.

Fangs appearing in his jaw, moments before his face was pulled across into that of a demon.

Growling and drooling saliva, a pain racked Gaara let out an animalistic roar and looked up through his hate-filled eyes towards the girl standing a ways from him with a bewildered look worn on her own face. Upon seeing her astonished gaze, the sand user grinned maniacally and raised his human arm towards her, clenching it into a fist.

"I'm so… excited…" Gaara chuckled darkly, his voice twisted with pain, anger and delight. "I only just got my answer now. This pain… this blood staining my skin…" Slamming his fist against his chest where one of the injuries he'd taken was, the boy growled loudly again. "Fighting someone strong enough to hurt me and utterly destroying them; that's what gives me an even greater sense of existence! An even greater sense of purpose!" He then threw his hand out again and summoned another cloud of sand from behind him, which rocketed into the air to tower over him. "NOW DIE!" The tower of grains arced through the air and made its way towards Tayuya.

Seeing the amount of sand literally eclipse the sky above her, the red head responded immediately and sprang away, playing her pipe and getting all three of her puppets out of there. The enormous cloud crashed into the ground she'd been standing on and caved in the area, stunning the stadium at the sudden increase in power. Tayuya however was able to get out of there just in time, retreating to another high point still playing her flute. Once she landed and stopped, she glared across at her foe to see the mass amounts of his primary element gather around him as he stomped forward, moving further out of the barren area and back onto the field.

"So… this must be his transformation process," Tayuya thought nervously. "Not good. The more he changes, the more power he'll start to receive from the biju inside of him." That was her analysis anyway. She honestly wasn't afraid of the boy or the demon he was carrying. Not in the slightest. She was honestly more afraid of the power-crazed and murderous personality of her opponent that had the potential to kill her that she was most nervous about. Clicking her tongue, Tayuya brought her flute back to her lips and began to play again. "If you've still got sand covering you, then I'm going to take that sand and turn it into glass!"

As soon as she started playing, her three Sannin puppets gathered in front of her. Leaping directly in front of her and blocking Gaara's view of her, the Orochimaru and Tsunade copy stood side by side, legs shoulder width apart and hands formed together into identical seals. Bracing up, Jiraiya then jumped up on top of them, one foot on either shoulder and assumed in a similar stance with the exact same hand sign. The three together created a triangle formation, which baffled the audience and caught Gaara's attention, stopping him in his tracks.

Continuing to play, Tayuya willed all three of their mouths to open, revealing three tubes that popped out of their throats. As soon as they appeared, they began blasting a powerful wind across the field, which funneled towards Gaara in the form of a tornado that kicked up dust, debris and everything pretty much fixed to the ground. Earth was ripped apart as the gale of wind twisted and barreled into its target, forcing the boy to brace himself against the winds and shield himself with his enormous arm.

He was caught directly in the center of it, which was exactly what Tayuya wanted.

Finishing playing her flute, the girl smirked and leapt forward, standing directly behind the triangle formation as she flipped through hand seals. "This is my Ninth Symphony! Enjoy! Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" (Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu) Immediately after sucking in air, she then reeled forward and began gushing out flames from her lips in mass quantities, which she aimed right through the center of her marionette formation.

The conventional fireball technique on its own was a formidable attack. When enhanced by wind however, especially one as strong as the wind being emitted by her musical puppets, it became something equivalent to a storm. Her fire seemingly ignited the wind and jetted towards her target with an effect similar to that of an enormous blowtorch. Gaara, standing on the receiving end of the gale, had zero time to react when he was smacked full on by the wall of flames that managed to reach the stadium's concrete divider and started burning right through it.

The amount of fire lit up the entire coliseum like a second sun, causing the audience to scream in terror and those behind the wall the flames were actually reaching to back off, due to the insane amount of heat coming off of it. The ground it covered and ripped apart started to melt, like it was magma itself. Despite this however, Tayuya continuing feeding her flame through the wind, which chopped, cut, burned and scorched both the arena she was blasting mercilessly and her opponent.

Initially, the crowd thought Gaara was well and truly cooked. Nobody could withstand fire as large, wide-spread and as powerful as the one Tayuya was currently launching. However, several seconds into the attack and the ground melting away to nothing, a shocking development took place when sand suddenly exploded up from the ground and began whipping around Gaara in the form of a sand twister. This twister blocked out the flames and dispersed the wind being flung by the puppets magnifying the flames instantly.

The second she saw her flames disperse thanks to the twister, Tayuya immediately stopped and looked on in shock as the sandstorm shook off her flames before falling back down to the ground.

Smoking from head to toe, an incredibly burnt but still intact Gaara glared across at his opponent from behind his transformed arm, which the front of was shining from the sand literally being turned to glass from the heat. It wasn't the only thing that was turned to glass either. The immense amount of heat had also melted and glassed the sand on the ground and the initial layers that had jumped up to protect Gaara. However, in order to protect him from the rest of the enormous flamethrower that sterilized the entire area, not only had another mass quantity leapt out from underground, but he'd also grown a massive tail from his back and spaced out his transformation over his other, exposed parts to protect him further.

The sight not only terrified and stunned the crowd, but it also shook Tayuya up.

"Okay. What the fuck?" the red head thought, gritting her teeth. "That amount of fire would have cooked anyone in under a second. How the hell is he still standing?"

Growling, Gaara threw his normal hand forward and summoned his sand to him again, but this time there was even more than before, and it freaked the hell out of the musician. "Disappear!" His yell was marked by his element forming into a wave similar to a tsunami in front of him, which began charging towards Tayuya across the ground.

Preparing to move, the red head stopped when she saw sand blast up from the ground behind her and from all sides. The pillars that jutted out of the earth twisted and contorted, before forming into large waves themselves and closing in around the girl.

She was trapped.

"Shit!" Tayuya shouted, biting into her thumb.

Before she could do anything however, the waves sent at her from all sides crashed straight down on top of her, wrapping around both her and her marionettes. Soon, the colliding waves of sand formed into an enormous pile, leaving none of that area of the field spared. It had been a completely indiscriminate attack meant to wipe out all living things underneath the newly formed mound.

Under the cries of the stadium and the shocked looks thrown by Naruto and his group, especially the blonde, Gaara gave a massive grin and raised his left hand forward again. Taking hold of the sand before him, his tongue ran across his upper lip before he began to enclose his fist.

"Let your blood run with the sand! Sabaku Soso!"

TO BE CONTINUED…

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Author's Note: Another chapter done.

Recap. We get more of an insight to Tsubaki's past, and how she wants to become strong to protect her village from men like Kisame. You could also say she wants revenge over her instructor, or that she has something to prove to him, which is her motivation for getting as strong as she is. However, she still has a long way to go before a win in the tournament can be decided. She was only lucky to run into Ao and taken to a place to be kept safe.

Samui also expressed her interest in Naruto in her own way; by being surprising in a reserved way that really had an impact with the others. She's a girl who likes cool things, and the jinchuriki's interactions with her and his actions in the tournament has really captured her interest in him, and Tayuya has no problems with it. She's actually more into the excitement of the idea than anything.

Naruto's luck can also go a really long way. lol

And Samui won against Utakata. What a twist. Though the boy can't control his tailed-beast at this stage, he was still a strong fighter. But the Kumogakure kunoichi was smart enough to work around him, and showed off an assortment of skills she was practicing for her fight with Naruto.

Then we also have the fight with Tayuya and Gaara, and at this point it's already heating up. She was actually pushing him into using his biju's chakra, and the boy is just going all out, throwing sand everywhere with his increased strength and trying to take her down. Normally with his transformation he would be more aggressive and willing to take his opponent head to head, but in his current state, he's still holding back from coming to blows with her.

But still, I wonder who will win? What do you people think?

Hope you're looking forward to the next chapter.