The Eye of the Beholder

by Anime Insaniac

As I travel to soothe the pain of the loss of my family, my feet lead me and my students to Nami no Kuni, where I see corruption causing pain and poverty. Knowing my family wouldn't stand for this injustice, my students and I help with what I can. Redoing

14. Chapter 13: The Preliminaries

The Eye of the Beholder

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"Talking"

'Thinking'

Flashbacks and Notes

Demons and higher beings

Disclaimer:

Chapter 13: The Preliminaries

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Kaitou woke up around three hours later, he noticed that Sasuke was just looking at the jounin with a seriously irritated expression.

"Sorry, I can't control it, and ever since coming back to Konoha, my complacency has been returning," Kaitou admitted as he looked at Sasuke through his sunglasses. He reactivated his sharingan and said. "Now, before we start anything, I want you to tell me exactly what the voices keep telling you."

Sasuke nodded at he replied, "One of them wants me to seek power, while the other one wants a seal to be placed on me, though I'm not sure what kind or why."

"I can't really say much about this. First off, when did this start happening?" Kaitou asked.

"It happened when that damn teacher of yours bit me," Sasuke said, seriously disgusted by the sannin's actions.

"So he's here, Jiraiya said he might try and start something. Now where did he bite you?" the jounin asked.

"On the neck, the bite marks are probably still there," Sasuke answered. He pulled his collar down to show the marks.

Kaitou examined his neck and said, "Sasuke, there aren't any bite marks, hell I'd be hard pressed to believe you if you didn't have a mark on your neck like Anko."

"What? What did the bastard do to me?" Sasuke asked with a bit of alarm.

"Calm down, that's probably the main reason why you're hearing voices telling you to seek power," Kaitou explained to the Uchiha. "I'd lost contact with everyone during my travels, so I couldn't possibly have known he'd go this far for his goals. Now, what of the other voice, what did it seem like to you?"

"The voice seemed kind of feral, like it enjoyed the outdoors, but more to the point, it didn't seem to have any form of corruption or malice in its voice," Sasuke described as well as he could given the circumstances.

"Could this voice be the reason why you carry the scent of a wolf?" Kaitou asked.

"What are you talking about?" Sasuke asked, curiosity in his voice.

"You have an extra scent alongside your normal smell of burning wood," Kaitou explained to the Uchiha. The blond man pulled out a scroll and opened it. He rolled it onto the ground and said, "Lay on the blank space on your back. Make sure your stomach intersects with the scroll."

Sasuke did as he was told.

Kaitou pulled out a calligraphy brush and a vial of what looked to be blood. He dipped the brush into the vial and started putting different marks on Sasuke's stomach.

Sasuke looked like he was trying to keep himself from grinning.

"My apologies, but this is necessary, I will give you this bit of information. What I'm doing is only temporary, and can last at a maximum of a year," Kaitou told him as he continued his work. "Jiraiya knows more about these kinds of seals than I do, so he's going to be the one to finish my work, my specialty as far as seals goes are storage and medical, I always focused on the best way of keeping the shinobi alive."

"That's great and all, but why are you telling me this?" Sasuke asked.

"I'm just making conversation, I mean just laying there while I pretty much draw on you has got to be pretty boring," Kaitou told Sasuke as he started making a few handsigns.

"Not as boring as waiting for your to wake up, and I tried waking you," Sasuke told the jounin.

"I said I was sorry, I can't control my narcolepsy," Kaitou said as he finished his last seal. His chakra flashed as he slammed his hand on Sasuke's stomach and said, "Rinji Tougoku Fuuin."

There was a bit of a flash and all the seals that were on the scroll started to moved to where Kaitou put his hand. The wording started to surround the hand and a spiral appeared on Sasuke's stomach. Sasuke was breathing heavily, although it seemed that this was more because of Kaitou knocking the wind out of him than the sealing process.

"Dammit sensei, did you have to slam you hand so hard?" Sasuke said as his body started adjusting.

"Sorry, I wasn't sure if it would even work," Kaitou admitted. "This was the first time I actually had a use for this scroll, I had no means to test it out, so of course, some things might end up hurting," Kaitou said as he looked Sasuke over. "Is there any discomfort at the moment?"

"Not that I can feel," Sasuke replied. "Anyway if you hadn't used this before, then how did you know it would work?"

"I didn't, I knew that if there wasn't anything else within you, the seal wouldn't have reacted," Kaitou told the Uchiha. "Anyway are you sure there was no other pain."

"Positive," Sasuke replied to him

"Hmm, it's probably because of the fact that the seal is only temporary, if Jiraiya makes it permanent, your chakra coils are going to start being reconfigured as you will have a great deal more chakra, that'll probably cause a few hours of pain, and you'll need quite a bit of rest until your body becomes accustom to the new tenant, that being said, now the seal that Orochimaru placed on you should be kept in check now," Kaitou explained, though some of it confused Sasuke.

"What do you mean by tenant?" Sasuke asked, confusion clear on his face.

"Although, the seal isn't permanent at this point in time, for all intents and purposes, you have now become an official jinchuuriki," Kaitou told Sasuke.

Sasuke thought about this for a bit, but then just shrugged, "Whatever, as long as I can find the one responsible for the death of my clan, then it doesn't make a difference so long as they face retribution and my clan is restored."

Kaitou raised a eyebrow as he said, "You're certainly taking this well."

"Whether or not there is something within me, it makes no difference as long as I still retain full control of my body and it doesn't deter me from my final objectives," Sasuke explained.

"Which is restoring your clan to its former glory and administering punishment to the one responsible for its destruction," Kaitou finished for him.

"Ah," Sasuke replied as he walked to the door.

"Well, then I have nothing to worry about, just don't push yourself too hard during the next part and I'll have Jiraiya finish what was started, just make sure that Kakashi doesn't try and restrict that seal Orochimaru gave you because otherwise it'll be that much more annoying to get rid of," Kaitou told the Uchiha. Right before he unsealed the door he said, "And, although you can tell everyone close to you about your jinchuuriki status, it would be ill-advised to let the general public know. I'd heard about an incident with Kumo and the Hyuuga, just imagine what would happen if they found out about you now."

Sasuke couldn't help but agree as he walked out of the room, feeling a little better at the moment.

Kaitou followed right after.

Three days later...

The genin and some of the senseis were there as the Hokage made his announcement.

Kagura and Meimi were standing in front of a girl with braided brown hair that reached her mid back, she was wearing a black, skin-tight suit, with the standard kunai pouch and shuriken holster as well as the standard shinobi sandals. She also had two swords crossed at her back. Haku was standing behind Nami and Rika. Gaara, Temari and Kankuro were there as well. The Ame genin that Naruto had beaten had managed to gain both scrolls during the second part of the exam. The Oto genin were also there. Kabuto and his team also seemed to have passed as well. The remaining rookie nine also made it through the forest. They were all looking around to assess their situation when the Hokage spoke.

"I'd like to congratulate all who passed this portion of the exam, and with that the second part of the Chuunin selection exam is over, that being said, we can't move on to the third portion of the exam simply because there are too many people who passed, so with that, for the first time several years we will be having preliminaries for the final exam. That being said, you are no longer obligated by your team, if one fails, it will not affect their team. Is their anyone who would like to quit now?" Hiruzen asked looking around.

When no one did anything for the next ten seconds they continued.

Kaitou stepped forward as he said, "Let me handle the next explanation, Hiruzen. You should let yourself rest given your age. I am the exam proctor for this portion of the exam, you may simply know me as Kaitou."

"Disrespectful gaki," was all Hiruzen said as he let Kaitou take the stage.

"Alright, minna, there are thirty genin here, meaning that there will be fifteen matches, the board up there," Kaitou said, indicating the electronic board that was appearing behind a sliding panel that was opening up, "will be randomly selecting two names of competitors that will be facing off against one another. The match starts when I say, and not before, the match ends if one of the genin is dead, unconscious, incapacitated or I state the winner. I'm the proctor for a reason, you will not undermine my authority or I will remove you from this exam, forcibly if necessary. And if you don't think I can handle you, just ask the last person that tried to attack me," Kaitou paused to let his warning take effect.

Team 7 and Team 8 as well as Haku remembered that incident and knew he wasn't bluffing.

"Anyway, let's get the ball rolling," Kaitou said as he pulled a remote control out and pushed the one button that was on it. The screen then went through several names at an extremely fast pace. Kaitou pushed the button again and two names appeared.

Rock Lee vs Abumi Zaku

"Yosh, right off the bat!" Lee said excitedly.

Zaku just smirked, thinking that this would be easy.

"Alright, everyone else, up to the stands," Kaitou said with a sense of urgency. As soon as everyone that wasn't participating in this fight besides Kaitou himself were up in the stands, Kaitou stated, "The top thing I mentioned, when I say the match is over, you'd better listen. Are both of you ready?" At both of their nods, Kaitou held his hands out, "Match 1 of the Chuunin Selection Exam Preliminaries, Rock Lee vs Abumi Zaku, hajime." He swung his hands in front of him, he then jumped up into the stands, where he fell asleep.

Kaitou's problem caused quite a few of the jounin from Konoha to sweat drop, the Hokage included. Most of them were thinking, 'He still hasn't gotten over it?'

Lee took his fighting stance while Zaku just smirked.

The Oto genin then extended his arms with his palms facing Lee, only to get a fist in the face as he was sent flying backward.

"What the hell was that?" Zaku asked, wondering about that hit as Lee took up his fighting stance again. "Enough fooling around, Zankuha," he said as he held his hands forward and the air pressure attack was launched at Lee. This only left him to be surpriseed when he saw that Lee wasn't even there.

"That is an interesting technique, but useless if you're too slow," Lee said from behind Zaku.

Zaku then turned around and pushed his hands forward, only for them to be held by Lee, palm to palm.

"Tell me, can you launch an attack if your hands are covered up like this?" Lee asked rhetorically. He then swept Zaku's feet and swung him around where he hit Zaku's head agaisnt the wall.

In a puff of smoke, Kaitou appeared and said, "Winner by KO, Rock Lee."

"YOSH, LEE YOU HAVE SHOWN YOU TRUE FIRES OF YOUTH!" Gai said with such enthusiasm.

"How can Imei stand him?" Kaitou asked himself.

Lee had apparently heard him. "You know Imei-neesan?" Lee asked the proctor as the medics carried Zaku off.

"Let's go into that after the prelims, now go up to the stands," Kaitou ordered the green clad genin. He motioned for Lee to go up to the stands.

"Hai," Lee said as Kaitou pulled the remote out of his pocket and pushed the button again.

Kaitou pushed the button again and the screen stopped again.

Momochi Haku vs Yakushi Kabuto

"Alright you two, get down here," Kaitou told them with a demanding tone.

Haku jumped off the stands and landed gracefully while Kabuto took his time in walking down the steps.

When Kabuto made it to the position Kaitou said, "Okay, you two know the drill, if I say the match is over, that's it, I declare the winner. Fight 2 of the preliminaries, Momochi Haku vs Yakushi Kabuto, hajime." He made the gestures and leapt back.

With that Haku started throwing sendon, during this the feminine appearing male said, "I'm certainly glad I've been conditioning myself, because it's been a while since I've had what would seem like a decent fight."

"Well, sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not all that strong," Kabuto said as he deflected a few of the sendon while some of them grazed his clothes and others pierced his skin slightly.

"Your words say one thing, but your eyes say something else entirely," Haku told him as he moved in and started attacking directly with his sendon.

Kabuto started blocking as he attempted to counter. They were at this for the next minute until he finally locked Haku into a stalemate with both left hands effectively keeping them both there.

"Sometimes what seems like the greatest blessing can be the worst mistake, physically speaking you probably can overpower me in this lock," Haku said as he started moving his right hand in different seals. "But genetically, my advantage is clear, Hijutsu: Sensatsu Suishou," he said as needles started forming in the air.

Kabuto tried to dodge, but realized his movement was impaired, "What the hell? Why is this..." He paused as he realized that Haku had been throwing sendon with a paralyzing agent at him the whole time, he then focused on making him move so the agent would move through his blood stream faster. At this realization, he could only wait as the ice sendon hit him. As the sendon were about to hit him a wall moved in front of him. He looked to see that Kaitou with his hands in the hebi seal.

"Victory through incapacitation, Haku, now give him the cure to the drug," Kaitou told the boy.

"Hai," Haku said as he handed the cure to his paralyzing agent to Kabuto.

"Medics, take the guy to get proper treatment," the proctor said as he pushed the button to his remote to start the board up again.

"You're the man, Haku," Nami told him as he walked up the stands.

This got quite a few looks from most of the people, the only ones that didn't look surprised by what the girl said was Rika, Meimi, Kagura, team 7, team 8, both including their senseis, Kaitou and the Hokage.

"What are you talking about?" Ino asked.

"Let's make sure this is clearly stated on the record, I'm a guy," Haku said to them.

Most of the males looked weirded out due to his feminine appearance while quite a few of the females were wondering how a boy could look like a better girl than them.

This caused quite a few sweat drops to occur during this exchange.

"Enough debate about genders, and apparently envious appearances and let's get back to the task at hand," Kaitou said as he pushed the button again and the board stopped at two names again

Haruno Sakura vs Akado Yoroi

Sakura looked at her opponent, who, in her opinion, didn't look very intimidating. She jumped down and waited for her opponent.

Yoroi walked over to place.

"Are both ready?" Kaitou asked. When both nodded Kaitou said, "My word is law here, I decide when the match is over and the victor. Now let's get this started." He made a hand gesture, "Match 3 of the Chuunin Exam Preliminaries, hajime."

Sakura was judging her opponent, wondering what kind of fighter he was.

"You should give up, little girl, there's no way you can beat me," Yoroi told her.

"How about that decision be made after we clash, because, someone your age who's still a genin taking this exam is certainly more pathetic than me who made it this far alongside my team," Sakura replied, trying to get him to attack immediately.

"Hmm," he snorted. "Then don't blame me for your injuries," Yoroi made a few hand signs and his right hand started glowing.

Sakura kept her eye on her opponent, not knowing what he was doing, she parried his hand the he got near. It was during this that Sakura felt a little weaker. 'What just happened?' she thought to herself as she just kept moving the hand away. As Yoroi's hand got closer, she felt weaker again, and it was then that she realized, "You're stealing my chakra."

"Very perceptive, though it's not like it'll do you any good now," he said as he approached again.

Sakura thought to herself, 'If he gets near he'll drain my chakra regardless, better to keep from playing into his hand and do something else.'

Yoroi ran straight at her and Sakura did something he didn't predict.

Sakura grabbed the syphoner's wrist as he was approaching.

"That was an unexpected move, but foolish none the less," he said as he increased how much chakra he was taking only to lose concentration as he felt an excrutiating pain and everyone heard a crack.

Nearly everyone flinched at the sound.

Sakura had just snapped the guy's wrist.

"YOU BITCH, I'LL KILL YOU!" Yoroi shouted as he ran straight at her with his other hand glowing, only for her to catch hs forearm, break his arm at the elbow and throw him, face first, into the wall.

"Winner by KO and breaking limbs, Haruno Sakura," Kaitou said as the medics took Yoroi to have him patched up.

As Sakura walked up the steps, Gai approached her, "Interesting moves, I haven't seen someone use jujitsu in Konoha for quite some time. There were a few other trace elements of other taijutsu in there as well. Who taught you?"

"I can't say, Gai-sensei, and I've only just recently learn that move, so it's sloppier than it should be," Sakura admitted to the bowl cut sensei.

"Even so, it's commendable that you were able to pull of such a unique strategy given the circumstances," Gai told her.

"A little something from Naruto, if people expect you to do something, all you have to do is what they would least expect, and in this case, what reduced the amount of chakra he drained from me was attacking head on and stopping the problem at the source rather than trying to dodge and waste energy while he still drained me," Sakura explained to him.

"You will be a formidable kunoichi in the future if you keep up this pace," Gai commended before he walked back over to his team.

The screen stopped at two more names.

Aburame Shino vs Kagari

Shino walked down, calmly as the Ame genin followed.

Kaitou asked them, "Are both of you ready?"

Shino and Kagari both nodded.

"Well then, my rule is law, I decided who wins and who loses, and the match ends when I say so, and so the fourth match, Aburame Shino vs Kagari," Kaitou said to them but was interrupted.

"Question before we start," Kagari asked. "Why do you keep repeating that same line before the matches?"

"Because everyone who will be fighting might not be paying attention, so I have to keep saying it so that anyone who goes out of control knows that I did warn them beforehand, this keeps the village and myself from getting into trouble, it's annoying, but with all the legal ramification I can't leave anything to chance," Kaitou answered the genin. "Are there any other questions?" Kaitou asked. When both shook their head Kaitou then moved his arms, "Then, hajime."

The Ame genin started moving through seals, only to be interrupted when Shino punched him.

"I'm no rookie as far as tactics go, I know the best means to overcoming a technique is to stop it before it's even started," Shino said as he took a taijutsu stance. His body was slightly slouched with his wrists curved, his right hand was by his face while his left was extended a bit, but not fully. Shino's left leg was straight at an angle to keep his balance while his right leg was bent to support most of his weight.

Lee looked at Shino's stance and asked, "Gai-sensei, is that?"

"Ah, it is," Gai confirmed.

"What are you talking about?" Tenten asked.

"The stance he has taken is a basic stance for Mantis Kung Fu," Gai explained to her. "It's a fighting style very similar to juuken in that it attacks in a precise manner, hitting points that could temporarily paralyze, knock out or even kill the opponent, and also like juuken it's a very difficult style to master, I'm surprised he was even able to find someone who could teach him."

"Just another copy," Neji said aloud.

"Actually, this fighting style has been around for a great deal longer that even the existance of the Hyuuga clan, it's actually more accurate to say that juuken is a copy of that," Gai replied to Neji's comment.

The fight seemed to be going one way as Shino kept blocking and striking, until Kagari set up a genjutsu. Through this, there appeared to be more of him.

Shino's response to said move was to reveal his clan ability. Hundreds of bugs started swarming out of his jacket, Shino just stood there as the bugs left him.

"Is this suppose to scare me? No matter how many kinds of tricks you do, it won't make a difference if you can't find me," Kagari said as he threw a kunai at Shino.

"That would be a problem, if my insects didn't already know where you were," Shino said to the Ame nin. "Swarm him now," Shino ordered.

The Ame genin thought he was bluffing until the swarm was on him, they drained him of enough chakra so that he couldn't stand up for a bit.

"Winner by incapacitation, Aburame Shino," Kaitou said as he looked at the genin who was barely conscious. "Good work, but I think this was a little excessive."

"Excessive means that he died, my opponent is still alive, so there is no problem," Shino replied to him.

Kaitou just shrugged as the medics took Kagari to the infirmary.

As the board started running through names again Neji was wondering about how Shino summoned his insects. He activated his byakugan and was surprised to see that he didn't summon them, they were living inside his body so all he did was call them out.

"That boy is the heir to the Aburame clan, they are a clan that has a pact with insects, for becoming living hives and voluntarily letting them feed off of their chakra they get complete control of the insects living within them," Gai told his student.

"I'd heard of them, I didn't know they were this well rounded in abilities," Neji admitted as he deactivated his byakugan.

The board stopped its shifting as the next names came up.

Uzumaki Naruto vs Hayase Tenten.

Naruto jumped down and landed right by his uncle, Tenten did the same.

"Are you both ready for this match?" Kaitou asked them.

"Hai," was Tenten's response.

"Ah," Naruto replied.

"Before we get the ball rolling, I have to ask. Why are you wearing those goggles?" Kaitou asked, curious about the reason, mostly curious about the goggles themself.

"We'll talk about this after the preliminaries," Naruto replied to him.

"Anyway, you know the drill, what I say goes, I declare when the match is over and the victor of the match," Kaitou told them as he held his hands up. "Preliminary Match number 5, Uzumaki Naruto vs Hayase Tenten, hajime," and he moved his arms as he started the fight.

Tenten started by throwing a few weapons at Naruto, only for the blond genin to catch the first two and block the rest.

"You do realize I've demostrated the ability to catch fast moving projectiles more than once during this exam, so you should have at least been able to judge that those wouldn't work on me," Naruto told her.

"Hai, I was just evaluating your reflexes," Tenten with a smirk.

"If that's the case, how about another demonstration of abilities?" Naruto said with a grin of his own.

"Okay then," she looked down and counted the tiles. The bunned kunoichi then pulled out a scroll, ran and jumped, opening said scroll and a high amount of weapons went straight for Naruto as she spun the scroll around.

Naruto moved his body as he blocked those that could cause immediate danger, he came out of that barrage of weapons with a few minor nicks and cuts on his arms and legs.

"Damn, I thought for sure you would dodge," Tenten said as she landed.

"I did dodge, I also blocked and maneuvered as well, staying in the attack zone so there wouldn't be any unexpected surprises," Naruto said to her with a smirk.

"I'm getting even more excited with this," Tenten said as she pulled out two scrolls and set them on their sides. "I was hoping to save this for the finals," she said as she went through some hand seals.

Naruto threw a kunai at one of the scrolls, knocking it over, effectively keeping Tenten from performing the jutsu at the moment. "As honored as I am that you see me as a worthy opponent, I can't let you bring out your big guns this time around, it might actually force me to reveal more of my abilities," he said as he ran straight at her, causing her to jump back. Naruto then started engaging Tenten in taijutsu, and both seemed to be evenly matched. Then at one point Naruto backed off.

This action confused the kunoichi for a bit until she heard Lee.

"Tenten, behind you," Lee shouted to his team mate.

"Huh," The kunoichi looked behind her to receive a fist to her left cheek, courtesy of a kage bunshin, which sent her flying straight towards Naruto, who struck with a right uppercut to her chin, effectively causing her to see stars. As she landed on the ground, her head was stopped via Naruto's bunshin. "Why did you do that? The match is still going," Tenten asked.

"That may be, but I don't want to cause any unnecessary damage, and I'm pretty sure a concussion falls into that category," Naruto said as he dispelled his bunshin.

"When did you make a bunshin?" Tenten asked as she stood up.

"Around the time you used me that scroll of weapons, with that scroll spinning in one direction and you in the other," Naruto answered her.

"How did it remain hidden so long?" the kunoichi asked.

"He simply henged into a random weapon that was released while you were using the scroll, you provided good cover for me, that's the main reason why I stayed stationary to that particular area, it wasn't to avoid traps, I was keeping any stray weapons from hitting my bunshin, after my decision to engage you in taijutsu, I saw that I was getting nowhere so I jumped back, that was the signal for my bunshin to strike, especially considering I positioned you so your back was to him," Naruto explained to her.

"You show ingenious tactics, you use an opponents blindspots to your advantage, you hit hard," she said as she rubbed her cheek. "REALLY, hard, and you show mercy in the heat of battle. I've lost this match," Tenten said. She then turned to Kaitou and said, "Proctor, I forfeit."

"Winner by forfeit, Uzumaki Naruto," Kaitou said as both combatants headed up to the stand.

"That was a most youthful battle, Tenten, it's a shame you didn't win," Gai told her.

"He out thought, out maneuvered and overpowered me, in the end it was no contest, especially with how he placed me exactly where he wanted without me noticing, Naruto knows how to think on his feet," Tenten replied with no shame in her voice.

"Naruto-kun has proven to be a worthy adversary," Lee said with enthusiasm.

"I agree, and he's suppose to be the dead last of the rookies, it makes you wonder if everyone else can think as far ahead as him, or if the academy teachers are properly evaluating their potential candidates," Neji replied with a thoughtful look on his face. "What's even more is that he won without showing more than one ability that we didn't already know he was capable of, that makes him even more dangerous."

"Yosh, I'm getting excited at the thought of fighting him in the near future," Lee said with flames in his eyes.

"Well get excited later, now it's time for the next match," Kaitou said as the board showed the next names.

Gekkou Miki vs Nara Shikamaru

"Yatta, now I get to show my worth," the girl with the katana strapped to her back said as she jumped over the railing and landed hard on the floor.

"Mendokuse, now I have to fight a female," Shikamaru said as he slowly walked down the steps.

"Seriously, Miki-san, what would your brother say about your behavior?" Kaitou commented.

"I don't know, he's standing over there, so why not ask?" she questioned as she pointed to the sickly looking jounin.

That retort got nearly everyone in the room to sweat drop as they all thought one thing, 'What a ditz.'

Kaitou just shook his head as he asked, "Are both of you ready?"

"Hai," Miki said cheerfully as Shikamaru nodded lazily.

"What I say goes, I decide when the match is over and who is the winner. Preliminary Match 6, Gekkou Miki vs Nara Shikamaru," he crossed his arms and said, "Hajime."

With that Miki started by pulling out one of her katana only to stop when Shikamaru's shadow connected with hers.

"Kage Mane, success," Shikamaru said. He then moved his hand and Miki followed his example. Shikamaru reached up and moved his hand like he was grabbing something from his back. Miki did the same, pulling out one of her swords. The lazy genin then moved his hand in front of him and Miki did the same, the blade of the sword getting close to her throat.

"Winner of this match through possible death situation, Nara Shikamaru," Kaitou said as he stopped the fight, well more like a massacre.

Everyone just looked at the two of them with an one thought, 'The shortest match so far.'

The board went through a few more names when is stopped again.

Sabaku no Temari vs Hyuuga Hinata

"Finally, it's time to show what Suna is capable of," Temari said as she jumped down.

Hinata walked calmly and just as she was passing team 7 Naruto said to her, "Observe and retaliate as such, that thing strapped to her back is a fan. Use this knowledge to your advantage, I know you can do it, those sparring sessions against you tell me that."

Hinata blushed at Naruto's faith in her and she nodded as she walked down the steps and across the floor to face Temari.

Temari looked at her and tried to assess how she was going to fight her. So far what the Konoha shinobi have demonstrated hasn't been what she was expecting so she'd best be on guard.

Kaitou spoke to them, "Are both of you ready?"

"Ah," Temari said.

"Hai," Hinata said with a medium tone.

"Alright, what I say goes, I decide when the match begins, when it ends and who is the victor," Kaitou said once again. "Preliminary Match 7, Sabaku no Temari vs Hyuuga Hinata, Hajime," he made the gestures with his arms to start the match.

Hinata activated her byakugan and got into the juuken stance, 'Alright, Naruto-kun said that what is strapped to her back is a fan, most likely her primary weapon. Given that she's from Suna and she uses a fan, her main attacks are all most likely wind based, that gives me the advantage, given I've been trained to fight close range as well and that fan probably works well with brute force, she most likely has to swing it in a wide manner, leaving her open to quick attacks.'

Temari just smirked a bit as she opened her fan and swung, releasing a wind attack.

Hinata, seeing the attack, stuck her palm out and released a bit of wind chakra, effectively cancelling out her attack.

Temari just raised an eyebrow as she said, "Oh, a futon user from Konoha is rare, from what I've heard. This is certainly going to be interesting."

"Wind versus wind, who will win," Hinata said as she kept herself steady.

Temari just smirked as she was about to swing her fan again when Hinata moved in quickly, dealing small, but precise hits on Temari. The Suna kunoichi closed her fan and struck out to hit Hinata, who in turn, dodged and attacked once again. After about a minute or so of this going on, Temari finally fell down.

"Winner through incapacitation, Hyuuga Hinata," Kaitou said as he spoke to Hinata. "Now if you don't mind, how about we make less work for the medics."

"Hai," Hinata responded. She started sending her chakra through the points she had closed up, therefore reopenning them, and allowing Temari to stand once more.

Temari just smirked as she said, "I gotta say, Konoha certainly has some interesting kunoichi. And some of the males aren't bad to look at either."

"Before you start assessing potential betrothal candidates, go back to your siblings," Kaitou said to her.

"Hai, hai," Temari said as she opened her fan and rode up to the stands.

"Another quick match, but not a bad display of skill and certainly a good display of keeping a cool head," Kaitou thought aloud as he pushed the button again for the display board to go through names again.

One thought went through one of the genin's head as he saw that match, 'She's gotten stronger, but how?'

The board stopped on the next names.

Tsurugi Misumi vs Sabaku no Gaara

"Well, this ought to be an interesting match," Kaitou said as Gaara appeared right next to him.

The last member of Kabuto's team had glasses and was wearing a mask like his previous team mate.

He walked down and towards the center until he was standing across from his opponent. He looked at Gaara with arrogance in his eyes.

The Suna shinobi just looked at his opponent with indifference.

"Are both sides ready?" Kaitou asked. When both nodded, he said, "What I say goes, I declare when the match starts, when it finishes and who is the victor." Kaitou looked in between the two genin as he said, "Preliminary Match 8, Tsurugi Misumi vs Sabaku no Gaara, hajime."

Misumi when straight forward attempting to strike when he got struck in the head with something. As he was dazed he felt himself being wrapped up and he was then slammed into the ground.

"Now that was the fastest match here," Kaitou said to them as he looked at what initially hit the bespectacled genin. It was the cork to Gaara's gourd. He picked up the object and asked Gaara with a smile on his face, "Alright, I have to ask, do you want your cork back?"

"Hmm?" Gaara turned and noticed that the cork was in Kaitou's hand and not on his gourd at the moment. He used some of his sand to wrap it around the cork and tried to pull it forcefully from the jounin. What really got Gaara wondering about this guy was that Kaitou didn't look like he was about to break a sweat when Gaara was struggling to get it away from him before Kaitou let go.

"That was a tad rude, although in this case, there was nothing really wrong given there was no hostile actions toward me, next time just ask and you will receive, anyway, match over, winner by knockout, Sabaku no Gaara," Kaitou declared as the Suna genin appeared next to his siblings. He then pushed the button and the screen went through the remaining fourteen candidates. Kaitou called out as he pushed the button again and said, "Second half of the preliminaries and considerable matches so far. Let's see if the next seven can measure up."

Uchiha Sasuke vs Kinuta Dosu

Sasuke smirked as he jumped down, he didn't actually know this guy's strength, but he was getting board anyway and he knew that the Oto genin couldn't be nearly as strong as Orochimaru.

Dosu looked as Sasuke with interest as he thought, 'Now is the time to accomplish the mission Orochimaru-sama assigned.' With that thought in mind the Oto genin jumped down and stood in front of Sasuke.

"Alright, are both of you ready?" Kaitou asked.

"Ah," Sasuke replied.

"Hai," Dosu said in his low tone.

"Before this match starts," Kaitou said as he looked at Dosu. "Ibiki mentioned your actions a few days ago, so this is emphasized for you. I call the shots for this match, I decide when the match starts, I decide when the match ends and I decide who wins, if you overstep your boundaries even once during this match, that will be an immediate disqualification for you and any future during the Chuunin Selection Exms while they are being held within Konoha. Clear?" Kaitou asked with a serious amount of killing intent spread out, quite a few of the shinobi were shaking or sweating from the pressure.

"Crystal," Dosu replied weakly.

As quickly as his killing intent was felt, it soon vanished as Kaitou smiled and said, "Good."

It was at this point in time that everyone save for the ones that knew the man well enough finally figured out why he was the exam proctor. This was worse than Ibiki, who could mess with you psychologically. This man gave the genin the feeling that if you don't listen to this man you won't last.

Kaitou looked at the combatants and said, "Preliminary Match 9, Uchiha Sasuke vs Kinuta Dosu, hajime."

Dosu started things out with his gauntlet as he made a hooking motion with his fist.

Sasuke, remembering the incident from the days prior, jumped back a few meters. He activated his sharingan and analyzed the Oto shinobi. Sasuke noticed some chakra dicipating about a meter away from the Oto genin. 'Well that makes things easier, his technique only has a radius of a meter from where his arm is located. That means that he can't attack long range, it's all dangerous close range. Lucky for me I have a few techniques that I've been perfecting when it comes to control, so let's see how well they work.' Sasuke went through a few seals, ending on the tora seal and he said, "Katon Endan no jutsu." Sasuke sent out a mid sized fireball at the genin.

Dosu, for the most part, was surprised that Sasuke was smart enough to attack him from a long range, 'This is going to be a lot more difficult than I thought. Maybe we should have kept trying in the forest.' He then dodged the attack, only to receive a fist to his right cheek.

Sasuke smirked as his diversion worked. He was walking over to the Oto shinobi, who had slid across the floor from that punch. It was then that his vision started getting hazy. "What the hell?" Sasuke said as he fell over and started to vomit.

"You aren't the only one that can plan ahead, Uchiha," Dosu said as he approached Sasuke and punched him with his gauntlet, causing a double affect do to it actually hitting as well as the sound attack.

"Dammit, didn't think far enough," Sasuke said as his vision started coming back to him.

Dosu raised his hand as he said, "After I take care of you, the one in green is next for what he did to my team mate."

Sasuke looked at Lee as Dosu was about to strike when an idea occurred to him. 'That's it,' he thought as he turned on his left hand and knee and kicked his right foot up.

Dosu was hit in the chin by Sasuke's kick and sent flying.

"Gai-sensei, that's..." Lee said to him.

"And this is why you should never reveal your secrets to potential opponents if you don't know them well," Gai told his student as he watched Sasuke.

Sasuke got on all fours and jumped up to go right behind Dosu. "From here on, it's all original," Sasuke said as he grabbed the pelt the Oto genin was wearing and kicked his left side with his left foot. He then moved around the other side and struck Dosu downward with the back of his left fist. "I'm not done yet," Sasuke said as he spun around and landed with Dosu with the heel of his left foot slamming into Dosu's stomach while the Oto genin's back his the stone floor. "Shishi Rendan," Sasuke called out as Dosu's head hit the floor.

Kaitou walked over to the two, looked Dosu over and said, "And that's all she wrote, winner by knockout, Uchiha Sasuke."

Sasuke stood up as Kaitou declared him the winner. He closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths to regain his bearings. Sasuke then looked around and saw that his team and training partners were cheering for his victory, well, half of them, Chouji was digging into a bag chips he was holding, Shikamaru was sitting with his back against the wall trying to sleep, Shino was being a mystery as always and Hinata was keeping quiet. Kiba was cheering alongside Naruto, mostly because they train together when it comes to katon justu, might as well let him know he has support from his end. Ino herself could already cheer in place of her entire team, so he already knew about her support, not that he wanted it.

The medics took Dosu to the infirmary as Sasuke walked back up the steps.

Kaitou pushed the button again and the board went through names.

Akimichi Chouji vs Meimi

Chouji walked down the steps and toward Kaitou.

"Ahhhh, why do I have to fight a cute one?" Meimi whined as she walked down the steps. She stood directly in front of Chouji and before the match started, she winked at him.

This got Chouji to blush a bit, the girl in question was not unpleasant to look at, and the fact that she was showing interest in him was not helping at all.

Kaitou sighed as he thought to himself, 'I think we need to work on that.' He then looked at both of them and asked, "Are both of you ready?"

"Ah," Meimi said with a bit of excitement.

"H-hai," Chouji stuttered a bit.

"I am the law for these matches, whatever I say goes, I decide when the match starts, when it end and who is the victor," Kaitou told them. "Prelimary Match 10, Akimichi Chouji vs Meimi, hajime," Kaitou motioned for them to start.

When the match started, Meimi just ran up to Chouji and started cuddling with him, "How about after these matches we go out to eat? I found this wonderful barbeque place."

"I-I-I-I," was all Chouji could say as she was openly flirting with him.

Kaitou just groaned, 'Who the hell taught her that?' He looked around and noticed there were a few interested looks.

Kiba was saying, "Sweep her off her feet."

Shikamaru was looking slightly interested at this turn of events.

Ino was just gaping, she was trying for several years to get Sasuke's attention, and Chouji gets someone's attention without even trying.

Gaara was watching with raised eyebrows.

Kankuro was wondering why they weren't fighting.

It was then that Kaitou took note of someone giving an approving look, 'I should have known.'

Anko was smirking as she mentally cheered, 'Yeah, that's the way to get his guard down.'

Chouji just looked away for a bit when he felt that something was off, he then noticed out of the corner of his eye that a fist was coming straight toward him. Reacting quickly, Chouji caught the punch with his left hand. Chouji smirked as he said, "Very clever, but I won't be fooled a second time."

"Actually, I meant what I said about going out, you're my kind of guy," Meimi replied as she locked with the big genin hand in hand.

The two were in a deadlock, but Chouji seemed to be able to push Meimi back due to him being heavier. Meimi, not liking being beaten in this match gathered her chakra to her feet and held herself to the ground. Chouji saw that he wasn't getting anywhere now released the lock, knowing that they were too evenly matched in brute strength, he decided to see who did better with technique. He thrust a palm out at her. Meimi didn't seem surprised with what Chouji did and dodged the strike. Chouji, not about to let that frustrate him, struck out again.

During this demonstration of taijutsu, Gai looked at this spectacle with interest.

"What style is that? I've never seen anything like it," Gai wondered aloud. What surprised him was when he got an answer.

"It's an old style created long before even the great catastophe that destroyed the majority of the population of the planet," Kaitou said from behind Gai, surprising everyone with his appearance.

Everyone took a step away from him as he watched the match with his arms folded.

"Why are you up here? You're suppose to be judging the match," Gai said to him with an odd look.

"I can judge from nearly any position in this room, this just happens to be a decent position, besides, you wanted answers," Kaitou explained to the green clad jounin.

"Alright then, tell me," Gai said to the proctor.

"This fighting style was mostly used as a sport in the past, but was said to be initially used with Shinto rituals, it eventually grew in popularity and became a sport, especially in an area known as Nippon, I've been looking for said area during my travels, but have come up short with information, and to tell you right now, you are not suited for this style of fighting," Kaitou explained to Gai with a look right before he watched the match again.

"Now you certainly can't be saying that I cannot learn this style of fighting," Gai insinuated with a smirk.

Kaitou just sighed as he explained, "It's not about whether or not you can learn it, certainly fighting styles are dependant to the kind of build a person carries. This one was designed specifically for someone with an the type of build an Akimichi carries, which is why Chouji is learning to use said style of fighting."

"You speak as if you were the one teaching him," Gai said to him.

"I am," Kaitou said simply.

"Demo, the laws of conflict of interest," Gai said with an odd look.

"That law doesn't extend to exam proctoring unless the proctor in term is playing favorites and even if it did, it only specified through legal or blood relations. Besides I trained both sides of this match, so even if I did play favorites who would I play it for?" Kaitou told Gai once again, never taking his eyes away from the combatants.

"I see your point," Gai admitted.

"And anyway, when have I stopped the match when it wasn't called for?" Kaitou told the jounin with big eyebrows.

"I get it, I get it, you are a fair judge who has done nothing but remained neutral throughout this entire portion of the exam," Gai admitted to the blonde jounin.

"Glad to hear it," Kaitou said as he still kept his eyes on the match.

Chouji, on his part, still had difficulty hitting her, he got a few shots in, and when he did they certainly counted. Meimi was feeling every hit he made, and it was at this point that she decided to counter. Chouji threw his next attack and the brown-hair kunoichi hit his forearm, redireting the attack to upward, forcing the heavy-set genin off balance. Meimi then counter attacked by moving in and throwing several attacks at different vital areas. Meimi jumped back as Chouji remained standing.

"That was certainly a good demonstration," Chouji admitted to her. "And I think I'll take up your offer to go out to eat after these preliminaries if it still stands."

Meimi jumped with glee as she said, "YATTA."

Chouji just fell down, to which Meimi ran over and supported him as Kaitou appeared next to the two.

Kaitou checked Chouji's pulse and felt around to see what was hit, after this diagnostic, the medics moved in with a stretcher when Kaitou told them, "No need for any medical treatment, he just need rest." Kaitou then signaled Asuma to down here.

The Sarutobi did as such and listened to Kaitou's explanation. Asuma nodded and picked Chouji up and walked back into the stands.

"Winner by knockout, Meimi," Kaitou announced as he pulled out the remote and pushed the button to activate the board again.

Hanami vs Oboro

Nami shrugged and grabbed the railing, after this she pushed herself up and forced her body upside down, she then performed a complete split. Nami then bent her arms and pushed herself off of the railing and towards the main floor, did several flips before landing with complete grace, shocking nearly everyone at the demonstration.

"Was that really necessary?" Kaitou asked her with annoyance in his voice.

"You said I needed to occupy my time with more constructive means," Nami replied with a smirk.

"But that doesn't mean you need to show off in front of everyone," Kaitou told her. "Speaking of which, the moment I start the match to the moment it ends, the reason for occupying your time will be allowed."

"Really, Oh thank you, Sensei," she said as she rushed and hugged him.

"Enough of that, people are staring, and I already have enough problems with suggestive situations without you adding to them," Kaitou told her as he pulled her off.

And sure enough, they were getting quite a few wierd looks, some of the ones that weren't included to this group were Gai, Lee, Hiruzen, Anko, the rookie nine as well as their senseis and the sensei to the remaining Oto genin.

'He's going to have a lot more trouble if these circumstances keep happening to him,' Hiruzen thought with a chuckle.

"YOSH, THE FIRES OF YOUTH ARE ALIVE WITHIN THOSE TWO," Gai shouted with as much enthusiasm as he could.

"ESPECIALLY WITH THAT DEMONSTRATION OF ABILITY," Lee added to his sensei's comment.

"Lee you are correct in that," Gai commended his student.

"Sensei," Lee said with tears in his eyes.

"Lee," Gai said, also teary.

"Enough, we need to get to the match," Hiruzen interrupted before things got out of hand. And with what happens with those two, you can almost guarantee that it would happen.

"Thank you, Hiruzen," Kaitou said as Oboro finally made it to the starting point.

This was the same Ame genin that attempted to fool Sasuke and Sakura on the first day of the second part of the exam.

The only thing going through Sasuke's head was, 'Let's see his strength.'

Kaitou made his rule specification before saying, "Preliminary Match 11, Hanami vs Oboro, hajime."

Nami reached into her weapons pouched and pulled out several glass orbs with a clear liquid within all of them. She then started throwing the orbs at the Ame genin, who simply kept moving around. The orbs broke on impact with hard floors, scattering the liquid, some of the liquid covering the Oboro.

"If that's all you've got then you'd better give up now," Oboro replied with a cocky attitude.

"Hardly," Nami said as she started pulling more orbs out and throwing them everywhere that wasn't in the stands, the results were that the floors and some of the walls save for a small area, the area that Nami was currently standing, were covered in the liquid.

"What is that stuff? Because it sure as hell isn't water, there is scent isn't right," Kiba commented to no one in general.

"I have a theory, but I can't be sure," Asuma replied as he watched intently.

Oboro just scoffed as he rushed at her, "Like doing that is going to help you."

Nami just smirked as she punched the Ame genin back. "Just because I threw stuff, doesn't mean I can't use taijutsu well."

Oboro replied, "A good warning, but you didn't capitalize and that will cost you." He then went through a few sets of handseals and seemingly melted into the floor. Then several of the Ame genin started moving forward and attacking her.

Nami just smirked and pulled out a lighter, "You're already within my trap, the saying is out of the frying pan and into the fire, give up or you'll get burned."

"I'm not fooled by you," Oboro said as he threw a kunai at her.

Nami shrugged slightly as she moved her body and the kunai missed her. "Suit yourself," she said as she opened the lighter and lit it in one motion, she then tossed the object into the liquid and it immediately caught fire.

The flames spread rapidly, to all areas covered in the liquid, and after a few seconds they could here a screaming occur as the genjutsu dispelled and everyone saw the Ame genin running around, covered in flames. Oboro was too busy running around that he didn't know where he was running, and the next thing he knew, he felt a pain in his cheek as he slid across and hit his head on the wall. At this point in time, the flames on the floor had died down and the only this left on fire was Oboro, which was quickly remedied with a bucket of water, courtesy of Kaitou.

The proctor snapped his fingers a few times and confirmed that the Ame genin was unconscious. Kaitou called the medics out to get them to check for any burns before he called out, "Winner by knockout, Hanami."

Nami walked up the steps to the stands and was confronted by Kiba

The feral looking genin asked, "What was in those orbs because that didn't smell like gasoline?"

"That's because it wasn't, it was lighter fluid," Nami replied to him.

"You carry glass orbs filled with lighter fluid?" Kiba asked rhetorically.

"I just demonstrated how useful they can be," Nami told him.

"Can't argue with you there," Kiba said as the maroon-haired girl walked past him.

The next match was up on the board.

Sabaku no Kankuro vs Rika

Kankuro jumped down and said, "Finally I get my shot."

Rika walked down the steps patiently.

When Rika made it to her position Kaitou explained the rules. He looked to both of them and asked, "Are you both ready?"

"Hai," Rika answered.

"I've been ready since I first walked into the room," Kankuro replied to Kaitou. "Just get this over with."

"Alright then," Kaitou said as he held his arms up. "Preliminary Match 12, Sabaku no Kankuro vs Rika," he dropped his arms, "hajime."

Rika looked at Kankuro warily as the Suna genin put the package he was carrying down. He was waiting for Rika to make a move. Rika was still eying Kankuro carefully.

"You're cautious around unknown opponents, I like and respect that, but, since we're not going to get anywhere by just looking at one another, I might as well start this off," Kankuro said as he picked his package up and ran towards Rika and punched at her with his left hand.

Rika eyed her opponent carefully as she countered by pushing a few pressure points in his arm, to which the arm fell down, useless at this point in time. Not deterred by this turn of events, Kankuro struck with his right, only for the same thing to happen. When Rika finished with this she struck several of the pressure points in his legs, making him fall down. Rika then did a hard kick to his head, knocking him out. Rika turned around and was walking towards the stand when she felt someone grab her from behind.

"Impossible, I paralyzed both arms and legs and hit your head with enough force to knock you unconscious," Rika said aloud.

"As impossible as it seems, remember the greatest weapon a shinobi carries, say hello to Karasu," Kankuro said as two other arms shot out of his sides and wrapped around her while his face started to crack, revealing something that was definitely not Kankuro. This object had three eyes, two legs, six arms and an a mouth like a ventriloquist dummy. The bandages around the previous package that the object was carrying unwrapped to reveal the real Kankuro.

"Deception, you've been posing your puppet as yourself the entire time, knowing that they would think it's you and attack it first, before you get a chance to use it, and that's also why you said you were ready when you walked into the room," Rika said as she struggled with the arms wrapping around her, constricting even tighter.

"This match is over, Winner, Sabaku no Kankuro," Kaitou said to the combatants. "Release her from your puppet, you have already been declared the victor, and if you don't not only will I release her myself, you will be removed, from this exam as well, and she will become the winner by default," the proctor warned Kankuro as the genin had a defiant look in his eyes.

"Tch," Kankuro said with a wave and moved his fingers to release Rika from the grasps of Karasu.

Rika started rubbing her limbs to ensure that her blood was still circulating properly. Rika then looked at Kankuro, bowed and said, "I accept my loss, you were able to beat me through strategy and deception, which are some of a shinobi's greatest weapons."

"I think I got lucky with my opponent, there aren't that many who would accept a loss that easily," Kankuro commented with a suprised look.

"Regardless of luck or any other circumstances, you are the winner, now both of you go back into the stand so we can have the next match," Kaitou said as he pushed the button for the next combatants.

Tsuchi Kin vs Kagura

"Alright, next combatants, down here now," Kaitou ordered them.

Kin jumped from the stands. As the only one of her team still in the exam a lot was riding on her victory, so this put a heavy amount of pressure on her shoulders. That being said, she was still able to keep her mind calm at the moment.

Kagura also jumped down, excited to finally be able to fight.

The blond stuck out her hand as she said, "May the best kunoichi win."

Kin, although confused with Kagura's gestures, took her and and shook it, "I agree."

Kaitou looked between the two of them and asked, "Are you both ready?"

"Osu," Kagura said.

"Hai," was Kin's reply.

Kaitou explained the rules to them and then said, "Preliminary Match 13, Tsuchi Kin vs Kagura, hajime." Kaitou made the gestures to start the fight.

Kin started with throwing a few sendon with some bells attached on them. Kagura dodged, the projectiles and stood her ground, wondering what the Oto genin was about to do next. Kin threw another sendon with a bell on it. Kagura was wondering why she attaches bells to her sendon, that just makes it easier to dodge. Kagura listened for the bell, when she heard it, she dodged accordingly, only to get hit by another.

"What the hell, I'm sure I dodged," Kagura said before she started looking around. It was then that she noticed a wire being held by the Oto genin, she looked back and noticed that the wire was attached to the bell of the initial sendon she threw. Kagura smirked as she applauded her opponent, "I gotta give you props for originality, you divert their attention by the bell, making the opponent think that they've dodged, only to throw your sendon to where they dodged. But I'm not going to fall for that trick again."

Kin smirked as she just pulled the wire again and again while throwing more sendon.

This confused a few of the spectators given that her strategy wasn't going to work now, why did she still keep ringing the bell.

Kagura continued this for a few seconds until her balance started to become harder to maintain, then her vision started to get blurry. It was then that she saw Kin smirking at the situation.

Kin started speaking as she approached Kagura, "It looks like you've been caught in my genjutsu, it's too bad you didn't attack up front, I certainly wouldn't have been able to defend myself." Kin pulled a kunai out as she kept the wire tight enough to keep ringing her bells. She reached Kagura and held the kunai to her throat, "While under my genjutsu, your senses and balance are impaired and you don't have the necessary capabilities to avoid my killing you, give up."

"That won't be necessary, because this match is over with a clear victor, congratulations Tsuchi Kin, you will be advancing," Kaitou said to the Oto shinobi. "Now, before anything else, release your opponent from the genjutsu," he ordered her.

Not wanting to push her luck, she did as she was told and cut the chakra she was feeding into the bells while pulling the wire she was holding and pulled her sendon out of the wall. The bell rang for a bit before she caught the sendon. She put both the sendon and the bells back into her pouch as she walked back up to the stands and to her sensei.

Kaitou watched her leaving until she reached the Oto jounin sensei. Kaitou then eyed the man for a bit and gave him a look that said, 'I dare you to try something.'

The jounin just looked at Kaitou and then smirked.

Kaitou pulled the remote out as Kagura walked back into the stands after watching the interaction between the two jounin.

Everyone else was wondering what was up with Kaitou's staring at the Oto jounin as well.

The screen stopped on the next names.

Mubi vs Yamanaka Ino

Ino jumped down and landed with little effort, she then walked to her position.

The last of the Ame genin jumped down, although he wasn't sure what to expect. He though to himself about what his only visible eye observed, 'The girl doesn't seem like much, but neither did the other two his team mates fought and look how they turned out. Best to play this safe when the match starts.'

"Are both genin ready?" Kaitou asked the two.

"Hai," Mubi replied.

"Yosha, sensei," Ino stated with excitement.

'Sensei?' was what was going through the heads of quite a few jounin and genin.

"Stop staring, I won't do a trick anyway," Kaitou said, a tad annoyed with Ino revealing that he was teaching her something.

This got quite a few odd expressions with his comment.

Kaitou was about to explain the rules when he fell down.

Hiruzen was hoping it wasn't that again, but him as well as Sasuke, Kakashi, Gai and Asuma thought that this was the most likely case. The Hokage jumped down and walked over to Kaitou, he flipped him over and checked his breathing. The aged Sarutobi sweat dropped as he spoke out, "He fell asleep."

"HE FELL ASLEEP!" was the majority of the replies, it mostly came from the genin, and a few jounin. Even Hinata couldn't help but give the Hokage an odd look.

"Unfortunately that is the case, Kaitou-san has a special kind of narcolepsy, and it's very difficult to wake him up when this happens, so, without further ado, Hayate," Hiruzen called out and the sickly looking jounin that greeted team 7 and team Gai appeared in front of the Hokage. "Since our current proctor of the preliminaries is incapacitated, and therefore unable to perform his duties at the moment, this jounin will be taking up the duties until the proctor wakes up," Hiruzen explained to them as he jumped back up into the stands.

"Konnichiwa, minna, I am Gekkou Hayate, and I," he stopped as he started to cough heavily.

Only one thing was going through the heads of team 7 and team Gai, 'Does he always appear this sickly and cough that much?'

When Hayate stopped coughing he said, "Gomen, as I was saying, I will be standing in Kaitou-san's place for the duration of these preliminaries or until he wakes up. Anyway, are both combatants still ready?"

"A little surprised by this turn of events, but I'm good," Ino replied with a shrug.

"Hai," the Ame genin replied.

"I will now go through the rules, what I say goes, I decide when the match begins, when it ends and who is the victor," Hayate explained to them. "I agree with Kaitou-san's philosophy, just because it was explained prior doesn't mean you were paying attention, this gives you fair warning," the sickly jounin said as he looked between the two. "Chuunin Selection Exam Preliminary Match 14, Mubi vs Yamanaka Ino, hajime."

"What about sensei?" Ino asked aloud.

The unanimous replies from those who did reply were, "He'll be fine."

Ino, although reluctant to continue, given the circumstances, started fighting, only to see that there were two of the Ame genin. "What happened?"

"I made a mizu bunshin while your were distracted, the bucket of water used to douse my team mate earlier certainly helped," Mubi replied to her.

"Well if you're going to do that, then I might as well show what I can do," Ino said as she rushed forward with a fist to the face of the Ame genin.

The genin didn't see it coming as Ino knocked him straight on his back.

"Where the hell did that come from?" Neji demanded as he saw that her speed might even top his own.

"Team 10, under Sarutobi Asuma has its own strengths and weaknesses, Ino's strength just happens to be her speed, she's the fastest member of the team," Shikamaru explained to the Hyuuga. "The main reason why Ino is able to keep us working, because otherwise we're more likely to get struck several times, and she's done it before, if I hadn't already figured out how she initially strikes first, I'd probably be covered in bruises more often."

"But to be fair, Shikamaru, your comments don't exactly scream that you want her to be nice to you," Chouji replied before he dug into the bag of chips he was holding. The Akimichi has woke up shortly before Kaitou fell asleep, meaning he was also aware of his condition, but just because they knew of it didn't mean they knew what triggered it.

"But then, if that was the case, you could have easily overpowered me in the forest," Neji replied with an odd look.

"It was too mendokuse, you were more likely to have passed so therefore, why bother showing what we could do, better to face a team that had a more likely chance to fail," Shikamaru shrugged as he watched the match with mild interest. "Although Ino has the advantage at the moment, if she doesn't stop screwing around, she's going to put herself in a bad situation. The previous matches with the other Ame genin were won through out thinking, not sheer skill."

Neji couldn't help but agree with what the Nara was saying.

The fight seemed one-sided given that Ino had the clear advantage due to her speed. But that didn't mean that the Ame genin was a pushover. He was able to keep his visible eye sharp, and therefore, able to ensure that minimal damage occurred when she struck. He might not seem like much, but this guy was most likely the most calm out of his team. He made a few more mizu bunshin and sent them after his opponent. Ino dispatched a few of the bunshins pretty easily while some of them got a few lucky shots. Deciding to stop playing around, Ino moved her fingers and thumbs in a box formation and aimed it at the one holding the seals to make the bunshin.

"Shokka-Shintenshin no jutsu," Ino said as she fired the technique at Mubi and fell over.

"Heh, what a useless..." but he didn't get a chance to finish as his body was completely taken over.

Ino thought to the genin, 'Before you start counting someone out, you need to at least understand what the jutsu they use does, in this case, it transfers my mind to whoever I target and allows me to control them until I dispell the technique.'

'But what does that mean for my bunshin?' Mubi questioned. 'They already know that my chakra has changed, meaning they know it's not me, they'll most likely attack me to get to you.'

'The I guess I'll just have to take them out,' Ino said in her thoughts as she started attacking bunshin after bunshin.

The bunshins started to retaliate, and one of them managed to get one solid strike on her, this was hard enough to send Ino back to her body.

As Mubi started to regain awareness and control of his body, he attempted to move his arm, when his leg started moving instead. He then tried to move his body to position him to look up when his toes started moving.

"I bet you're wondering what happened," Ino said with a smirk as she had a hand on her hip. "Shintenshin no jutsu normally transfers the user's mind, this is a different version where when the user, namely me, dispells the jutsu or is forcefully removed from the victim's body, the electric pulses in the victim's nervous system that sends the messages that would normally make a person do specific actions are scrambled, therefore, what you usually would use to move your hand, could make you move your knee move, the only this about this is that it doesn't affect from the neck up, so you're still able speak, smell, and whatnot, my technique may screw with your nervous system, which is only temporary, but your basic living necessities are still active."

"Interesting move," Mubi said as he started molding his chakra. "Although I may not be able to move at the moment, I can still transfer chakra to my remaining bunshins, and since they are essentially me, only less powerful, they still have my capabilities, like, let's say, genjutsu," And with that him and his bunshins all melted into the floor.

Ino, although annoyed with this, was not going to let it get to her. She closed her eyes and tried to stop her flow of chakra and restart it to stop the genjutsu. This didn't work as a kunai cut her, causing her to lose concentration. Ino then decided to concentrate and keep herself calm. She closed her eyes and tried to sense the movement in the surrounding. With a flick of the wrist, she sent a kunai in one direction. After hearing a splash, she knew she had hit one of the bunshin. 'Alright, eight more.' And with that she kept herself calm, she threw a shuriken this time and hit another. She felt herself being approached from the rear, and she spun around and slashed another two. This action went for another ten minutes until it was only Ino, Mubi and one last bunshin. Ino focused a bit and noticed that she was being approached from behind again, but this time she was also being approached from the front. Ino thought to herself, 'One last kunai gotta make this count.' She then spun and slashed the one behind her, and then three her kunai at the one in front of her, both turned to water, which was cause for alarm. She was then tackled from behind and pinned to the floor with her arms behind her back and a kunai to her throat.

"And this is what I meant," Shikamaru commented as he watched the end of the match.

"My jutsu usually lasts for at least twenty more minutes, how are you able to move?" Ino asked him.

"You were probably fighting against someone who is around your size, I'm one third taller than you, so that cut it down," Mubi said to her.

"But that should still leave ten minutes," Ino retorted.

"I cut that in half by facing lightning chakra with water chakra, lightning and water as opposing elements, cannot beat one another, so they cancel each other out, I figured I might as well try it, I had nothing to lose and everything to gain, and in my recovered stated with two more bunshin all I had to do was wait until you were busy to pin you," Mubi explained to her. "You certainly will make chuunin in future exams, just not this one at the moment."

"I couldn't agree more," Kaitou said, revealing himself to be awake. "Sorry about earlier, my nacoleptic problem isn't something I can control, anyway, the match is over, Mubi is the winner through incapacitation and possible death."

Mubi let go of the kunai and pushed himself off of the kunoichi, what he did next surprised everyone, he grabbed Ino's arm and pulled her to her feet. Mubi explained himself, "I am simply showing my respect to a kunoichi who will make herself into a great shinobi one day." And with that declaration he moved back up to the stands.

Ino did the same.

"I'm not going to push the button, the only two who haven't fought, get your asses down here," Kaitou ordered with heavy authority.

Kiba jumped down, finally getting his chance in action.

Neji just walked calmly as he made it to his position across the Inuzuka.

"Are both fighters ready?" Kaitou asked them.

"Hai," Neji said as he activated his byakugan and got into his juuken stance.

"Hell yeah," Was all Kiba said as he put his hands in the tora seal and got onto all fours. "Gijyuu Ninpou, Shikyaku no jutsu."

"Before you attempt to take each others' heads off, know that what I say goes, I decide when the match begins, when it ends and who is the victor," Kaitou explained to the genin. "Chunnin Selection Exam Preliminary Final Match, Inuzuka Kiba vs Hyuuga Neji, hajime," Kaitou made the final gesture to start the match.

"Before we start, I should inform you that you can't beat me," Neji said with his arrogant smirk.

"And I think you should know, I already know how slim the chances of beating you are, that doesn't mean that's it's impossible and that I can't try, besides, if I can't beat you, I can at least make you expose all of your abilities, which I know quite a few of them anyway, courtesy of your cousin," Kiba replied with his own smirk.

"I feel only slightly insulted given her demonstration on that Suna genin, but there is still no real comparison. Someone like you, who's marks could be compared to a dropout could never beat a genius like me," Neji replied to him.

Kiba started chuckling, "If only my elemental training sensei could hear you, he would most likely kick your ass. He was considered a dropout in the academy, and you would be surprised at who he turned out to be. And don't worry, I won't using any elemental chakra, I'm still more likely to hurt myself before I get my opponent so I'm keeping myself from using that until I have complete control."

"You speak as if your sensei is powerful, perhaps I should meet him and judge for myself," Neji said to him.

"Beat me, and I'll be more than happy to let you meet him, you'll have to ask my training partners though, and I mean all of them," Kiba replied with a smirk as he prepared to attack.

Neji jumped back as he saw Kiba's position. He decided to make as much distance between them as possible as he kept his byakugan active. 'I'll need to time this right, from what I've read of the Inuzuka clan, their speak is nothing to scoff at.' He then saw that Kiba was rushing forward. Neji positioned himself with his back to the wall. Just as Kiba was about to strike, Neji stepped out of the way and Kiba ran face first into the wall. Not one to miss an opportunity like this, he simply struck once behind Kiba's neck, rendering him unconscious.

"Second fastest match in these preliminaries, and certainly anticlimactic," Kaitou said to no one in particular. "With Neji as the winner, this ends the Preliminaries of the Chuunin Selection exams, someone take the young Inuzuka to the infirmary, and check to make sure his nose isn't broken," Kaitou ordered the medics.

The proctor centered himself in the center of the room and said, "Alright, minna, all who won their fight, front and center, as for the rest, you can just watch for all I care."

When all the winners of the match were lined up, Kaitou turned to the Hokage and said, "Alright, Hiruzen, you've got the floor."

The Hokage stepped forward as he spoke to the genin, "I'd like to congratulate all finalists for making it this far in the exam. Now we need to take your names for the next portion."

"I will call out each of your names in the order in which you have fought," Kaitou explained to them. "Hayate, the replacement in case of one of my narcoleptic relapses will be writing each name and the number you drew from this box on the board behind me," he indicated the box in front of him. He then indicated the board behind him which had a cloth over the majority of it save for a small space, which had parallel lines over it, just out from below the cloth.

"Rock Lee," Kaitou said.

Lee stepped forward and reached into the box, he reached around the box and felt something long and scaly. He then repositioned is so he would pick up the end of what he was holding and pulled up the head of a python. "Is this suppose to be some form of sorting snake?" Lee asked, confused.

"Sorting snake?" Kaitou looked and saw Lee pulling the python out of the box. Alarmed, he grabbed Lee's hand and got him to let go, dropping the snake back into the box. Kaitou turned to the Hokage and said, "Who picked up the box, because they got the wrong one."

This got quite a few sweatdrops from the Hokage as Hiruzen, "Kaitou, I think that was you."

Kaitou gaped, causing sweardrops from everyone else.

In a puff of smoke, Jiraiya appeared in front of the group while holding a box similar to the one with the snake in it and said, "Kaitou, I think we got our boxes mixed up."

Kaitou looked a Jiraiya with an odd expression.

"What's with the look?" the sannin asked.

"What exactly are you going to do with that snake?" Kaitou asked.

Then a lecherous grin appeared as Jiraiya was about to answer when he was interrupted.

"Nevermind, I don't want to know, besides, you already corrupt the minds of jounin, Daimyo and kage alike, best to keep chuunin hopefuls out of that mix for now," Kaitou said to the sannin. "Now get your ass out of here before people start asking for your name."

"Like people don't want to know me," Jiraiya said with a confident smirk.

"It's not that they don't want to know you, it's that they wish they'd never met you after a while, now beat it," Kaitou told the sannin.

Jiraiya was mumbling something along the lines of ungrateful gaki as he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

The genin that had no experience with the interaction with the two sweat dropped. Most of the jounin did as well.

"Now that we have that out of the way and we have the right box, Rock-san, if you will," Kaitou said to Lee.

Lee nodded and reached into the box and pulled out a a piece of paper.

"Now open the paper and tell me the number on it," Kaitou instructed to him.

Lee nodded, opened the paper and said, "Seven."

Kaitou wrote that down as Hayate wrote it down on a board that was behind him.

"Momochi Haku," Kaitou said.

Haku walked forward, stuck his hand in the box, pulled the piece of paper out and said, "Ten."

Kaitou wrote that one down as well, Hayate followed suit.

This went on for a few minutes until everyone received and told their numbers.

"Now we will show you why you drew these numbers," Kaitou explained to them as the cloth that was covering the board was removed.

The line up was as such.

Match 1: Uzumaki Naruto vs Hyuuga Neji

Match 2: Uchiha Sasuke vs Hanami

Match 3: Meimi vs Tsuchi Kin

Match 4: Rock Lee vs Hyuuga Hinata

Match 5: Sabaku no Gaara vs Momochi Haku

Match 6: Sabaku no Kankuro vs Aburame Shino

Match 7: Haruno Sakura vs Mubi

Kaitou told them specifically, "Since the Nara drew fifteen, he gets the benefit of numbering, he would have to fight one match less than his final opponent should he be make it to the final round. That being said, the next portion of the exam will not be held immediately. Hiruzen will explain the details."

The Hokage stepped forward and spoke to them, "As you all know, the next portion will not be held immediately, it will be held in one month, this will allow everyone to rest, recuperate, train and strategize yourself as you prepare for your upcoming opponents. Does anyone here know the true meaning for this exam?"

"I heard that it was a replacement for war," Meimi said to him.

"Among other reasons, that is true, but another reason for this is to establish possible clients in the future, each village sends their best genin to the exam to show off their strength, skill, knowledge and abilities, in a way, these exams are to show who has the best shinobi and therefore would be the best village to pick for missions, it also acts a deterent to ensure that other villages don't get the idea to attack them, in a way, we flex our muscles to intimidate, many Daimyo and whatnot are going to be watching the exams next month, and don't have the time they would like, which is why we needed to cut down the numbers by at least half. Now another bit of information is that you will be judged by not only the proctor, but other chuunin and jounin as well as myself for your performance and not whether or not you win," Hiruzen told them.

"So it's possible that all of us could make chuunin?" Nami asked.

"Yes, but it's also possible that none of you will make it as well, so when you fight, pull out all the stops and show that you have what it takes to move up to the next rank," Hiruzen told them. "And, with that, you are all dismissed for the next month to do whatever is necessary to prepare."

And with that all the jounin save for Kaitou left, and the only reason Kaitou was still there was because he fell asleep again.

This caused all of the genin to sweat drop.

---

End of Chapter...

Omake...

Kaitou and Sasuke walked out of the room, looking a tad better than they seemd to be before. As they left, they didn't notice that they were being watched.

The observer took note that they were in the room for three hours, Sasuke's hair was slightly tousled and his shirt was a tad messy as well, Kaitou himself didn't seem to have any difference save for a more relieved look on his face, strangely enough, Sasuke had a similar look.

The observer then walked into the room and noticed several wrappers on the floor as well as what looked like blood, and there was a distinct marking near the door, and a slight bit of chakra, indicating that something was used recently. The only thing going through the guy's head was, 'What went on in here?'

He then thought to himself, 'Okay, they went in around three hours ago, I couldn't hear anything, indicating a sound barrier of sorts, there was a sudden amount of chakra released, they both walked out with more relieved looks on their faces, the Uchiha's clothes and hair were slightly messy, and there was this mess when they walked out, with some traces of blood on the floor.'

It took him a bit to draw his conclusion but when he did he yelled in his head, 'WHAT THE HELL WENT ON IN HERE?'

Translation:

Tsukigan - Moon Eyes, a little nickname that Naruto gave Neji because of how white hie eyes are.

Jutsu:

Rinji Tougoku Fuuin - Temporary Imprisonment Seal: This seal is specified to keep something in check for a bit until a proper seal master can be found and can use this seal as a base to finish the sealing completely.

Shokka-Shintenshin no Jutsu - Shocker Mind Transfer Technique - A little something Ino came up with during her training with lightning chakra. She thought, having her abilities to use the Shintenshin might do well, but since their both pretty dazed when she dispells the jutsu, she wanted to make add a little something more that would keep the target preoccupied while she was fully recovered.

I know, the Omake seemed kind of sick to the person who drew the conclusion, but I thought to myself what exactly would someone think if they saw everything that had happened. I honestly find it funny myself, especially if that isn't what happened. Besides, with this and a few more misunderstood scenes, Kaitou will be seen in a way that most already see his sensei, which will probably get them to think that that's where he got it from.