Ok here it is. SO SORRY for the long wait. Like I said in the author's note I might be taking longer to post chapters. Not only do I STILL have the previous issues to deal with, but shcool is starting up again next week. I hope all you wonderful readers haven't lost hope. As sort of an apology, I made this chapter longer. This is pretty much the end of the Chunin exams. I skipped most of the final matches because we all already know what happens and if we don't it isn't hard to look up the episodes so sorry if you wanted me to write that part. Anyways...CHAPTER 7!

Sauske still hadn't arrived. His match was supposed to happen earlier but he never showed up. The Hokage had decided to postpone his match since it was the fight everyone was here to see. But all of the other matches were finished now. Naruto, to my great delight, defeated Neji, Gaara's brother Kankuro, forfeited his match and Shikamaru…fought really well. There were no more matches and no way to entertain the crowd. If Sauske didn't get here in time, Gaara would win by default.

The proctor was waiting in the middle of the arena gazing at his watch, counting the seconds. Just when Sauske was about to be disqualified, a whirlwind of leaves billowed up in the center of the arena. When it settled, Sauske was standing there next to Kakashi. I rolled my eyes.

"Was the fancy entrance necessary?"

Sakura who was sitting behind me in the stands just bowed her head and sighed.

"At least he made it in time."

It was the fight everyone had been waiting for.

Near the end of Sauske and Gaara's battle

Did he get him? Sauske had used Chidori to try to break through the ball of sand Gaara had cocooned himself in. The entire audience was waiting for some kind of reaction; something to tell them whether or not Chidori had worked. It wasn't long before they got their answer.

Gaara cried out from inside the ball. He was wounded, screaming at the sight of his own blood. Sauske's arm appeared to be stuck inside the ball and he had to use Chidori again to break free. But his arm wasn't the only thing that came out. Some kind of monstrous appendage was latched on to him. He jumped away, breaking the creature's grip and the arm slipped back into the ball of sand. For a moment, nothing happened, then the ball slowly began to crack, falling away to reveal Gaara. His shoulder was bleeding and he had a crazed look in his eyes.

As I watched, a feather drifted into my field of vision. I glanced up to see millions of these feathers cascading down around the entire audience. A weird sensation in the back of my mind immediately alerted me to the fact that someone was using a Genjutsu. I began to feel drowsy and released myself from the jutsu's hold before I fell asleep. All around me people's heads were rolling back, bodies slumping forward, eyes closing. Some of the more experienced ninja had already released the Genjutsu and were searching for the ones who had cast it. Someone tapped me on the shoulder and I turned to face Sakura, still seated behind me.

"Kasami, everyone's falling asleep, what should we…"

Before she finished her question, several of the audience members suddenly sprang to life, attacking the leaf ninja that had managed to break free of the Genjutsu. I pushed Sakura's head down as two ninja, sound ninja, jumped over us, heading toward Kakashi and Guy. They were no match for the Copy Cat Ninja or Konoha's Blue Beast and were taken down easily. I got Kakashi's attention and he stepped closer, not looking directly at me.

"Sakura, just stay down for now, it will be easier that way. Kasami, you may have been barred from graduating from the academy but you and I both know that you have more talent than they give you credit for. Why don't you use some of that talent now."

With that he took off, engaging two more sound ninja. Sakura sighed quietly. I knew that Kakashi was keeping her out of the fight because he thought she would be a liability.

"I really am useless aren't I?" Her words were quiet, almost inaudible. I place a hand on her shoulder.

"Not useless. You just need the right teacher."

Before she could reply I disappeared into the light. All around the arena there were battles going on and something was happening up where the Hokage had been sitting. I didn't pay any mind to that though; the Anbu members could handle things up there. I headed toward the closest battle, pulling needles out of the pouch on my leg. Naomi had mostly taught me stealth jutsu but, like the Dragon's Dance, I knew some jutsu for offense.

Staying back a ways, I tossed a few of the needles toward the closest sound ninja, aiming for key points in their body where I would get the best connection to their nervous system. As the needles pierced his skin, I began weaving the necessary hand signs. Strings of chakra shot out from my fingertips, connecting with the tiny sections of the needles still outside the target's body. I began sending electrical signals down those strings, disrupting his nervous system and basically turning him into my puppet.

One benefit of this jutsu was that I could fight opponents without putting myself in too much danger. The other benefit is that my needles also connected me to my target's Chakra Circulatory System allowing me to draw on their chakra and use it for my own techniques. I had been hoping that, once I mastered it, this jutsu would convince the teachers at the academy to let me graduate and become a true ninja.

I began using my new puppet to attack other sound ninja. Keeping up this jutsu along with the invisible light jutsu would drain my chakra quickly so I released the latter and hid in some of the bushes on the arena floor. I then used my Dragon's Dance jutsu and set the twin lightning dragons loose to take out as many enemies as they could.

Gaara and Sauske were still focused on each other but Gaara didn't seem to be doing well. His sand dome had collapsed and he was on his knees, clutching his shoulder. Sauske was about to attack him again when Temari and Kankuro jumped down and stood in his way. Kankuro grabbed Gaara while Temari used her fan to send a gust of wind toward Sauske, distracting him long enough for all three to jump over the stadium wall and disappear into the forest beyond. Sauske cursed when the wind stopped and quickly pursued them.

I longed to follow; to find Gaara and see if he was alright. I also wanted to kill him, for aiding in the plot to destroy my home. But I didn't have time to worry about what I wanted. I had a battle to focus on. When I had pretty much depleted my first puppet's chakra, I switched to a new target, fighting with him and using his chakra to fuel the twin dragons.

Suddenly, I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand at attention and I tensed, listening for whatever had caused the sensation. When I heard nothing, I used my own chakra to release a field of electricity around me. Not enough to injure anything that touched it, but enough to allow me to feel anything inside of it. At first there was nothing, but I leapt to the side as four objects, kunai, flew toward be, sticking into the ground where I had been only a moment ago.

I sent one last charge of electricity down my chakra stings to scramble my current puppet's nervous system; making it impossible for him to control his own body, then released the strings to focus on my attacker. She was small, but with a solid build; not someone I would want to get a hold of me. She sneered.

"Look what we have here; a little mouse hiding in the bushes to afraid to fight out in the open."

I backed up to get as much distance between us as possible but she wasn't having that. She followed, taking two steps forward for every step I took back.

"Where are you going? Let's play for a while, ok?"

She darted forward, pulling out a knife and making a swipe at my neck. I jumped back and ducked, narrowly avoiding the kick that follows. Crouched by her other leg, I attempted to sweep it out from under her, but she did a graceful backhand spring, landing and pulling out another kunai. The space she has put between us gave me time to pull another needle out of my bag. It wasn't safe for me to stay in close combat for long. If I could scramble her nervous system like I did with the other ninja that would give me time to get away from her.

She charged again and I dodged around her, trying to shove the needle the back of her neck. But all of her punches and kicks made it difficult. She finally got tired of this game and jumped away from me again; pulling out two bells, like the ones that female sound ninja used in the preliminary matches.

"It's more fun when I can actually cut my opponent," she sighed, "Oh well, I guess I can just immobilize you first." She laughed and took one bell in each hand then flew through a series of hand signs. When she finished, she shook the bells, making them chime lightly.

The world around me stopped and faded into white light. I covered my ears but the sound was already trapped in my head, the ringing getting louder and louder until it dulled all of my other senses. I wasn't sure which way was up. It felt as though I was standing, lying down and hanging from my feet all at the same time. I couldn't see the sound ninja anymore. But I could hear her laughter over the bells. Laughter at my helplessness. I tried to move my arms but they were heavy, sluggish, and they wouldn't obey me. The rest of my body was the same.

Fear gripped my heart as I imagined what my enemy would do to me. Nothing had happened yet, but I was sure that it would be something horrible. She appeared next to me, her position making it seem like I was lying on my back. She gently ran a finger down the side of my face.

"You know, I've always wondered what my victims see when I use this jutsu. What they hear; how they feel. The only thing I do know is how frightened they are. I love it; the look of pure terror in their eyes. You have that look too."

She paused, just watching me for a moment before continuing.

"I'm going to kill you. It'll be quick for me, but for you it'll seem to take forever. I love that too; imagining how much pain you are feeling. It's a shame it's over so quickly. But there are others that I have to kill, so what do you say we get things started."

She pulled out another knife and pressed the tip to my arm. I winced as it broke the skin but she didn't stop there. She pushed the knife deeper and I had to bite back a scream. When she was deep enough, she began to drag the knife, opening up a large gash in my arm. I did scream then. I had seen ninja with worse injuries but this kind of pain was new to me. Fear had banished some of the numbness I had felt but I still couldn't move at all. The pain was excruciating, far more so than I would have thought for just the one cut. I put that out of my mind and tried to focus on regaining movement in my arms and legs.

I could feel my right hand, the one that had been holding the needle, but the tiny stick of metal was missing. Had I dropped it? I examined the Sound ninja closely and sure enough, the needle was sticking into her shoulder. I hadn't even realized I had gotten it into her. It's location wouldn't connect me to her nervous system very well but that didn't matter right now. I still couldn't move my arms so I tried to form a chakra strand like before. It was hard concentrating; the woman was now carving a second gash into my arm; but I pushed forward, weaving the thread bit my bit. When it was long enough, I attached it to the tip of the needle. I didn't have much chakra left but I gathered it up when a shuriken flew past the sound ninja's face and landed next to my head.

She let out a furious shriek, whipping around to face whoever dared to keep her from her fun. In her distraction, the Genjutsu was broken. My surroundings came crashing back down around me; as did the truth of my condition. There were deep cuts down both my arms and one of my legs as well as shallow ones on my face. I began screaming again as pain surged through me. I was vaguely aware that whoever had thrown the shuriken hadn't actually come down to fight the sound ninja. She turned her attention back to me, realizing that her jutsu was no longer effecting me.

"Fine, I'll just kill you."

She raised her knife above her head, preparing to bring it down on me. I glared at her and released the chakra I had gathered, sending a charge across the thread, to the needle and into her body where is surged throughout her, frying her. Her charred form collapsed, the kunai falling harmlessly to the ground. I took in the condition of my own body. Nothing was broken and if I forced the pain down, I could move, but I had already lost a lot of blood and if I got caught in another close range battle, I was as good as dead.

I propped myself up on my elbows and looked around the arena. There were bodies everywhere, of both leaf, sound and sand ninja. Medical teams were spread out trying to help whoever they could. One of the medics appeared beside me.

"Kasami? Kakashi sent me down here to help you. I need you to lie back."

I did as I was told and he went to work healing the gashes on my legs first. He was fast and skilled. The bleeding was stopped quickly and the wounds healed enough that I could continue fighting. The medical ninja double checked that I didn't have any more injuries.

"I think you're good. Lucky I got to you when I did but I'm sorry I didn't get here sooner."

I shook my head, "You saved me. Thank you."

"You're welcome. Kakashi would like you to come up and see him."

I nodded my understanding and he disappeared, going find any other allies who needed medical aid. I headed back up into the stands where Kakashi and Guy were. When I got there, I noticed that Sakura was gone, along with Shikamaru, Shino and Naruto. I asked Kakashi where they went.

"They are chasing after Sauske and Gaara. And a group of sound ninja went after them. I want you to provide back up."

"I'll go with her."

Asuma Sensei appeared beside me.

"Alright then, but I'm also sending a friend of mine with you."

He pulled out a scroll and proceeded to summon a ninja hound, giving her a brief explanation of the mission.

"Shaxi, I sent Pakun ahead with three others. I need you to go with Asuma and Kasami and catch up to them."

"I can do that." Shaxi replied. She looked at me curiously for a moment before howling and heading out, followed closely by Asuma and myself.

Gaara's POV

Shukaku would break free soon. I could feel him banging on my skull; pounding on the inside of my chest. My body was on fire and my head felt like it was about to burst. I was only vaguely aware of what was going on around me. Kankuro was holding me up and we were running through the forest. I didn't care where we were going, just that when we got there I could get the demon inside me to calm down.

Blood. That's what he wants. That's what will pacify him. I could kill Kankuro and Temari. Maybe that would satisfy him for at least a little while. It's not their blood he thirsts for.

Sauske.

He wants the Uchiha's blood now. She wants it to; Mother. I'll kill him, for her. I'll kill him and pull out his insides and give them to her. I must keep them both satisfied; keep them fed.

We've stopped. The Uchiha had been chasing us and he finally caught up, but I was in no condition to fight. Temari volunteered to stay and fight him. I was confident she wouldn't be able to do much. Her match with the Shadow ninja probably left her with only a small amount of chakra. Kankuro continued to drag me along to whatever destination he had in mind.

As I suspected, my sister failed in her mission to defeat Sauske. No matter though. I wanted to be the one to end his life anyway. Temari took on the task of carrying me while Kankuro stayed behind to fight this time. He didn't fight his match so he still has all of his chakra.

If he kills my prey…

The trees were rushing past again. I could feel Temari's fan pressing into my side. It was annoying, but it gave me something to focus on besides the pain in my head.

Sauske.

He's caught up with us again. If he was able to defeat Kankuro that quickly than he is even more worthy to become my prey. Temari wants to fight him now but I had no interest in such a pointless battle. She is not a suitable opponent for the Uchiha prodigy. There was no longer any need for her. With my target right in front of me her blood wasn't necessary to tame Shukaku. Now she was simply in the way. Still, she might be useful later on. I throw her to the side and focus solely on my prey. He caught up with us, and he's not alone.

That girl. The one Shukaku longed to tear into pieces; the one Mother wishes to protect.

Kasami.

Kasami POV

It hadn't taken long for us to catch up to the group of sound ninja. It seemed that Shikamaru had stayed behind to hold them off. He couldn't have had that much chakra left but he used what he had to hold their pursuers in place for as long as possible. Asuma had instructed Shaxi and I to continue chasing Naurto, Sakura and Pakun while he helped Shikamaru.

Next we ran into Shino, who was in the middle of a battle with Gaara's brother, Kankuro. We offered our aid but Shino insisted that we go after Sauske and help him instead.

So here we were, standing off against Gaara. Apparently Shaxi wasn't built for fighting so she hid herself while I joined Sauske.

"Great, they sent Little Miss Breakable to help me." Sauske rolled his eyes. "Just stay out of the way. I'll handle this."

I glared at him. "I was asked to help you and that's what I'm going to do. You don't know anything about your opponent; what he really is."

"And what is he?"

Before I could answer, Gaara screamed. The right side of his body was changing; morphing into some beastly form. His arm grew and turned a light brown color with blue markings. His face changed too, turning the same color as his arm and his eye… it had turned black with a yellow iris and a black diamond shaped pupil. My mind barely had time to register his new appearance when he attacked, leaping toward us with incredible speed. Both Sauske and I jumped out of the way just before he brought that monstrous arm down on the branch where we had been.

I hid behind one of the many trees around us, my mind working furiously to come up with a game plan. Gaara was my friend; well, I still wanted to think of him as a friend, even though he frightened me. But he had attacked my village and my friends, he had tried to attack me…I needed to stop him…somehow, but I didn't have much chakra left. Not enough to use Dragon's Dance, but if I could get a few needles into that arm of his, I might be able to immobilize it for a little while. If not than I could serve as a distraction while Sauske came up with a plan.

I stepped out of my hiding spot, grabbing my last few needles from the pouch. Gaara spotted me immediately, staring me down with that disturbing eye. I took a deep breath to calm myself, but that calm was destroyed when he charged at me again. Instead of jumping out of the way, I dodged to the side, just barely getting out of his way, but placing me in the perfect position to try and stab him with a needle. Once it was imbedded, I moved away so he couldn't swipe at me again.

I began weaving a thread of chakra but before I could attach it, the needle began to sink farther into Gaara's arm until it was completely swallowed up. Suddenly the needle shot back out of his arm and toward me. I sidestepped to let it pass by. So I couldn't do anything with the monster arm and the gourd he was carrying would prevent me from getting to the back of his neck so my only other option was his normal arm…which was being protected by the monster one. I would have to play bait until I got close enough to access his normal arm. Hopefully Sauske had some ideas.

I continued dodging around, avoiding Gaara's attacks. I wasn't sure if he could kill me in this form or not but I really didn't want to find out. But Gaara was relentless and it was getting harder and harder to keep out of his path. I jumped out of the way of yet another swing, but I wasn't fast enough. He caught onto my leg and whipped me around. I raised my arms, wrapping them around my head to protect it; and it's a good thing I did because not a second later I was flung into a tree.

I heard rather than felt the bones snap. There was too much adrenaline pumping through my veins for me to feel the pain. I knew better than to try and move though. My arms were broken, maybe in multiple places, and one of my legs was bent at an odd angle that made my stomach lurch. But that was the least of my worries. Gaara landed on the tree branch in front of me.

"I guess I can kill you now. Shukaku will be pleased."

That beastly appendage stretched toward me, snaking around my legs and up my body. He began squeezing only this time it was no embrace. I could feel the pressure on my chest, it wouldn't take much for it to cave in, but Gaara was going slowly enough that it would still take a while. I guess Sauske hadn't come up with any ideas.

The sand was up around my neck now, pressing hard against my wind pipe. I was getting less and less oxygen and my vision was becoming hazy. Maybe I would pass out before he killed me. Maybe he would just snap my neck and be done with it. No. He wanted me to suffer; wanted me to…

I could hear chirping. Birds, far away chirping wildly. The sound grated on my ear drums but in a way it was strangely comforting. In my fogginess, the adrenaline that had been present before drained away and I began to feel the pain of my injuries. It was a familiar pain. One I had gotten used to as a child. I focused on that pain and on the birds, using them to push my way past the haze. The pressure from the sand had lessened, no, it had gone completely. I switched my focus to breathing; taking in as much oxygen as I could. Slowly the world around me became clear again.

Gaara was laughing. His arms had switched; his right arm normal again and his left one transformed. He now had a tail as well and was using it to fling himself at Sauske who countered his attack using Chidori.

At first I was elated. Sauske hadn't just let me die and Chidori seemed to do some damage to Gaara's demon appendages. But when the Uchiha landed near me, I saw strange markings all across his arm and face. I'm not sure why but seeing them sent chills down my spine. Whatever they were, they were not helping Sauske. His body gave out and he collapsed. Gaara took this opportunity to try and pulverize him.

I drew in a breath to call out to him, and winced at a sharp pain in my chest. I'd broken some ribs as well. I tried to move, but with only one good leg, all I managed to do was send pain shooting through my entire body and when it reached my head, I blacked out.

I was out for only a few seconds and I was awake for only a few seconds longer, but in that time my mind registered four things.

One: I was still alive.

Two: Sauske was still alive

Three: Sakura was tending to us both.

Four: Gaara was now facing off against…

"Naruto."

I hope that this was at least sort of worth the wait. If not, again I'm really sorry. As always I'm looking for suggestions, good or bad. I'm here to improve my writing and feedback is an important part of that.

Thanks all of you.

T.G. Lollipop