WOO. I stuck two battles in this chapter. I may try and do that for the other ones as well, maybe three to a chapter. Depends because I'm really super excited to get to the Shippuden version.

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO! MASASHI KISHIMOTO DOES! I also do not own any of the OCs introduced in this fan fiction, except the following:

Tsukuyomi Clan

Nero

Chi

Shichi

Yasushi

A/N: YOU MUST READ THE AUTHOR'S NOTE AT THE END! IT IS VERY IMPORTANT!

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Chapter Twelve: A Very Sore Loser. Never Lose Your Cool.

This was it. It was time to kick some butt and I was feeling pretty good about it now as I faced Osamu in the arena. I could tell he was as twitchy and eager as I was as Asuma came out and held up his arms.

"Don't forget the rules… BEGIN!" He managed to step back, probably pleased that either of us rushed into this. Osamu smirked at me.

"Normally I'd say, this is your last chance to forfeit, but seeing you fight in the Forest of Death makes me want to kick your butt even more than letting you walk off scot-free." He said. I snorted.

"I wouldn't run away from you. You're about as scary as a little girl." I smirked, grinning at him. Osamu twitched, then thrust a finger out at me.

"That's it, you're dead, you cocky bitch!" He yelled and whipped out a string of hand signs. That was the beginning of a painful battle. I leapt back, avoiding a huge explosion of hot flames. I dodged to the side, getting ready to make hand signs when I felt something slam into my back and knock me forward. I hit the ground, hard, gasping in surprise. I jerked my head up to see Osamu smirking confidently at me. I whipped around to see what I had hit, but saw nothing.

I scrambled to my feet to avoid a line of shuriken zooming at me. I back flipped over them, while at the same time making several hand signs and holding my fingers out. Sparks of electricity burst at the tips and shot forward. Osamu winced and went to dodge, one of the currents striking him hard in the arm. He cursed out loud and grasped his arm quickly before glaring at me. That's when I noticed something weird.

His eyes. The pupil had shrunk to an unbelievable size and that was the last thought I had on that when something hit me head on, like some big muscle guy barreled right into me. I hit the ground, skidding and slamming into the arena wall. Pain exploded in my head and back. I gasped, struggling to just sit up. My eyes fogged for a moment before I blinked it away. I cupped the back of my head and pulled it away to find a little bit of blood. I grimaced and jerked my head up to see Osamu patting at his arm where a scorch mark had burnt his skin.

I took my chance and leapt to my feet, making hand signs. But it was like he expected me to do that because the hand that I assumed had been dangling lifelessly, had made a hand sign. I stared, then yelped when Osamu whipped around to face me again, spewing a round of round fireballs. I ducked most of them before pushing off the ground and tearing out some kunai, flinging them down. Osamu dodged them easily, then smirked at me. I noticed that his pupil was slowly getting back to normal, though as I met his eyes before something slammed into me, throwing me into the ground.

I gasped and held the side of my face, feeling sticky wet blood running down my face. I gritted my teeth angrily and whipped around, swinging my leg around. My heel connected with Osamu's jaw, sending him flying to the side and into the concrete floor. I heard another round of swearing as Osamu jumped to his feet. I was right behind him, already on my feet with my hands moving. Osamu wiped blood from his jaw with the back of his fist, then winced as a charge of thick electricity went at him. He jumped backwards, then yelped when the electricity caught the leg of his shorts, catching flame to it.

He landed back to the ground and went to smack the fire out, giving me the chance to run forward as fast as I could. It couldn't have been ten seconds since the last time I was hit with nothing before it happened again. This time, it felt like someone had sucker punched me right in the gut before having a go at my chin, sending me into the air and back down.

Pain racked my body and it was so numbing, I felt like passing out right then and there, but I forced myself to get up, just in time for Osamu to appear in front of me, grabbing the front of my vest and jerking me off my feet into the air.

"Che," He smirked at me, "If that's all you got, then I'm surprised you even lived in a fight against Daiki. Then again, he probably went easy on you, being your uncle and all." I twitched.

"Shut the hell up!" I barked in his face and swung my foot forward. Osamu yelped in pain and let go of me to stumble back, holding his arms over his gut. I ran forward, elbowing him in the face and knocking him back before rushing after him.

It happened again!

This time, I was ready. I felt the tingling sensation of someone behind me and dodged to the side, feeling the harsh breeze of whatever was in the air, coming at me. I smirked triumphantly, looking at Osamu to see if he had a reaction. He did.

He was cursing before he whipped out a set of hand signs, conjuring up a hurricane of flames that heated up the entire room beyond belief. I jumped back, hissing when I felt the skin on my arms burn. I tore them down and saw the skin burnt red with some black marks. I grimaced and jerked my head up, gasping in surprise as Osamu shot from the flames, grabbing the front of my vest again. I winced as he jerked me up and reeled his good fist back.

"Nice job dodging that," Osamu muttered, "Most people don't know what's going on." With that, he brought his fist forward… At the same time as I gathered up a raging hot amount of chakra into my hand. I grabbed Osamu's jaw quickly and sent as many volts of electricity into the simple touch as possible. Osamu's eyes lit up with pain and he gasped, followed by a sharp scream that made my already sore ears ring. He let go immediately and stumbled back. I ran at him, aiming to punch him. He caught my wrist just before I could hit him. I gasped and he swung his fist up, hitting me in the cheek. Blood gathered in my mouth as I spat it up at him, watching it splatter on his dark green jacket.

Osamu cursed at me before twisting my wrist around so my arm was behind my back. He pushed my head forward as if to put me in a submission position, but I swung my foot back, hitting him in the stomach and causing him to skid back across the ground. I whipped around just in time to make hand signs. The arena suddenly filled with a thick black fog that rolled across the floor. There was coughing and some comments from the spectators above, but I stayed dead silent.

I heard Osamu's shoes scuff on the floor and I crouched low, carefully and quietly pulling out a kunai. This was it. No more playing around. I was going to knock this kid unconscious for days!

I slunk through the fog, careful not to stir it up and alert Osamu to my presence. However, I could already see something stirring up the fog. I frowned and sank lower to the ground, peeking around. I couldn't see a single thing, let alone hear. I listened closer, but not a thing could be heard, except for some murmuring from the others that were driving me insane.

I carefully took a step forward, but something caught me around the ankle and tore me to the ground. Instinct made me cry out in surprise before my body hit the concrete floor and I was torn across it by the same invisible force that had repeatedly bashed me around before.

I eventually found myself torn across the room and at Osamu's feet. He held a kunai his fist, smirking at me past blood, bruises, and scorch marks.

"Nice move, but it looks like it wasn't enough. See ya in the stands, Tsukuyomi." He swung the kunai down and blood splattered all over the floor. The fog began to curl away, sucking itself into non-existence and revealing the scene to the others, who stared in shock.

What had happened was that I swung my leg out at the last second, knocking Osamu off his feet and causing him to jam the kunai into my upper arm as well as cutting into his palm so our blood was smeared on our clothes and the floor. I breathed hard, shoving at Osamu, who had toppled on top of me.

He propped himself up, yelling in pain at his cut hand before he tore the kunai from my shoulder, making me bark out a swear word in pain. Osamu glared down at me.

"You just don't know when to go peacefully, do you?" He asked. I gathered the blood up in my mouth and spat at him, clasping a hand over the wound in my shoulder as I glared up at him, smirking.

"Fuck no, asshole." I retorted, gathering up as much chakra as lightening as possible in the hand that I had at mine and Osamu's guts before I thrust it forward. This time, it felt like a shower of blood rained down on us. Osamu's pupils seemed to grow larger and his eyes flashed. His lips popped open as a stream of blood leaked down into my face. I stared at him, waiting to see if he'd pass out after having my fist jammed into his gut with a ton of volts of electricity. Then he slowly smirked.

"That was cool," He managed, blood dribbling from past his lips and hitting me in the face, "You probably would have had me… If you hadn't of dropped your guard." I blinked, frowning in confusion before Osamu swung his fist down, the one with the kunai.

The blade jammed into my shoulder, where I could feel it hit the bone. Osamu jerked on it, making me choke and scream in agony. Pain burst like fireworks in my shoulder as he jerked the blade back, taking out some flesh on it. He tore away from me, tearing off his jacket the best he could and holding it over his gut. He was breathing hard and so was I as I struggled to get up.

My right arm was completely useless now as blood gushed from the ground, creating a thick puddle on the ground. My vision was blurring and I was struggling to stay standing at the numbing agony that filled my body. Before I knew it, my legs gave out from under me and I was on my knees, gasping for air.

"How… Can you stay…. Standing…?" I managed to seethe. Osamu seemed to be trembling, blood streaming down the sides of his mouth.

"I'm too close… There's no way… I'm going to lose now…" He spat at me, gritting his teeth. I smirked faintly.

"I'm not going to lose." I stated and squeezed my eyes shut, forcing myself to my feet, shaking all over. I was losing blood. A lot of it. From the looks of it, so was Osamu. I was still impressed that he could stand. I stumbled a little and made a hand sign with my good hand. Osamu grimaced as I held out two fingers toward him, electricity crackling around them.

I wanted to give up to be honest. My body was achy, sore, weak. I probably wouldn't be able to move onto the third round of the exams at this rate. My body would take forever to heal from this, unless they had a great medic ninja, but I doubted they had one on hand.

And that's when it happened. Just like that. I felt the familiar strength curl around my ankles first, then my legs, my hips, my arms and up to my chest. I gasped, my arm having been forced to my side. I looked at Osamu, who was breathing hard and smiling confidently at the same time.

"This was a good fight… I'm glad I had the chance. I might even stop calling you a brat for being able to stay standing for this long… But I think we've both had enough. Call it quits or I'll go further." He explained. I glared at him and spat up a glob of blood, that hit the concrete with a spatter sound. In that instant, I felt like the world closed in on me. Pain made my will to stop yelling shatter and my voice ripped up my throat as a screamed 'fuck' as the air around me crushed hard. I felt like my head was going to explode and my bones were all going to turn to dust, my flesh becoming gooey globs. I wondered if he was going to kill me in that split second before all the pressure was released in a matter of seconds.

I gasped as it burst away in a whipping of wind, knocking me to my knees. Osamu gasped out in pain and clamped a hand over the right side of his face, gritting his teeth. I felt frozen, other than the trembling. My body wasn't moving anymore.

I lost.

I could hear Asuma yelling that the match had ended…

"Saki Osamu has won the match!" Rage hit me like a hard wave, harder than the blast of wind or chakra or whatever it was that Osamu had used against me. My body grew hot and I felt my stomach and lungs clench. I jerked my head from the upright position and I shot to my feet. Osamu's eyes widened as he took a step back in surprise.

Rage roared in my ears as rushing blood. I didn't care if this match was fucking over! I was going to kill this asshole! I had just reached him before I felt an arm around my neck tightly, a hand gripping the one I had out to grab Osamu by the neck. I growled angrily, baring my teeth at Osamu, who was now being tightly held by Kotori.

"The match is over, Ruriko," Kazuya said quietly from behind me, being the one to stop me, "That's enough…" I screamed in frustration.

"NO! I'm not finished with him yet!" I yelled furiously. I wanted to rip this jerk apart! I didn't lose! I'm not done yet! I jerked at Kazuya's grip to make a grab at Osamu, who looked like he wanted to hit me, but Kotori held onto him tightly, almost as if she was afraid that I'd really kill her Genin.

"Ruriko, the match is done! If you keep trying to fight, you'll get disqualified from the Chuunin Exams altogether and you won't be able to try again next year!" Kazuya barked, wincing as he kept a tighter grip on me.

"I don't care," I snarled, "I'm going to kill him! I don't need these stupid exams to prove that I'm capable! I could rip every last one of you apart! Fucking damn it!" Even as I said it, I knew it was a lie. Already, I could feel the pain inside me eating the rage away, making me slightly dizzy and sick. I was still tense, glaring at Osamu past closing eyelids before I finally felt my body give out against Kazuya.

Nero's POV

I stared, my fists gripping the railings so tight, my knuckles turned white. My eyes were wide and my teeth were digging into my lower lip as I watched Ruriko faint from blood loss, exhaustion, and probably rage. Beside me, Akira was practically doing the same as me before he spoke.

"That's not right…" He managed. I jerked my head at him, unable to say anything. No, Kishi said something first from Akira's other side.

"She almost killed him!" She cried worriedly, digging her nails into her arms as she shuddered at the thought. I grimaced. Akira frowned and suddenly looked a bit angrier.

"That's not right! Something's wrong. Ruriko wouldn't have acted like that… She would have given up before… Why is she acting like this?" He asked, looking at me helplessly.

"I know," I muttered, getting what he meant, "She's been acting weird ever since we met up with Daiki in the Forest of Death… He must have said something…" My voice drifted as I watched Akira panic a little.

"She wasn't like this before, you remember, right? She used to accept her defeats gracefully. Sure, she cursed people out for beating her, but she knew when someone was tougher than her and she made up excuses not to fight! Nero, something's not right…"

"Akira," I snapped, making him jump, "Stop that! I know something's wrong. Ruriko's changed. She's determined to become a Chuunin, but now she seems to have a different goal. Quite frankly, I would be pissed if she forfeited this match… Even so. Just be glad she's alive. If that guy had kept up what he was doing, Ruriko would have turned to mush." Akira frowned, but he still looked worried as hell.

We looked back to the arena to watch a medic team put Ruriko and Osamu on stretchers, carrying them away. Kazuya and Kotori both returned, Kotori looking a little more concerned.

"Kazuya…" Akira looked at him worriedly. Kazuya sighed, probably wanting to ignore the blood splattered on the front of his uniform.

"Ruriko and Osamu are going to the hospital… Their wounds were in critical condition… I'll talk to the Hokage later as well as the other Jounin to see if Ruriko is going to be disqualified from the exams." He murmured and rubbed his temples tiredly. Akira grimaced. I bit into my lip again and glanced back down at the arena.

I had a strong feeling Ruriko was going to be disqualified. I only hoped Kazuya could work his magic.

Everyone was murmuring about the previous battle, buzzing like bees actually. I heard Kazuya and Kotori talking behind us.

"I'm sorry, Kotori… I don't know what got into her." Kazuya apologized.

"Calm down, Kazuya… It's a battle…" Even as she said it, I knew she was a little shaken up. Without a doubt, Ruriko was tempted to actually take a killer bite out of Osamu. I'd be a little freaked too.

I wanted to keep listening in on their conversation, but the computer screen on the wall began to buzz as words fluttered across the screen crazily. Two names hit the screen.

Kawaguchi Ryuuko

VS

Yasushi

"What the hell?" Was Kotori's first comment. We followed her eyes to the arena and I was pretty shocked myself. A kid no older than five or six made his way onto the arena, looking pretty disappointed that he was even picked this early. Ryuuko hopped down. He didn't even looked that pleased either.

They faced each other in the arena, both looking a little stoic. It made me grimace. Yasushi was only a kid and he already looked like he as a trained robot. Asuma frowned a little too, but held up his arm, getting ready to give the signal.

"Why do they have a kid in these exams?" Kotori demanded. Kazuya blinked, looking just as unnerved.

"I don't know… He only looks like he's five. What is the Raikage even thinking, letting a kid that young into the exams?" He wondered aloud.

"I think he's cute." Akira deadpanned, earning some 'what the fuck' looks from the people on our side of the balcony. I was wondering, for a while there, if Akira was really getting mature, but I can see his pervert-sense is still in tact.

Great.

Down below, Asuma dropped his arms.

"BEGIN!" He stepped back. Ryuuko seemed to be giving Yasushi a once over before frowning.

"How old are you?" He asked. Yasushi jumped a little, seeming pretty skittish now.

"Mm… What does that have to do with the battle? Why don't you just attack me already and we can call it quits?" He asked. Ryuuko blinked.

"You don't even want to do this, do you?" He questioned, almost feeling bad for the kid. Yasushi smiled a little, kinda sad like.

"Not really, but I don't have much of a choice." He replied. Ryuuko waited, probably thinking if he should even bother with this battle or not before he nodded and held out his hand.

"Kawaguchi Ryuuko." He stated. Yasushi blinked, looking at Ryuuko's hand a little suspiciously before taking it. Ryuuko fairly shook it. I expected that much. My impression of Ryuuko was that he was pretty quiet and had good manners, not getting cocky and loud like some of the others. Although, it kind of peeved me off that Ruriko would smile when he talked about him.

In a split second, the battle started, both Genin skidding backwards. I expected there to be Taijutsu, but from the looks of it, probably not. Yasushi looked too small to be able to fight off Ryuuko physically. In a flash, Yasushi was whipping out some pretty good ninjutsu. Ryuuko caught up easily, sending a roar of water bullets at Yasushi, who blasted forth a wall of wind to block the attack.

From the look of it, Yasushi was trying to get still. Like he wanted to stand there and do nothing. Ryuuko seemed to notice it too and quickly sent another shot of water. Yasushi yelped and dodged to the side, getting splashed with a bit of water. Ryuuko immediately went to attack Yasushi close range, but Yasushi went very still at that point before thrusting out his hand at Ryuuko.

At that point, everyone saw the same thing. Blue chakra strings shot out and hit Ryuuko's arms. Ryuuko immediately stopped, wincing as if it were painful. Yasushi was still frozen solid, only his fingers shifting slightly. Ryuuko jerked a little, gritting his teeth and it looked like he was trying to mentally break away from the chakra strings.

I frowned. That was a weird jutsu. Probably a bloodline jutsu, but what exactly did it do?

We pretty much found out a couple seconds later when Ryuuko's body seemed to go limp and Yasushi was still frozen, but his eyes looked pretty blank. Ryuuko lifted his head to reveal Ryuuko's eyes to be cloudy and dazed.

"Thanks for telling me your name," Yasushi said, "Or else I wouldn't be able to make you forfeit."

"That's a nifty jutsu if you don't like fighting." Kotori commented, raising an eyebrow and folding her arms over her chest. Kazuya nodded in agreement. Yasushi shifted his fingers a little and Ryuuko seemed to move on his own, standing up straight and raising up a hand, his lips parting, but no sound came out.

Yasushi seemed to be twitching slightly and finally yelped out loud. The sound of it was obvious. Before getting caught in the trap, Ryuuko had thrust a kunai in Yasushi's direction, but it only sliced Yasushi's leg. I guess just that little move saved his life because the chakra strings snapped and seemed to sparkle into non-existence as Yasushi grabbed his ankle in pain. Ryuuko snapped out his stupor, blinking.

In a flash, he whipped out a kunai and flung it forward again. Yasushi ducked to the side. Now that Ryuuko knew his plan, I don't think Yasushi stood a chance. Ryuuko was flinging kunai after kunai, then shuriken at Yasushi to keep him on his toes. With Yasushi hopping around to avoid it and get still, Ryuuko finally delivered the final blow.

A pretty hard hit wave of water that smacked right into Yasushi, knocking him off his feet and skidding across the concrete, scraping up his arms and his left cheek. Blood was smeared across the floor, mixing with water in puddles. Yasushi panted, struggling to push himself up on his hands and knees.

Ryuuko walked up to him, but didn't make a hit on him. Instead, he looked down at Yasushi kind of like he was tired.

"Give up," He stated, "If you go on, you'll get hurt. You're way too young for these exams… Wait and come back when you're older." Yasushi stared up at him for a bit, then lowered his eyes. It was quiet for a while until Yasushi finally spoke.

"I give up." He said quietly. I frowned. It didn't look like this kid even wanted to be a ninja. Ryuuko held out his hand and helped Yasushi to his feet, ignoring how Ayaka was yelling at him. Chi, who only needed her arm in a sling and some bandages on her torso, was yelling at Yasushi too.

"Can you believe that? He gave up!" She was shouting, smacking her brother, Shichi, with her fist. Shichi just frowned, folding his arms over his chest.

"That guy's right." Was all he responded with before Chi blew up in his face for it. Even so, I saw Yasushi smile at Ryuuko and say something, but his teammates were being too loud for me to catch it. Whatever it was, it made Ryuuko blink and smile back. At least not all the battles were hostile, like Osamu and Ruriko's…

The computer up on the way dinged, alerting everyone to stare at it and the names printed on its digital surface.

Souh Kasumi

VS

Tsukuyomi Akira

I was actually pretty confident in Akira's abilities, but I just hoped he didn't do something stupid because he obviously got serious in a serious, serious situation. Just as I thought this, Akira leapt down from the second balcony at the same time Kasumi did.

"You're not gonna act like your sister there, are you?" Kasumi asked for confirmation, smirking cockily as she put her hands on her hips. Akira sweat dropped, before huffing and folding his arms over his chest.

"Hell no. I'm gonna kick your ass." He stated. Kasumi laughed.

"Of course you are." She teased. Akira just smirked back at her.

Maybe Akira was going to lose after all.

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A/N: ATTENTION. I am nearing the end of the beginning of Shadows of Heroes and I will be adding the Shippuden version in this same fan fiction. It is very important that you send me the SHIPPUDEN VERSION of your OCs if you wish to appear in it. If you don't send me one before I begin the Shippuden, I will probably count your OC out and I am sorry for that. When you send me your Shippuden Version Character Bios, please include any pairings that you may have in mind with your characters! Maybe an OCXOC or OCXCharacter. However, I already have three characters from the show already taken. And they as follows: Uchiha Itachi, Hatake Kakashi, and Uchiha Sasuke. HOWEVER, Sasuke will not be taken for long. Only for about a couple chapters since I really don't like Sakura, I just like the kids I made up for them. ;D If I get more than one person wanting a character, I will have to see who could be more compatible and please ask that you pick a different character… Or you can get in contact with the person who already took your wanted character and you can come to compromise, then PM me. Well, I think that's it for the important message… :'D Damn, it's long! Anyway, so thanks so very much for reading, hope the OCs are in character, and your reviews would be super, very appreciated!