Destiny is a Hazy Thing

by Calanor

The Yondaime had a plan, Madara had another. They were not the only ones who wanted their own vision to come to pass, but the future is never certain. When all plans of gods and men fail Naruto is suddenly free to choose his own destiny. Slow development

29. Chapter 28: Preliminaries

Disclaimer: Nope, I still don't own Naruto. Far too expensive for me to buy the rights.

Chapter 28: Preliminaries

In the early hours of the fifth full day since the beginning of the second phase of the chunin exams Anko Mitarashi aimlessly wandered the empty halls of the tower at the center of the Forest of Death. Daylight was still hours away, but she just couldn't sleep any longer. A twinge in her curse seal had awoken her, but she wasn't completely sure if she had only dreamt it. Anyway, she hadn't been able to go back to sleep after that. She and the other jonin along with the Hokage had arrived yesterday evening. The proctors and other support personnel had been here for days already, readying the tower for the genin.

Speculation about which teams would make it was running rampant and the betting business was flourishing. How many genin died, in what order the teams arrived; there were bets on everything available. Naturally Anko had bet on her own team making it; doing otherwise would have been looked at askance. The maximum number of passing teams would be twelve thanks to the availability of the scrolls, but in all likelihood the number would be lower.

Two and a half years ago it had been her task to oversee this phase. The rules had been a bit different then, but not much. Only four teams had managed to succeed, making preliminaries unnecessary. This time would be different. There were a lot of strong teams participating.

'Of course, should the strong teams happen to meet they could decimate each other in the forest. I just hope Hinata, Choji and Naruto make it out alive and intact.'

There were no doubts about their skills in her mind, but it was just too damn early for them to participate in the exams. They had graduated not even half a year ago. It wasn't about their abilities, it was about experience. A seasoned team might be able to outmaneuver and ambush them.

The participants of a chunin exam generally fell into two categories: The elite teams that were specifically sent to make a good showing for their home village and the ragtag teams that consisted of people who were desperate for promotion. Since the competent were generally promoted in more conventional ways they generally didn't pose much of a threat. The enormous drop-out rate in the first phase was a testament to the average skill level of such teams.

'Of course, there is the jinchuuriki from Suna to consider. I wonder why the Kazekage sent him to participate.'

It was probably an attempt to secure a guaranteed victory in the exams. Suna and Konoha were nominally allies, but there was a lot of tension in the arrangement. The economic warfare Konoha conducted was only the last measure in an exchange of hostile acts. As far as she knew the Hokage planned to stop undercutting Suna's prices as soon as the Kazekage made some concessions, but her mentor Homura didn't believe it would happen anytime soon. After all accounts the Yondaime Kazekage was a very stubborn man who would stop at nothing to improve the standing of his village. Turning his own son into a jinchuuriki with nearly disastrous results was par for the course for the man.

Still, that background didn't change the fact that a very dangerous and psychotic young man was loose in the forest. Anko had never encountered a jinchuuriki in battle; the closest she had come was when Naruto used the Kyuubi's chakra during their encounter with the Jashinists. It wasn't an experience she wanted to repeat. She had been away with her teacher Orochimaru when the Kyuubi attacked Konoha, but now she understood the resentment and fear directed at Naruto better. The feeling of malevolence, rage, hate and bloodlust had scared even her and that had only been a fraction of the Kyuubi's power. She really didn't want to know what the Suna boy was capable of.

'Well, at least Naruto should be able to counter him if push comes to shove. I do hope we can avoid escalating to such a level, though.'

Anko continued her worried wanderings for a long time until she finally made her way into the canteen that had been set up in the tower. The room was surprisingly well-frequented for the early hour. It seemed that most jonin-sensei were either early risers or too worried about their charges to sleep peacefully.

A man with a Sound headband sitting in a corner looked up and gave her a somehow familiar feeling smirk before he continued reading a book in his lap.

Another jonin, this one from Hoshigakure, was writing a letter, absentmindedly taking bites of his food.

The single female jonin from Grass that had accompanied their two teams seemed aloof. No one had told her what happened to her charges; the bodies of the older Grass team had been placed in the forest. Admitting that a foreign team had been killed outside of the exam was not something Konoha could let become public knowledge.

Finally Anko spotted a familiar face among the Konoha jonin.

"Good morning. I see I'm not the only one who couldn't sleep." Kurenai greeted her when Anko headed to her table after securing a cup of hot coffee and a piece of fresh bread.

"Morning, Kurenai-chan. Yeah, I never appreciated what having a team of genin to look after can do to one's sleep."

A deep chuckle came from behind her. "Especially if you have to let them work on their own for the first time."

Turning her head, Anko saw Ibiki approaching their table. "And what do you know about that? You never taught a team." she asked curiously.

The large man took a seat before answering. "I did take two apprentices over the years, Anko. Then there are my younger brother and a few cousins I trained for years before I had to let them go their own way. I am head of the Morino clan, after all. As you can see I'm familiar with the feeling."

"Does it ever get better, Morino-san?" Kurenai inquired.

Ibiki took a sip of hot tea, mulling over the answer. "Not really. The anxiety is always there when students have to take their first steps without oversight. Although I admit, it can be worse when it happens earlier than expected."

Anko and Kurenai nodded. They weren't really happy about the participation of their teams. Normally elite teams from two to three years back would make the backbone of Konoha's participants, but all the old teams had already split up or were unavailable for a variety of reasons, mostly because members had already been promoted. The village leadership considered it too much of a risk to rely on Team Gai alone. Since the three teams from the graduation cycle after Team Gai didn't display any prominent skills the Hokage had decided to 'encourage' the sensei of the newest teams to nominate their pupils for the competition.

'It isn't totally unreasonable, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.'

"How are the preparations going? Last time we had to comb the forest for days to account for every missing team." Anko asked.

Ibiki gave her a somewhat tired smile. "Everything is finished. As soon as the sun goes down we'll sweep the forest for survivors and the bodies of the dead. It should be a nice exercise. Of course, I will only go along if there aren't enough genin left for preliminaries." He drank the rest of his tea and stood up again. "I'll try to get some shuteye before the evening's amusements. Until later, ladies."

After Ibiki retired Anko and Kurenai continued to make idle chitchat. Since there were foreign jonin present they had to keep to innocuous topics. The canteen was slowly filling until all jonin were present, but no one approached their table. Some of them would have to leave without their teams. Hopefully she would not be one of them.

"Sunrise. The first should be arriving soon." Kurenai remarked after a look out of one of the windows.

Anko simply leant back in her chair and waited. There was nothing to be done. Some of the proctors would greet the genin and sent for the right jonin. About half an hour passed until a proctor entered. Some jonin tried to keep a neutral façade, but Anko was certain that everyone watched the chunin intently.

The man was clearly aware of the stares and cleared his throat before speaking. "The first successful team has arrived. The genin are Gaara, Kankuro and Temari from Sunagakure. Baki-san, if you would please accompany me?"

Standing up, the Suna jonin with the half-veiled face allowed a victorious smirk to appear on his features before he followed the chunin out of the room.

'Well, that wasn't completely unexpected. I'm just glad I didn't make any bets other than that my kids would be successful.'

Ten minutes later another chunin entered the room. "Teams 8, 10 and 11 from Konohagakure have passed the test and just arrived in the tower. Additionally, Karin from Kusagakure has been brought in without her teammates, failing the test."

Anko shared a look with Kurenai who seemed relieved. Still, it was unusual for three teams to arrive simultaneously. Even stranger was for them to bring a kunoichi from a foreign team with them. Anko could feel the eyes of every jonin in the room when she, Kurenai and Asuma followed the chunin.

'Second place; not bad. Perhaps they acted as a unified force from the beginning; unconventional, but clearly allowed. All of us jonin took a hands off approach, but I know the genin of our three teams met for at least two planning sessions.'

Finally they arrived in the room where their teams awaited them. At first glance everything seemed to be all right. All of the genin were smiling proudly. Apart from the redhead leaning on Kiba everyone looked completely healthy.

"Hey Anko-sensei; we made it!" Naruto greeted her, the two other members of Team 11 behind him.

Anko could feel a smile of her own spreading across her face. "Congratulations, I'm proud of you. You made second place."

"We would have made first place, but we didn't want to risk crossing paths with the Suna team and delayed a bit." Hinata explained

The jonin nodded in agreement. "That was probably a wise decision. There's no need for a confrontation at the last minute. Now come along; we'll get you settled in your rooms."

"So, what happens now?" Choji asked curiously when they arrived at the rooms set aside for them. Teams roomed together and the three teams had rooms side by side.

Anko sat down on one of the beds. "That depends a lot on how many genin make here it until sunset, but I'm pretty sure there will be preliminaries held. I recommend getting as much rest as you can. Now tell me, did anything important happen?"

Naruto hesitated a moment. "Not so much to us, but Shino told us Team 7 has been attacked by Orochimaru. He marked Sasuke with a seal. From what he told us it looks the same as yours. You'll have to ask him if you want a first-hand account, sensei."

Anko was pretty sure her heart missed a beat. That was catastrophic news. Orochimaru clearly wanted the last Uchiha. She had to talk to the Hokage.

---

Yakumo carefully closed the door behind Ino, making sure there was no one in the hallway to overhear their conversation. Hinata had already scanned the room and would keep watch, but it paid to be paranoid. In all likelihood some topics of their conversation would be of moderate sensitivity. It wasn't even noon and they still had some hours to kill. Girl talk was just the right thing to pass the time. Naturally, with them being kunoichi the topics could become quite strange, especially because only she, Hinata and Ino were present. Asuka had chosen to play a few rounds of poker with Shinji, Shino and Choji in the next room, leaving them alone. Naruto and Kiba were out exploring the tower and their sensei had gone off to a meeting.

"So, what had the medics to say about Karin?" Yakumo asked after they got settled.

Ino sighed. "At first they didn't believe me, but fortunately one of them was a Yamanaka and remembered some old stories. They have provisionally accepted my diagnosis until we get her to a professional mind healer. I don't think Karin believed us initially, but she's slowly coming around."

"What about her jonin? If Kusa learns of her talents they might not let her go." Hinata wondered.

The blond Yamanaka let out a snort. "That wasn't a problem. The woman barely acknowledged Karin and didn't even accompany us all the way to the infirmary. The only thing she cared about was the other Grass team and one of Karin's ex-teammates. Apparently he was a spoiled little brat who absolutely wanted to participate in the exam. Well, his daddy dearest had enough money and influence to make that happen, but not enough to assemble a competent team. Karin was only unlucky that she was chosen to accompany him."

"Good, that means the plan to get Karin transferred to Konoha is on track. Have any other teams arrived yet?" Yakumo asked.

"I didn't see any, but it's possible that I missed the arrival."

They talked about different things until Hinata's fight with Neji became the topic of the conversation. Yakumo hadn't been an eye witness and was curious. Oh, she had gotten a short description from Naruto, but she wanted to hear more. Hinata was her first true female friend and they had spent much of their academy days together. She knew that Hinata had distanced herself emotionally from almost her entire clan over the years.

It was really saddening for Yakumo to see such a thing, especially because she still remembered the comfort her own clan had provided. By now the memories of her parents and other relatives had become somewhat indistinct, but what events she recalled were always happy. Oh, she was sure there had been quarrels and animosity between specific persons, but on the whole her family and clan had been a safe haven.

"Naruto said you were fighting your cousin to a standstill until you knocked him out. Did you really reach his level in taijutsu?" Yakumo finally asked after Ino and Hinata had filled her in on the events.

Hinata shook her head. "Naruto gives me too much credit. I still couldn't beat Neji in taijutsu; all I could do was stalling him for a time. Even that I only managed by not seriously attacking; Neji would have capitalized on any opening. If the fight had lasted much longer he definitely would have won."

"And if you had used ninjutsu from the beginning? I don't believe his Gentle Fist would help much against ranged attacks, especially ninjutsu." Ino probed.

The Hyuuga girl nodded. "There are some advanced skills that mitigate that, but you're right in principle. In isolation it's relatively easy to pick a taijutsu fighter apart from afar. Keeping enough distance is harder than it appears, though."

"Do you think Neji will ever give up his vendetta against you?" Yakumo asked.

Hinata let out a sigh. "I don't think it likely. There's so much bad blood between Neji and me that I can't see us reconcile anytime soon, if ever. I don't even remember the events when it all began, but he was branded with the caged bird seal when I turned three. His father was very angry about that; Neji was already showing the first signs of being a genius with the Gentle Fist. Apparently there were some ugly confrontations about that matter. Then there was the Kumo incident that cemented the rift."

Yakumo knew about that. In many circles the events were still considered a disgrace for Konoha. Even several years after the end of the third shinobi war Konoha had still been in a state of war with Kumo. There had been a ceasefire in place since the end of the open hostilities, but the village leadership had wanted a formal peace treaty. Kumo had sent their head ninja as ambassador, but it had only been a cover for an abduction attempt of a main house Hyuuga. Hinata had been the victim, but the Kumo nin had been killed before he could leave the village. Unfortunately Kumo had demanded the body of the perpetrator. Inconceivably Konoha had obliged the request and handed over the dead body of Hizashi Hyuuga, brother of the Hyuuga clan head and Neji's father. The peace treaty had been signed after that.

"One would think Neji would direct some of his hatred against Konoha's leadership who let that happen. Kumo was clearly the aggressor. It did set a very bad precedent." Yakumo mused.

Her pale-eyed friend only shrugged. "Perhaps the military situation at the time was so bad they had no other choice. Mind you, that's not the only reason for Neji to hate me specifically. He hates the entire main house, but I made a safe target that didn't fight back or that anyone had an interest in defending. You know how I was when we met."

That Yakumo did. Hinata had suffered from almost crippling shyness and extremely low self-esteem, was kind to a fault and didn't want to hurt anyone. In conjunction with her difficulties with the Gentle Fist style it had caused her to be seen as a complete failure by the Hyuuga clan. Most clan members had only barely hidden their contempt and some, like Neji, had harassed her almost openly. There had been political power struggles between the different families (Main house as well as branch house) involved, making the situation worse. Over time Hinata's personality had moderated and she no longer tried to reach out to people who hurt her. Neither did Hinata really care what her clan thought about her, as long as it didn't invite punishments. Amusingly her standing in the clan had improved after she became colder and no longer cared. Unfortunately Neji had continued his subtle (and occasionally not so subtle) harassment and tried to undermine Hinata's position. At some point Hinata had begun hating Neji for that.

"Sometimes I think part of his problem is envy. He thinks he would make a far better clan heir to the Hyuuga. If his father would have been born only a few minutes earlier he would have been clan heir and my branch of the family would have ended up in the branch house." Hinata continued. "A few years ago he was even right; he would have made a better clan heir. Still would, if you only consider prowess in the Gentle Fist. I have changed since then but Neji continues to act as if I still was that timid little girl. Apparently he believes I only mask my true nature. That's true, but I'm not hiding what he thinks I do. The speech he gave before our fight would have been a fine piece of psychological warfare if I still cared."

"Well, you have to admit you not caring about the Gentle Fist is extremely unusual. It would be almost like an Inuzaka not caring about his dog or an Aburame not caring about his kikaichu." Yakumo replied.

Hinata shrugged. "There are more important things. Neji believes the fate of people is determined at their birth. In my case it causes him to see what he wants to see. He has become more vicious in the last time, though."

"As I said a few days ago I didn't have the time to sift through Neji's memories, but I picked up a few things." Ino chimed in. "You're proving his conviction that people can't change wrong. I don't think he can accept that and it stokes his anger. Some part of him knows that his philosophy is wrong and it makes him hate you and himself. Why else would he try to secretly learn main house techniques?"

"You're probably right." Hinata stood up. "Enough of that talk. We still have some hours to kill. Let's see if we can find something to eat."

---

Karin didn't know what to think. Her entire world had been shaken in the last few days. Her team had been killed (not that she would shed any tears for that pampered asshole Shinsuke who thought he was entitled to everything), she had been rescued at the last minute and apparently she was now suffering from a permanent condition that required her to stay close to her rescuer.

At first she hadn't believed the blond girl about a condition known as 'sensor imprinting'. She had never heard of such a thing and thought they were making fun of her or playing mind games. Now, several days later, things were different. During the entire time in the forest after she woke up she had felt an attraction to the Inuzaka boy. Heck, when she woke up today and yesterday she had found herself cuddled up to him despite going to sleep at the other end of the camp. It was so embarrassing and definitely not normal. She had been weak from her chakra exhaustion and didn't talk that much with the boy, but he appeared to be generally okay.

Even now part of her wanted to seek Kiba out, but she could keep it in check. She really hoped she wouldn't start sleepwalking in the tower. All in all, she did accept that something was wrong with her.

In light of Airi-sensei's behavior she had no qualms about going along with the plan to keep her in Konoha. The woman only asked about Shinsuke. After she reported his death Karin might well have not existed for all the jonin cared. It was typical for her treatment in Grass and it wasn't like she was defecting.

'Cannon fodder and dead weight. That is all I am to Kusa.'

In her more honest moments Karin admitted to herself that her shinobi skills were rather lackluster. She had kept her growing sensor abilities secret, but no one had ever gone to the trouble of finding out if she was good at something. No, Karin didn't have any deep loyalty for Kusakagure. Of course, there was still Orochimaru.

'Screw him. He did take me in for a while and got me into Grass, but that was all he ever did. I can't wait forever for him to find a use for me. It's better to take my fate into my own hands.'

Having reached the decision Karin relaxed on her bed in the infirmary. The aftereffects of her chakra exhaustion still plagued her and her formerly broken ankle was still tender. Now she had to just pass the time until the test was over. Karin didn't dare to spread her mind's eye too wide; one case of chakra exhaustion was enough for her, thank you very much. Without deliberately spending chakra her awareness only covered the infirmary and parts of the neighboring rooms, but they were empty apart from a few medics.

She already missed the sensation of Kiba's chakra. It made her feel so comfortable and warm, like a low-burning fire that gave off constant, stable heat.

Karin felt a shiver run down her spine when she remembered the feel of the others in the group. At first Kiba had filled her perception completely, but as she recovered her mind's eye had returned to more or less normal behavior.

Naruto. She had never felt that much chakra before. It reminded her of a gigantic storm, complete with wind, clouds and lightning. Somewhere deep inside him she had felt trickles of a strange, inhuman chakra that spoke of malevolent rage and hate. The overall image was dazzling, but the feel and memory of Kiba's chakra prevented her from losing herself in it.

Hinata. Cool and soothing water, but it was like an enormous lake covering an unfathomable depth. Who knew what lurked under the surface?

Choji. A bright column of flame standing tall and proud; a shining beacon of hope.

Yakumo. An impenetrable web made of crystal, glass and mirrors reflecting some hidden fire.

Ino. An elaborate earthen castle covered over and over in mysterious symbols and writing in untold tongues. Parts of it had changed to intricately carved stone.

Shinji. A subdued fire. Despite its small size it appeared unquenchable and capable of great tasks if properly stoked.

Asuka. A small, wild stream that could unexpectedly burst its banks but lacked the strength to make lasting changes.

Shino. Regular geometric patterns formed something like a giant hive, lightning dancing over every surface.

It was the most impressive collection of chakra signatures Karin had ever sensed from people her age. They weren't unpleasant to be around; in fact she rather liked them. Especially the Inuzaka boy felt so nice that she couldn't wait to get close to him and… Karin's train of thought stopped when she realized that she was once again thinking about Kiba.

'I might have a real problem there.'

---

"First off, for the second test: Congratulations on passing."

Naruto stood at attention, his eyes focused on the Hokage. The sun had gone down half an hour ago and all passing teams had assembled in the main hall of the tower, a battle arena. It was lit by a clever arrangement of mirrors and invisible lightsources, making it as bright as day. The number of passing teams had been surprising: the Sand Team had finished first; Team 8, 10 and 11 had arrived together and shared the second place. Third to arrive had been the team from Hoshigakure, even if one of the two boys on the team looked as if he would topple over any minute. That had been a surprise; Hoshi was a minor village that usually didn't send genin to chunin exams. The fourth place belonged to the team from Otogakure. The fifth place was occupied by Team Gai. Neji had his arm in a sling and obvious trouble with breathing. Kabuto's team and Team 7 had once again arrived together at the last minute; the latter looked somewhat beaten up.

All in all nine teams had passed the second stage of the chunin exams, bringing the number of contestants to twenty seven. From what Naruto had heard this was an unprecedented number. Considering the odds of each team finding the needed scroll it was almost a miracle. The jonin-sensei of the passing teams along with a few other members of the Leaf were arrayed behind the Hokage. The examiners of the first two phases Ibiki and Aoba were also present. Naruto's sensitive hearing caught a small conversation between Gai and Kakashi.

"Your team isn't too bad. Maybe they were lucky. But as long as my team is around, getting any farther is impossible since from now it's all about real ability. Well, with youth there are sweet times and there are sour times, eh Kakashi…?" Gai said, obviously trying to get a reaction out of the masked jonin.

"Huh? Did you say something?"

Naruto had to bite back a snicker at the face Gai made. He didn't have an especially high opinion of the two jonin, but their antics were funny. Just then the Hokage began a speech about the true purpose of the chunin exams, but Naruto only feigned attention. He knew everything the old man would say already.

'Replacement for war, huh? That's only wishful thinking. The three great villages we are most likely to come in open conflict with didn't even sent teams. The bit about prestige is true to a degree, but most minor villages don't have the manpower to take over a meaningful portion of the missions normally assigned to Konoha anyway.'

Of course, the final round would be a tourist attraction and generate a meaningful amount of money as well as word of mouth. It was still an open debate in shinobi circles if all the effort involved in the chunin exams was really worth it. After all, they didn't exist that long. The Hokage had invested considerable effort to establish them after the third shinobi war. The first of the exams had been held two years after the Kyuubi attack. This exam was the fifth held in Konoha and twenty third overall. Arguments for and against were still exchanged without coming to a definite conclusion.

On the one hand you could get a look at the skills of other villages, but on the other hand the emissaries from those villages also got a close look at your skills. Additionally the presence of so many foreign shinobi always caused a considerable strain of the hosting village's manpower just to keep an eye on the jonin (who were most likely to slip away unnoticed and conduct some spying or other shady business). Since only genin could participate the danger of crippling or killing the future elite of a village was always present. Personally Naruto considered the gain of the exams not worth the effort, but it was a matter of opinion.

Finally the Hokage was finished with his speech and a sick-looking special jonin who introduced himself as Hayate Gekko took over the stage. "Before we can progress to the third phase of the chunin exams I have to announce something. There is a preliminary for the third test to decide who gets to participate in the main event."

To the disbelieving shouts of some of the assembled genin the man explained that there were too many participants left and they had to reduce the numbers. "So anyway, those who are not feeling well and want to quit. Please come forward now since we will be starting the preliminaries immediately."

Kabuto was the first to raise his hand. "Umm… I'm going to quit."

"You're Kabuto Yakushi from the Leaf, right?" Hayate made a note in some documents. "You may leave now. Does anyone else want to retire? Oh, I forgot to mention that from now it will be individual battles. You may raise your hand based on your own judgment."

Naruto could hear that Kabuto's withdrawal sparked some discussion among the Hokage and Aoba.

'Finally someone becomes suspicious.'

In the next moment the swaying genin from Hoshi raised his hand. "I give up, too. Sorry guys, but I'll never last through a fight."

Hayate made another note. "Mizura from the Star, you may withdraw now. Anyone else?"

The blond boy was a bit surprised to see Idate raise his hand next. "I'm withdrawing. If it is allowed I would like to watch the battles, though."

The examiner exchanged a quick look with the Hokage who nodded. "The request is granted, Idate Morino from the Leaf."

For a moment it looked like Sakura wanted to address Idate, but in the end she didn't go through with it. When Naruto turned his head he saw that the young woman from Suna was looking at Idate with a questioning expression before she shrugged. Kabuto left the room, followed by the genin from Hoshi who seemed to have trouble to stay upright. Suddenly an almost inaudible grunt of pain from Sasuke drew Nartuo's attention. The boy was gripping his neck and didn't seem all that healthy.

"Now, there are no more retiring, right?" Hayate asked.

"Sasuke-kun, you should also quit this prelim." Sakura quietly whispered to Sasuke, but not quietly enough to escape Naruto's hearing. "You have been strange since this Orochimaru guy attacked you. That mark still hurts, right? If you continue… Please quit. I'm afraid. You're in no condition to fight."

"Shut up." Sasuke grunted.

"I can see it! You have been hiding the pain all the time!"

"Be quiet."

"Whatever you say, I'm going to tell sensei about that mark. Then…"

'What the heck is wrong here? They didn't tell Kakashi? No, that can't be right. We told Anko and Shino gave a detailed report. I don't think Idate would keep that a secret, either.' Naruto thought. He looked towards his sensei and nodded in the direction of the two arguing genin. Anko's expression tightened slightly and she inclined her head in the Hokage's and Kakashi's direction. 'Okay, apparently the Old Man and Kakashi are insane enough to let Sasuke make his own decision about fighting. Well, it's not my problem.'

Sakura was almost reduced to tears, but Sasuke insisted on fighting because he wanted an answer to the question 'Am I strong?' and there were lots of strong people in the exams. In the end she gave in.

The gnashing of teeth caused Naruto to look towards Neji who was reluctantly raising his good hand, trembling with anger. His breathing was clearly very pained and hampered by his broken ribs.

"Neji Hyuuga from the Leaf, you are hereby withdrawn from the exam. You may leave to the infirmary."

Gai's expression remained unreadable, but Lee looked like someone had killed his puppy. Tenten sent the young Hyuuga a compassionate look, but Neji was already limping out of the room. For a moment Naruto felt slightly bad about what they had done, but the risk had simply been too great. He wouldn't let any unnecessary harm come to Hinata when he saw a way to head it off.

"Anyone else?" Hayate asked. This time no one raised his hand. "Very good. Now, let's begin the preliminary. This preliminary will consist of one on one fights. You will basically fight as if in a real life confrontation. Since we have 23 entrants we will conduct eleven matches. The winners will advance to the third phase. The single remaining genin will receive a free pass."

He continued to explain the rules. Basically, none existed. They would fight until one participant was either dead, incapacitated or gave up. Hayate would randomly draw the matches.

"First match: Sasuke Uchiha against Yoroi Akado. Will everyone except the two participants move to the upper level?"

When Naruto made his way to the stairs he overheard Kakashi warning Sasuke against using his sharingan and that he would interrupt the match if the curse seal acted up. Sasuke seemed surprised that Kakashi knew about the seal and was appalled at the thought of his match being interrupted.

'What heartwarming display of care for a student's wellbeing - not. By then it might be far too late; that seal isn't a joking matter. Are the Hokage and Kakashi having a contest of callous disregard for Sasuke's health? Not that Sasuke isn't an idiot for fighting with such a handicap. We're here only for a chance of promotion; no sense in risking our health, life or future career unnecessarily. '

At first the fight went as expected, meaning Yoroi kicked Sasuke's ass.

"That Yoroi doesn't take this really seriously." Naruto remarked.

Choji nodded in agreement. "No, he doesn't. He's too keen on showing off his ability to absorb chakra and playing around. He could have ended it several times already." Down in the arena Yoroi grabbed Sasuke's head. "He has a hand free. What he should do is getting some punches in or, heck, sticking a kunai in Sasuke's belly."

Just then Sasuke kicked the man away. After a moment to catch his breath Yoroi started an attack run, ostensibly to end the fight.

"He's leaving himself wide open." Hinata said. "I almost wonder if this is deliberate."

A moment before Yoroi's hand connected with Sasuke the Uchiha boy kicked him in the chin, launching the older genin into the air before jumping behind him.

"That's the attack Lee used on Sasuke before the first test." Hinata reported.

Naruto only shrugged. It was to be expected that a sharingan wielder copied all sorts of things, even from allies and without permission. When Sasuke was about to capitalize on the opening something happened that Naruto had expected for a while. For a moment the curse seal visibly expanded over Sasuke's body before it receded again. Recovered, Sasuke drove Yoroi into the ground with a series of kicks. Both Sasuke and Yoroi ended up lying on the ground, but only Sasuke managed to stand up again before sitting down.

"I'm stopping the fight here. Thus, the winner of the match Sasuke Uchiha has passed the prelims!" Hayate announced.

Kakashi appeared at Sasuke's side, but the boy simply remained sitting on the ground. Naruto frowned. There was something about the way Sasuke held himself...

"That could have backfired. The boy was lucky Yoroi didn't get up or it would have been over." Anko remarked.

"What do you mean, sensei?" Choji asked.

Their sensei shook her head. "The first part of that move is one of Gai's. It requires very specific physical conditioning. Sasuke's muscles can't keep up; they are cramping. I don't think he can stand up now."

During their talk Yoroi had been taken away by the medics and Sasuke by Kakashi despite the protests of the boy.

"Second match: Kin Tsuchi against Shino Aburame."

---

Kin gulped while descending the stairs. This was it. Only a few more minutes and she would be safe… if Shino had spoken the truth and everything went according to plan. A quick look back showed her that Orochimaru had departed. Apparently no one had seen through his disguise as jonin of the Sound Team.

'Good, that simplifies thing. If he isn't here he won't be able to notice anything. It seems for once luck is with me.'

A few seconds later she stood in the arena, facing the expressionless Aburame boy. She had to make this look believable, meaning she had to fight seriously. Pasting a confident smirk on her face she decided to begin with the taunting immediately. "You Konoha shinobi are all weak. I'll end this quickly."

Shino didn't respond.

"Begin!" came the shout of the referee.

Kin opened the fight by quickly launching several senbon with attached bells and diving out of the way of a possible counter attack. Shino took evasive action, but his body split into several copies that proceeded to surround her. There were at last two dozen of them, too many to keep them all in her field of vision.

"I won't fall for such a beginner's trick! Don't you have anything better?"

Basic clones were rarely used since they were normally easily identifiable. They made no sound and had no effect on their surroundings. In that moment Kin noticed that some of the clones did cast shadows.

'Are these solid clones, a separate illusion or a genjutsu?'

Concentrating on her sense of hearing, she tried to find the real Shino. It was surprisingly difficult because a very low buzzing sound filled the arena. Kin noticed a single bug landing on her, but she pretended to not see it or feel the almost imperceptible drain on her chakra it caused. It was a believable way of losing. She wasn't here to win, after all.

Launching more senbon she noticed to her dismay that all of them penetrated their targets without doing any visible damage. That meant they weren't solid clones. "Show yourself, you coward."

'Two can play that game. I just use my bells to create mirror images of myself.'

Some of Shino's clones moved to attack her, but she dodged while throwing more senbon with attached bells at different spots of the arena. Shino had moved out of the initial range of her genjutsu bells, but she could blanket the area with enough bells. That should hamper Shino's movements, maybe even paralyze him.

Kin frowned when nothing happened. The clones were still moving, but enough were standing still so that she couldn't find the original. She was about to throw more senbon at the stationary targets when the first clone reached her.

It was with considerable surprise that she felt a right hook connecting with her face. She barely managed to evade the follow-up attack, but more clones were still coming at her. Using her senbon as improvised slashing weapons she retaliated.

She felt resistance when her strike hit, but far less than normal for human flesh. Her eyes narrowed when she noticed a few small, black bugs trailing in the wake of her weapons.

'These clones are made of bugs, but there is a slightly larger bunshin or another illusion used as an overlay. If I hit them they partially dissolve into bugs, but they reform almost immediately. Thanks to the overlay I haven't been able to see that earlier.'

More clones came at her, preventing her from tolling her bells via the chakra strings she normally used. Her hands were too busy with fighting off the clones. Instead she began hurling insults at Shino, following the plan to provoke him. She mocked whatever she could think of, from his family to his skills as a shinobi to his sexual prowess. Suddenly she heard another clone approaching from behind. Strands of her long, animated hair wound around it, but before she could throw him away the clone dissolved into bugs. Bugs that were now crawling all over her.

Shino spoke for the first time since the battle started. "These guys are called kikaichu. They attack their prey in groups and consume its chakra. If I attack you with this many you will never fight again. If you don't want that give up. That is recommended."

"Never! I'd rather die than give up!" Kin shouted while frantically (and ineffectively) trying to rid herself of the bugs. She already felt herself getting weaker. A second later the nearest two clones dissolved into clouds of bugs that descended on her.

"If that is your wish than I will oblige. Now you will pay the price for insulting my clan."

Even more bugs swarmed all over her. They were in her hair, her eyes, her nostrils and her mouth, crawling inside her clothes. Her cry was choked off by all the insects in her throat. She no longer had the strength to keep standing and fell to the ground. All her chakra was gone. The last thing Kin saw was Shino's impassive form staring down at her.

---

"Winner: Shino Aburame." Hayate announced.

Several medics rushed to the prone form of the girl. Streams of kikaichu were leaving the still body and returning to Shino. The boy impassively watched as the medics hurriedly put the body on a stretcher and left the arena.

"That was unusually cruel for Shino." Choji remarked.

Naruto had to agree. On the other hand, it was certainly a convincing display. Shino had informed them about his clan's plans regarding Kin. At the moment the girl from Oto seemed as dead as a doornail. Naruto didn't know the details, but apparently they would switch the body with a decoy and revive her.

Looking around, Naruto tried to gauge the reaction of the spectators. Naturally the jonin kept their expressions firmly in check, but the genin were easier to read. The team from Hoshi seemed a bit disturbed, but most of the Konoha teams took it in stride. All three of the Suna genin gave Shino approving looks. Kin's two teammates goggled at the display before they sneered and resumed their previous expression.

Hayate's voice cut his observation short. "Third match: Naruto Uzumaki against Kankuro."

"Good luck, Naruto." Hinata and Choji said almost simultaneously before looking at each other and laughing.

Anko patted him on the shoulder. "Give him hell, kid."

During his way down Naruto reviewed all he knew about his opponent while inconspicuously concealing a throwing knife in his hand. Kankuro was a puppeteer and around two years older than him. That meant Naruto couldn't be sure if he would be fighting against the original initially. Hinata would surely have said something if Kankuro had already performed the switch before he headed down, but he could switch at any moment. The artificial bodies of puppets could contain all sorts of gadgets. Kankuro possibly had additional skills. Beginner puppeteers were often rather weak in direct combat and made prime targets if you could get past the puppet, but Kankuro had been in the business long enough to pick up more skills if he cared to.

Coming face to face with his opponent Naruto strained his enhanced senses to learn more. His nose could tell no difference, but he had more success with his sense of hearing. Both the young man before him and the object on his back had a heartbeat and seemed to breathe. On further examination the heartbeat of what looked like Kankuro was far too regular to be human. It had an almost mechanic quality to it. The same was true for the breathing.

Naruto had to suppress a smirk. A valuable piece of information gained before the fight even started. When both contestants faced each other and waited for the fight to start Kankuro set his bundle to the side.

"Begin!" Hayate shouted.

The blond boy immediately launched the knife against the bundle and jumped back, putting more distance between them. With a wooden thud his knife impacted in the outstretched hand of his opponent that he had used to intercept the knife before it could reach the bundle. A hard substance was flaking off, turning to sand. A wooden puppet hand became visible.

A moment later the bundle unraveled, revealing the real Kankuro. "That was unexpected. How did you know it wasn't me?"

Naruto smirked. "Tricks of the trade."

"Heh. No sense in keeping up the charade then." The rest of the puppet's disguise dissolved into sand a second later. It was a strange sight. Most of the puppet was hidden beneath a shabby brown cloak with several slits. Two arms and four legs were visible, but the strangest thing was the head. From Naruto's position it was clear it had more than one face; probably one on each side. The face facing Naruto directly seemed to be smiling.

He had no further time for observation. From the puppet's mouth emerged a barrage of needles. Naruto barely managed to dodge. In return he threw four knives at Kankuro, but the puppet managed to intercept all of them.

"That won't work." the Suna genin said with a smirk.

Naruto raised an eyebrow and made hand seals. "How about this instead? Fire Release: Small Fireball"

The small fireball was a very common jutsu in Konoha; even most people who didn't have a fire affinity or weren't ninjutsu specialists learned it at one point or another. It wouldn't give away much of his skills.

He half expected the puppet and Kankuro to dodge. Instead the head of the puppet rotated until a face with stylized tears was facing him. In the next moment it spouted a high-pressure jet of water that cut directly through his fireball, missed Naruto by centimeters and dug a small trench through the arena floor.

'Okay, that one is dangerous.'

The jet continued to follow the dodging Naruto, but he managed to evade it until it suddenly petered out. Reverting its head back to the smiling face it started once again to launch needles at him, only this time it raised its arms and began firing needles from there too. Dodging three different streams of needles was far more difficult.

More than once a needle grazed him. Each time he briefly felt an increasingly numb sensation, but fortunately the poison seemed to be no match for his regeneration ability; at least as long as he could avoid getting hit with too many needles.

'Crap. I don't know if my Thunder Disc is powerful enough to cut through the water. I could try to outlast his supply of weapons and water. On the other hand I don't want to give my best ninjutsu skills away if I can avoid it. It's time for a change of tactics. If that doesn't work I'll have to reveal more or give up.'

'Bunshin'

Naruto created five immaterial clones, all running in different directions. It was difficult to hold that many different tasks, but for a short time he could manage it. The maneuver would give him only a few seconds at best anyway. He ran directly at the puppet, hoping that Kankuro wouldn't think him insane enough to try that. He still was ready to doge at the slightest indication.

The Suna genin apparently held his sanity in higher regard and split his fire between the clone trying to circumvent the puppet to get at him directly, the one trying to get the most distance and a third who followed Naruto's original course. To do that it had to turn its head and arms away from the real one. Making more hand seals the real Naruto slammed his hands on the ground directly before the puppet.

'Earth Release: Slippery Mud Field'

A split second later a narrow section of the floor reaching from the puppet to Kankuro turned into slippery mud. Naruto turned his forward momentum into a somersault, hitting the puppet with his legs and propelling it backwards. Kankuro's eyes widened when he realized what happened. A moment later two things occurred simultaneously: An additional arm with a wrist knife emerged from under the cloak, ripping through Naruto's leather clothing and giving him a shallow gash on his abdomen before he could get out of the way. The second thing was that Kankuro lost his footing on the mud and had to fight to keep upright, flailing with his arms.

Jumping off the puppet Naruto landed on his feet and immediately started to run towards Kankuro, forcefully ignoring his wound for the moment despite the unusually intense pain. Not stopping his run he took one of his knives in his hand. Meanwhile the puppet collided with the reeling Kankuro. Both went down in a tangle of limbs.

When Naruto arrived they were already rising again, but he managed to dive under another slash of the puppet and bury his fist in Kankuro's stomach. A hand feeling like stone bruised Naruto's other arm, knocking the knife out of his hand. In response he head butted Kankuro, causing him to stagger back. He didn't give his opponent any time to recover and pressed the attack.

Kankuro gave as good as he got. His right hand had turned into stone and Naruto was forced to take some painful hits though he managed to deflect most strikes. His opponent had a bit more raw physical strength than Naruto, but his agility was decidedly weaker. Some part of Naruto classified the taijutsu skill level about the same as Haku's, high genin, borderline chunin. Apparently it wasn't really Kankuro's strong suit.

Finally an especially vicious uppercut dazed Kankuro long enough for Naruto to retrieve another knife and get into his back. He took care to keep Kankuro between him and his puppet. There was no sense in taking chances.

Naruto pressed the knife to Kankuro's throat with a force just short of drawing blood. "I can kill you with the slightest movement. Give up now."

Kankuro went very still. "I surrender."

"Winner: Naruto Uzumaki."

---

Temari watched with an impassive expression as the medics patched up the Uzumaki boy. Inwardly she was very surprised that her brother had lost, especially because he had dominated the first part of the fight.

'One mistake and the entire battle shifted.'

The Konoha genin had been unexpectedly skillful, just like the Aburame boy before him. She wasn't sure about the Uchiha; he had clearly been suffering from some injury and his enemy had been rather lackluster. Apparently the Konoha jonin knew what they were doing when they entered their rookie teams in the exams. It should have been obvious from the fact that all four rookie teams made it past the second phase.

A minute later Kankuro rejoined them with his rewrapped puppet on his back. Bruises were slowly becoming visible on his face and he was massaging his stomach.

"You lost." Gaara said in a flat voice before he turned back to the arena.

Kankuro winced. "Sorry, I made a mistake. I just don't understand it. The needles were coated in an extract made of the yellow desert orchid. I'm sure at least a few needles hit him. It should have made his movements noticeably sluggish. That isn't even mentioning the wound from Four-face's wrist knife. He should be writhing on the floor in pain, not beating me up."

They all turned to watch the blond boy. The medics were still fussing over him, but after bandaging his wound Naruto returned to his team on the gallery. He didn't look the worse for the wear when he received the congratulations of his friends.

"That is strange. I wonder if…"

The announcement of the next match interrupted their conversation. "Fourth match: Shinji Ikari against Asuka Soryu."

Temari scrutinized the two contestants. The first things she noticed were the gloves the boy was wearing and the way he moved his hands. Then the girl unsealed a naginata from a scroll. It was an unusual weapon for a shinobi, but at first glance the girl seemed to know what she was doing.

Then the fight started. The boy apparently used gloves with attached wire, but the red-headed girl used her Nagitana to catch them. Soon both the wires and the weapon were immobilized, prompting the fighters to discard them and switch to more general shinobi tools. Temari didn't find the fight very interesting. Both combatants displayed above average skills fitting for a genin, but nothing truly noteworthy. Oh, it was more than she was expecting from shinobi who had been genin for less than half a year. That didn't mean it was enough for the chunin exams.

'Either they were very lucky or their teammates pulled them through.'

Since nothing especially interesting was happening she restarted their conversation while the attention of the other occupants of the room was on the battle. The distance to the other groups was large enough that they couldn't be easily overheard and she used one of her small fans to cover her mouth to prevent her lips from being read.

"As I was saying, I wonder if the boy has some sort of minor bloodline. Natural poison resistance seems likely. He doesn't look like a medic-nin and even those have trouble neutralizing poisons on the fly."

Kankuro looked thoughtful. "Maybe. I don't think he went to the trouble of acquiring a resistance the normal way. The poisons I use are not that common and I doubt anyone would choose them to build a resistance against."

Baki-sensei cleared his throat, hiding his mouth behind a hand. "He might have increased vitality like the Uzumaki of old. We have no definite intelligence about his parents, but the last known Uzumaki woman in Konoha died around the right time to give birth to him before perishing. Additionally he is potentially the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi. Either that or he is a decoy to draw attention away from the real one."

Temari had real trouble not to shout. Their sensei had known about that and didn't see fit to inform them. Kankuro turned as white as a sheet when he heard that. If that was true the boy could probably have ripped him apart in exotic and highly unpleasant ways without even trying.

"Interesting" was Gaara's comment.

"And you didn't see fit to inform us why?" Temari furiously whispered to Baki.

"Because we have no definite confirmation and you might have hesitated in the battle against him. The Kazekage hoped to get a definite answer about the truth of the matter. The Hokage announced that the boy was a jinchuuriki shortly after the Kyuubi attack before he issued a law that forbid talking about the matter. The boy's treatment by the villagers supports the story, but there are also signs to the contrary. According to all our reports he never received special training as Konoha's weapon or showed the slightest indication of being capable of using the Kyuubi's power. The records show him failing advancement in the academy twice, but his grades got noticeably better later." the jonin explained in a low voice.

After a short pause used to making sure that no one was paying them any attention he continued his explanation. "We haven't been able to access any detailed records of his time as a genin. His sensei is the ex-apprentice of the famous Sannin Orochimaru, has a close association with the Konoha elder Homura Mitokado and reported a rapid improvement in his skills. His team fulfilled ten D-rank, five C-rank and one B-rank mission. Additionally his team aided in an A-rank mission together with the team of Kakashi Hatake. Rumor has it they killed the Swordsman of the Mist Zabuza Momoichi along with his group of missing nin and an army of thugs in Wave Country to the east. Uzumaki is either one of the future elite of Konoha, a jinchuuriki or both."

Temari sighed. So their father had used them to gain certainty if the Uzumaki boy was truly a jinchuuriki. Such a thing was critical information, but Temari really didn't appreciate how the man she had to force herself to think of as father was going about the matter. Even worse, they still didn't have any definite answer if he was a jinchuuriki or only a decoy while the real one was kept in hiding. At least the battle against Kankuro showed that he was indeed highly skilled.

When she returned her full attention to the battle in the arena she saw that there was still no victor. The girl had been singed by several rather low-level fire jutsu while the boy was completely drenched by the girl's use of water jutsu. They had thoroughly beaten each other up and were panting heavily, both bleeding from several light wounds.

"I won't lose to the likes of you. One day I'll be the best!" the girl shouted.

"Sorry. I can't let you win. I promised Kurenai-sensei I that I'll always give my best." the boy answered in a sheepish voice, but Temari heard the steel underneath.

The two simultaneously ran at each, wound up for a strike… and knocked each other out. Temari had to look twice to get confirmation. Yes, the two genin were lying unconscious on the floor.

"The fight ends in a draw. Both participants are knocked out." the referee announced. He seemed somewhat bewildered at the outcome. Whispers broke out among all the spectators. Especially noticeable was the green-clad jonin she identified as Maito Gai from her briefing who shouted something about the flames of youth.

'Such draws are very rare, but it happens. I have to say both made a good effort. It was bad luck that they were so evenly matched.'

After the jonin had made sure that their respective pupils were alright the medics removed them to the infirmary.

"Fifth match: Tenten against Zaku Abumi."

The boy from the Sound village carried both of his arms in a sling, but the Leaf kunoichi looked fresh.

"Begin!"

Tenten opened the battle by jumping into air and throwing several shuriken at her opponent. Just before they hit there was a boom accompanied by a cloud of smoke. When it cleared Zaku had one arm pointed at the girl, the shuriken harmlessly imbedded in the ground around him.

"One arm is enough against the likes of you." Zaku boasted.

'Ah, so it was a trick. He is able to use at least one arm. I wonder how he managed that blast without hand seals or a tool.'

Not to be deterred, the girl started running around her opponent, throwing kunai at him. Each one was deflected by a blast of air. Then Tenten retrieved a scroll from a pocket and jumped into the air again, unfurling the scroll in the process.

"That's quite a good sealing scroll." Kankuro commented while Tenten unsealed weapon after weapon and launched them in a steady stream at her enemy. Unfortunately Zaku continued sending out airwaves, deflecting every projectile into the ground around him.

"No way, he stopped everything I threw." Tenten shouted as soon as she landed.

Zaku laughed. "You Leaf kunoichi are pathetic. I don't need two arms to defeat you, one is more than enough."

Tenten's expression became more determined and she readied another two scrolls, placing them on the ground to her sides.

"It won't work; whatever it is." Zaku taunted.

Temari shook her head in disgust. The idiot didn't take the girl seriously. He could have attacked her directly with his air blasts at any time, but he chose to play around. Humiliating an opponent had its place, but this was not the right time for it. While it was always pleasant to cruelly crush enemies she would reserve such behavior for the finals when it would have the most effect on the many spectators.

Meanwhile Tenten had completed a string of hand seals. "Rising Twin Dragons!"

Temari sighed in disappointment when she saw what Tenten was doing. It was only a bigger version of her earlier attack, meaning she jumped into the air surrounded by her unfurled scrolls and launched an avalanche of weapons at Zaku.

"DON'T MESS WITH ME! It doesn't matter how many weapons you throw at me. It's all the same. You should always have a trump card, right?" the Oto shinobi shouted before he freed his other arm and began blasting the weapons coming at him away with both hands.

'I would have expected something different. If one avenue of attack doesn't work it's unlikely that it will be successful a second time. Overwhelming him was at least a workable idea, though. I really wonder how he can create that many blasts in such a quick succession.'

Then she noticed a reflection in the air.

'Oh, the girl has thin wires attached to the weapons. That promises to get interesting.'

"I'm not done!"

As soon as Tenten landed she jumped into the air again. Kankuro whistled appreciatively when the kunoichi lifted all the weapons she had tossed in her earlier attack into the air and hurled them at her opponent, forming a rapidly shrinking steely hemisphere.

Zaku used both his arms to blast the weapons coming at him away… but he had only two arms and the sharp instruments of death were arriving from every angle.

Steel met flesh and Zaku's cry was abruptly cut off. Blood splattered and formed an interesting pattern on the floor. Temari could respect the artistry of it. A severed hand was launched high into the air and landed directly at Temari's feet.

"Winner: Tenten."

On closer examination she noticed an artificial opening in the palm of the hand. Apparently Zaku's ability had been due to some medical modification. From the corner of her eyes she noticed a smile forming on Gaara's lips. Her brother appreciated the liberal spilling of blood and the fights up to now had been rather dull in that regard.

Temari kicked the severed hand back into the arena. Zaku's dead, impaled body had collapsed in a spreading pool of blood. It seemed Tenten had taken no risks; every vital area of the now deceased shinobi had been hit at least once.

"I like that girl." Temari announced. "I could have beaten her last attack easily, but it was a nice effort."

Kankuro nodded. "That was a good wire technique. If she had been born in Suna she would have made an impressive puppeteer."

Gaara and Baki remained silent while the body was removed and the arena was provisionally cleaned up.

"Sixth match: Temari against Dosu Kinuta." Hayate announced when the arena was ready again.

"My turn." Temari said before she jumped into the arena.

While she waited for her opponent she thought about her strategy. The Oto genin didn't look that skillful, but it was better to take no chances.

'Before the first test he attacked that fishy Konoha genin with the device on his arm. It shouldn't pose a danger if I keep my distance. I should end this quickly. Kankuro already lost; I can't risk losing, too. Might as well use one of my better techniques while I'm at it.'

The bandage-wrapped genin leered at her when he arrived at the floor of the arena. "I will make you puke your guts out before I carve you up and eat you. Girls like you have no business playing ninja."

Temari's eyes narrowed. She had thought about letting him live, but no one got away with belittling her skill as a kunoichi; especially not a low-skilled sicko. Well, she might as well complete the work of the Aburame boy and the girl and completely wipe out the team from Sound. They had already gotten on her nerves before the first test.

"Begin!"

'Wind Release: Cast Net'

Simultaneously jumping back and swinging her fan she launched the technique. Her opponent tried to get out of the way but wasn't quick enough. A mishmash of blood, entrails, severed body parts and remnants of the genin's clothing splattered against the wall behind his earlier position. Temari clicked her tongue in annoyance when she saw that several streaks of blood and other pieces of organic matter had landed on the floor. It seemed she would have to train a bit with the technique; the precision wasn't up to her usual standard.

"Winner: Temari."

Her eyes searched and found Idate while she folded up her fan. The young man had taken position to the side of the examiner of the first test. 'They have the same last name, so they're probably related.'

It was telling how Idate distanced himself from his team. He didn't seem perturbed in the slightest by the bloody display and gave her a smile. Not all of the other genin seemed to share the sentiment. The girl from Hoshi and the pink-haired teammate of Idate seemed especially queasy. In contrast, the Sound jonin didn't seem to care at all that his team had just gotten slaughtered.

"Good work. That was quick." Kankuro said when she got back.

Temari shrugged. "I didn't want to take the risk of playing around."

It was one lesson of their fight with the rogue shinobi from Ishigakure one year ago that she had taken to heart: Don't play around. It opened you to sucker punches of normally inferior opponents. Sometimes it was necessary to make a show out of a fight, but the preliminaries didn't belong to that category.

"Seventh match: Sumaru against Hinata Hyuuga."

---

Hinata curiously observed her opponent, a black-haired boy about her age. He looked very similar to the jonin accompanying the team. Perhaps he was a son, nephew or close cousin. Some of the minor villages were so small that such constellations were easily possible. Something about his chakra network struck her as strange, but she wasn't exactly sure what caused that impression. She had not the slightest idea what his skills were. Information about Hoshigakure was notoriously hard to come by. The boy seemed very determined, though.

"Begin!"

Hinata took up a defensive stance after throwing three shuriken, not wanting to risk a headlong attack.

Her opponent ducked under the attack and made a hand seal she had never seen before. "Mysterious Peacock Method" he said before multiple appendages emerged from the back of the young shinobi.

They did resemble the feathers of a peacock… or the chakra tails a jinchuuriki produced. Her byakugan showed her clearly that it was human chakra, but it had been altered somehow. It seemed more potent.

"Turtle!" her opponent yelled. The feathers/tails wrapped around the genin, forming a solid-looking shell vaguely resembling a turtle. Hinata's shuriken simply bounced off.

'This might be more difficult than anticipated.'

"You have no chance against my technique. I will show everyone that Hoshigakure is to be taken seriously. Give up now." the boy said in a confident voice.

Hinata smiled at him. "Not before I try a few more things."

Closing the range, Hinata evaded two ropes of chakra that emerged from the mass. Her first unenhanced strike did no damage. The surface of the chakra construct was a bit elastic, just enough to absorb the force of the blow. Her follow-up juuken strike had more success. A gap with ragged edges opened where her chakra pierced the shell, but before she could capitalize on the opening she had to jump back to evade more chakra ropes.

"That was good, but not good enough." Sumaro shouted.

Four ropes struck at her. Evading the attacks became more difficult, but it was still manageable. Hinata was sure it looked like an acrobatic dance as she weaved through the furiously lashing ropes. The hole she had created in the shell was closing already. At least it appeared that her opponent could only move slowly while using his technique. When she arrived at her target the hole had disappeared completely. This time she left almost a dozen holes behind before she was forced to retreat, but none were deep enough to reach the genin inside the construct.

'This is getting me nowhere. I really hate such slugfests. To really pierce the shell I'd have to hit the same spot at least five times in short order and my opponent won't give me the time for that.'

Her water jutsu might be able to penetrate the chakra shell, but she wasn't willing to reveal those skills. Her medical abilities weren't useful in this fight. Well, if advanced skills weren't the answer it was time for more conventional means.

At her next attack run it happened. One of the ropes connected and lashed across her hip before she could get out of the way. Biting back the pain Hinata continued forward. After each strike she hurled a kunai with an exploding tag in the hole. The boy's eyes widened when he realized what she was doing. She barely managed to clear the radius of the explosion when the tags ignited. A flailing chakra rope swept her off her feet. Another one slashed across her body, ripping some of her clothes and weapon pouches away.

Turning her fall into a roll, Hinata came to rest at a wall. She didn't have to turn around to examine the result of her gamble. The construct had been almost completely destroyed. Only a thin shell was left, but it was already regenerating. Her opponent looked exhausted; producing that much chakra seemed to tax his endurance greatly. Another attack like that and she would win.

Then she realized something. Her leather vest was in tatters, but luckily her mesh shirt was still intact and had protected her from real injuries. The thin but sturdy wrap she used to support her breasts and preserve her modesty was likewise undamaged. More problematic was that she had lost the two pouches she used to keep her exploding tags safe. Both her leg holster and the one at her midriff were lying on the field.

Hinata winced when she got to her feet. Her leg muscles and torso were severely bruised, reducing her dexterity considerably. Before she could reach her lost pouches her enemy seemed to realize what she was intending. He brought two of his reformed chakra ropes into her path while the other two swept up the pouches.

'Crap. I have no means to damage him enough anymore and won't be able to dodge long enough to wear him down with Juuken.'

For a moment Hinata just looked at her wary opponent before she steeled herself. She knew what she had to do. "I surrender. I have no means to pierce your technique."

The boy waited until Hayate announced him as the winner before he dropped his technique. He gave her a tired smile. "That was a good fight. You almost got me with your last attack."

Hinata gave a small smile of her own and nodded politely. "Thank you. Your technique is very impressive. I wish you good luck in the finals."

After collecting her weapon pouches and discarding the shredded remains of her leather vest Hinata returned to her team. She wasn't really sorry about losing; she had no personal stake in winning. Her clan wouldn't be able to criticize her battle performance and she had sustained no serious injuries. All in all she was content with her performance in the chunin exams.

"Sorry about losing, sensei." Hinata said when she reached her team.

Anko smiled supportively. "You fought exemplarily, Hinata. There's nothing to be ashamed of."

Naruto nodded. "Sensei is right. Without that lucky hit at the end you probably would have won."

Choji simply patted her on the shoulder, but to her amusement Hinata noticed that his eyes threatened to wander to her now clearly visible chest area. Kiba and the recently returned Shinji were far less subtle. Sakura's envious expression almost caused her to laugh. Seriously, most people forgot that she could see them even if she wasn't visibly looking in their direction. Well, she did have the most developed feminine assets in her age group by far.

Hinata was no longer shy about her body, but most people aside from her team and the circle didn't know that. If Youko hadn't taken care of that issue long ago it would have happened when Anko became their sensei at the latest. The jonin had some very unfavorable things to say about kunoichi who displayed inappropriate modesty and didn't use every possible advantage their bodies granted them.

Before anyone could make a fool of himself Hayate announced the next battle. "Eight match: Sakura Haruno against Yakumo Kurama."

A short time later the two girls had taken up position in the arena. Sakura looked hesitant before her expression became uncharacteristically determined.

"Yakumo."

"Sakura."

"I want you to fight me seriously. I know you don't consider me your equal, but today I will prove you wrong. Don't show me any mercy." Sakura declared.

'I wonder where that came from.'

Yakumo simply stared at Sakura before she shrugged. "Suit yourself."

Hinata noticed Ino shaking her head. "Of all times to act as a real kunoichi Sakura has to choose now. This won't end well."

The pale girl had to agree. Yakumo and Sakura had never gotten along that well. Something just rubbed them the wrong way about each other. In the later academy years it had been mostly Sakura's lack of seriousness at being a kunoichi that sparked the brunette girl's contempt. The constant fawning about the Uchiha wasn't doing Yakumo's opinion of Sakura any favors. By now she despised her.

Ino might be somewhat lenient because of her erstwhile friendship in the first year of the academy before the rivalry over Sasuke destroyed everything, but Hinata agreed with Yakumo, although with a caveat. In light of her earlier life she understood some of Sakura's problem.

Sakura needed help; someone who would finally kick her ass into gear and strip all the silly illusions away. The girl had potential, but her own mindset worked against her. They had tried a few times during the academy, but there was no getting through to her. Ino had required months of work to break out of her bad habits. They had found no starting point to work on Sakura. Kakashi had proven an absolute failure in that regard, too. Perhaps the worst thing was that Sakura didn't even realize that what she was doing was wrong and would lead to an early grave.

'Yakumo will pull no punches.'

"Begin!"

Both kunoichi immediately began making hand seals. Sakura created two clones and began running at Yakumo. Said girl had cast an area genjutsu, probably a relatively simple False Surroundings Technique. Yakumo probably controlled it directly to prevent Sakura from noticing it. Hinata could see that the only thing it did was making it appear as if Yakumo was still standing at her original position while the real girl was moving to the side.

When Sakura got close to the illusionary Yakumo Hinata spied a concentration of chakra at her feet, propelling her rapidly forward. It was a useful, widely used trick requiring very good chakra control, but it didn't appear to be properly integrated in Sakura's fighting style. What should have been a knockout blow would only hurt her target a bit despite the considerable momentum.

The look of surprise on Sakura's face when her fist went directly through the illusion without resistance was truly memorable. In the next moment the real Yakumo hammered the blunt end of a kunai into the back of Sakura's head, dropping the girl to the floor. She didn't get up again.

"Winner: Yakumo Kurama."

The medics managed to restore Sakura to consciousness without having to transport her to the infirmary. Sakura clearly had a murderous headache. When she realized what had happened a look of utter depression appeared on her face. She didn't speak with anyone when she returned to the gallery.

"You know, I half-expected you to do something far more vicious." Ino remarked when Yakumo had rejoined them.

Yakumo shrugged. "I didn't want to show off my skills. Any hints we give the competition might be our downfall in the finals."

"Ninth match: Hokuto against Ino Yamanaka."

"Good luck." Hinata said to Ino before the blond girl headed down to the arena.

There was no banter exchanged between Ino and the brunette girl from Hoshigakure. After Hayate started the match Hokuto used the same technique her teammate Sumaru had used to create the strange chakra limbs.

"Bull!"

Once again the chakra wrapped around a genin, this time forming the imitation of a big bull. Hokuto seemed to float in the main body. The construct immediately charged at Ino, quickly building up speed. Hinata could see the tiniest smirk appearing on Ino's face when she made a single hand seal.

The chakra construct changed course slightly, running right past Ino. Two seconds later it smacked into the wall at full speed. For a moment Hokuto seemed dazed inside her chakra shell and didn't move. It was enough time for Ino to once again make another hand seal. Immediately after that her body slumped. A few seconds later the expression on the Hoshi girl's face changed until it was eerily similar to Ino's expression.

Dispelling the chakra construct the possessed girl walked to the center of the hall, discarding all her weapons in the process. Then she bound her own hands and feet with wire. It wasn't escape-proof, but the girl would need quite some time to free herself.

As soon as she was finished with her task Ino returned to her own body. Hokuto's expression changed first to confusion and then to panic as she frantically struggled to free herself. In the next second Ino appeared behind her with a kunai in her hand, holding it to the girl's throat.

"Winner: Ino Yamanaka."

Hinata let out a small sigh. She was glad that her friend had won, but apparently she was the only member of the circle who had lost her match to date.

'Well, it isn't like I urgently wanted to win.'

---

"Tenth match: Gaara against Rock Lee."

Naruto had a bad feeling about this match. Gaara was a vicious killer and Lee didn't know when to stop. There was no way this battle would end well.

"Alright Lee! Go do it!" Gai shouted. He and Kakashi were standing a bit isolated with Sakura and Tenten by their side at one end of the gallery. Asuma, Anko and Kurenai along with their teams formed a close cluster between them and the other teams.

Lee jumped down to the arena. Gaara had already arrived in a swirl of sand and didn't seem very impressed by his opponent.

"Begin!"

Gai's prized pupil opened the match by closing the distance to Gaara and attacking him with a kick. Just in time a torrent of sand poured out of the gourd on Gaara's back, stopping the attack cold. Lee barely managed to get out of the way before the sand crushed him.

The green-clad genin continued to make attacks, but the sand always interposed itself in time. Slowly sand was gathering at the edges of the room, forming large heaps almost invisible in the shadows. Apparently there was a steady, almost invisible flow of sand out of the gourd because the sand directly around Gaara didn't become less. There was more sand that should have been able to fit in the gourd, but Naruto supposed that the Suna jinchuuriki could have hidden a storage scroll there. Gaara wore an utterly bored expression, but Naruto detected just a hint of a foreign, malicious presence behind his eyes.

'Uh oh. It seems the Ichibi is egging him on.'

"Is that all?" Gaara asked in an uncaring voice.

Suddenly Gai began shouting. "Lee! Take them off!"

Lee came to a stop on top of the stone hands in the room. "But Gai-sensei, that's only for a time when I must protect many precious people, isn't it?"

"It's alright. I'll allow it."

In the next moment Lee began taking off the weights he wore on his feet.

"Why does Gaara only watch? Lee is wide open." Choji asked.

"I'm more concerned about the fact that he needs Gai to give him instructions during the battle." Anko answered. "If you have to babysit a genin and prompt every action he is definitely not ready for making chunin."

What went unsaid was that Gai was telling Lee to disregard his earlier orders. Competing for promotion was clearly not protecting precious people. Heck, in the preliminaries it couldn't even called protecting the reputation of the Leaf.

"That isn't Gaara down there. It's a sand clone. The real Gaara is hiding in one of the sand piles." Hinata said quietly.

That made sense. Gaara probably wanted to play around before sating his bloodlust. This morning they had witnessed how he created a bloody rain out of one of the teams that had lain in wait on the path to the tower. It wasn't an efficient or safe course of action, but Naruto supposed Gaara had enough power to take risks when he wanted to.

Lee's speed had increased tremendously and the sand had trouble stopping his attack. Naruto idly listened to Gai explaining to Sakura that Lee could only use taijutsu. Finally Lee managed to hit Gaara with full force, propelling him to the other end of the arena.

Then Gaara's face began flaking off, revealing an unblemished body beneath. What was truly scary was Gaara's expression. It was clear to Naruto that his fellow jinchuuriki's bloodlust was steadily increasing. On the other hand it could be a mind game, after all the Gaara visible wasn't the real one.

In the next moment the sand reformed the armor around Gaara.

'Lee can't win like this.'

Apparently Lee knew this too, for he loosened the bandages around his forearms.

"Lee is opening the first gate. His muscles are flooded with the chakra. It's the same attack he almost completed against Sasuke before the first test." Hinata quietly reported.

That caught Anko's attention. "Lee did what?"

Hinata didn't have time to answer for Lee attacked Gaara. His strength and speed had increased once again, but instead of a single kick he needed an entire series to get Gaara into the air. As soon as he was high enough he wrapped his bandages around Gaara's body.

'If this was the real Gaara I'd be worried. Killing the Kazekage's son would create a nasty diplomatic incident despite all the waivers. In the worst case killing Gaara might free the Ichibi.'

"TAKE THIS! INITIAL LOTUS!" Lee shouted while trying to pile-drive Gaara into the ground.

Then Gaara's sand clone exploded.

Lee flew out of the explosion, bounced off the ground and hit one of the walls. Bits of shrapnel made of hardened sand had imbedded themselves in his body. He was clearly hurt, but still conscious.

Another Gaara appeared and used his sand to slap him around.

"Why doesn't Lee dodge?" Choji asked.

"Opening even the first of the eight gates has consequences. There's a reason they are normally closed, you know. It's normally a forbidden technique. All that high speed taijutsu puts a lot of stress on the body. Right now he's probably feeling so much pain he can barely move." Hinata explained.

Anko nodded. "Hinata is right. It's stupid to use such a move as a standard combat tactic and arguably not that useful even on special occasions. If an attack performed with an opened gate doesn't manage to take the enemy down the user is helpless. That isn't even touching on the long term damage it does to one's body. Not many shinobi train to open even the first gate and those that do mainly plan to use it as a desperation move. Lee's problem is that he has nothing else to fall back on if his taijutsu skills are not enough. It would have been better if he had surrendered."

Suddenly Lee began to smile and moved much faster.

"You are finished here." Gaara said impassively.

"Either way, this will end it." Lee replied.

Gai's voice reached them despite the distance. "The lotus of the Leaf blooms twice."

All the jonin in hearing range stopped and looked at Gai aghast.

Surprisingly it was Kakashi who spoke, being the closest to Gai. Apparently Gai had taught Lee to open additional gates. "The extreme lotus is a technique that shouldn't be taught. I have no interest in making you tell me what that kid means to you and your reasoning. There are limits. I have lost all respect for you."

"What would you know about the boy? That kid had a precious thing that he would give his life to prove. So I wanted to turn him into a man that could accomplish it. That is all."

"Gai, how many of the eight gates can that kid open?" Kakashi asked.

"Five gates."

Gai continued explaining things to Sakura, but the attention of the other people moved back to the fight.

"Gai is insane." Naruto heard Asuma mumble. "Is he trying to get the boy killed?"

'If even Kakashi thinks something is dangerous and a bad idea you know that what you plan is really, really stupid.'

Naruto watched as Lee opened the third gate. The flaring chakra was strong enough that even he could feel it. Considering that Naruto's friends had occasionally likened his ability to sense chakra to an almost deaf man trying to listen to whispers that was saying much about the released power.

Gaara was apparently intelligent enough to not wait until Lee was finished with his power-up and launched shuriken made of sand at his opponent, followed by the slower main mass.

Unfortunately for Gaara Lee dodged in time before he punched him.

Unfortunately for Lee it was only another clone that exploded upon contact, filling the air with sand.

More sand rose from the ground until the entire arena was filled with an opaque cloud, much to the displeasure of Lee and the spectators. Hayate jumped out of the cloud onto the gallery to have any hope of spotting what was going on.

"Why doesn't Lee give up? This entire thing is only about a chance at promotion. There will be others chances in the future. It's not worth to put his life in the balance. I just don't understand it. Neither the Leaf's vital interests or anything else of enormous importance is at stake here." Ino said.

Asuma sighed deeply. "Lee wants to be a great shinobi… no matter the cost. It seems Gai supports that madness. Neither Lee nor Gai know when to stop. Lee is apparently incapable of using his chakra for normal techniques. While that is an almost crippling disadvantage it doesn't mean he can't become a successful shinobi."

Kurenai nodded. "That is correct. Taijutsu alone isn't enough for high-powered shinobi fights, just like any other ability. You always need supporting abilities and several additional skill sets if an enemy is resistant against a specific avenue of attack. Lee apparently has nothing to fall back on aside from the gates."

"Lee has just opened the fourth gate. He still hasn't found Gaara in the sand cloud." Hinata interrupted. Thanks to her byakugan she was the only one able to watch the fight. "I think Gaara has cast a genjutsu over the area."

For a moment Kurenai closed her eyes. "You're right; I can feel the edges of it. It is a disorientation technique. On its own it wouldn't do much, but thanks to the sand visibility is almost zero. Suna shinobi use it to cause enemies to lose their way in the desert and wander in endless circles."

In that moment Naruto understood what Gaara was doing. He was simply waiting until the boost of the gates subsided and Lee became helpless once again. Lee might have been able to power through the exhaustion of the first gate after it closed and jump directly to the second gate, but it was practically impossible to do that with the higher gates. He had to open additional gates just to keep running.

"This is most un-youthful. Show yourself!" came Lee's shout.

Only silence answered him.

"He has opened the fifth gate." Hinata said.

That seemed to catch the attention of Hayate. He approached them. "Can you tell me what is going on in there? I can feel their chakra but I want to know if I have to call the fight."

Hinata nodded before she began whispering to the special jonin. "Certainly. Gaara has created a false floor out of his sand and is hiding there. Lee is running around, trying to find him."

In that moment Lee jumped out of the cloud and looked around before he disappeared back into the sand.

Naruto blinked. "Did Lee's skin look red?"

"That's a side effect of opening the third gate." Anko answered. "I don't think he has much time left."

Suddenly the sand cloud shrunk, growing denser and denser until it formed a medium-sized dune. Gaara or one of his clones was standing on top of it. Lee was lying on the ground clearly trying and failing to get up. He looked utterly exhausted and in quite some pain. With a movement of his hand Gaara caused the sand to move, closing in one Lee. The green-clad boy weakly tried to escape.

When the first tendrils of the sand attached themselves to Lee's left arm and leg Gaara closed his open hand.

Lee's cry of pain was piercing and very loud.

The main wave of sand was about to hit when Gai suddenly appeared in the way, deflecting it away from his injured pupil. Gaara silently stared at the man before he turned towards Hayate.

"Winner: Gaara."

As soon as the announcement came Gaara turned into sand. The real Gaara emerged from the ground some distance away. From all over the arena sand came flying before it entered the boy's gourd in a giant swirl. Soon the arena was once again free of sand and Gaara silently returned to his team.

A gasp of surprise drew everyone's attention back to Lee. The boy had stood up again despite his many injuries. Gai began to cry before he hugged him.

"He's unconscious." Hinata reported. "His injuries are extensive and just got worse by forcing himself up."

By now Hayate and Tenten had reached Lee's position. Hayate sharply drew breath before he began shouting. "Medical team, please come here quickly!"

The medical team hurried to the injured genin's side. A short time later one of them pulled Gai to the side for a private conversation. Apparently neither Gai nor the medic noticed that their voices carried up the gallery.

"He isn't breathing properly; there is some sand in his lungs. He has shattered bones and torn muscles throughout his body along with shrapnel wounds. There are other injuries from the explosions. We could do something about it if these were the only problems, but the damage to his left arm and leg where he was attacked is grave. It's difficult to have to say something like this, but with this body he will never be able to live as a shinobi again."

The silence after this statement was deafening; not that this outcome was completely unexpected. A human body's ability to absorb damage was limited. In truth Naruto had expected Lee to be killed outright. Gai hung his head and kept looking at Lee's stretcher when he was about to be carried away.

"Can't you do anything? Lee was always saying how he wanted to fight against Neji and Sasuke…" Tenten begged the departing medics.

Unexpectedly Kakashi spoke up. "That might have been what caused this tragedy. This is the result of the decision to use even forbidden jutsu to win at all costs. He put his life at risk so that he could reach the final stage to fight my pupil." Then he turned towards Gai. "I said some really arrogant things about you earlier when I think about it. If I were in your circumstances I probably wouldn't have been able to stop my student either. Gai, come on. We're in the way for the next match. Let's go and get something to drink."

"…Yeah."

The two jonin left the room. Since all their students had already fought there was no real reason for them to stay.

"Another genin needlessly ruined because of stubbornness and misguided pride." Asuma spat a piece of chewing tobacco into a pot he had brought with him. Smoking wasn't allowed in the tower. "Lee didn't know when to give up. At least the crushed arm and leg he could have avoided if he had surrendered. It was clear he couldn't win by then."

Anko nodded gravely. "You can always die in combat, but this was madness from the start. A life destroyed, five academy years and one and a half under the personal guidance of a jonin wasted. Gai should have never entered him into the exams and especially not taught him in that way. All that determination could have been redirected into far more productive things."

"A trap master or a primarily non-combat role would have been better." Kurenai looked very sad. "There are some things you can't do no matter how hard you work. Circumvent obstacles, not try to overpower them. Gai taught Lee he could do anything and the young man paid the price."

Silence descended for a moment. Hayate was still talking with the Hokage, delaying the next match.

"Would you have interfered when we would have been about to be killed, sensei? The match wasn't called by then." Choji asked.

Anko shared an uncomfortable look with her two fellow sensei before she sighed. "If the match was still on, no. I trust you to know when to give up. Technically Gai was violating the rules of the preliminaries. Several times actually, if you count his command to take the weights off."

"If you are in this exam you think you are ready to be chunin." Asuma sent his father a dark look that went completely unnoticed by the old man. "Despite some… additional considerations for nominating you: if you try to become chunin you are expected to act responsibly. That includes an honest appraisal of your chances, appropriate force and when to give up. If you are on your own out there with a team under your command there is no one you could ask for orders. No one to give you permission to use specific skills and take you by the hand. No one will rescue you if you get in over your head."

"Lee had many opportunities to give up. He chose to continue and resort to increasingly dangerous skills. As you saw earlier death happens in these exams. On missions you normally have a good chance at winning and surviving; at least that is the thought behind the assignments. If something goes wrong you will have to decide on your own when it is better to retreat and when to fight. The Leaf has expended considerable resources in training you, our time with you is one of the most valuable. If we weren't busy teaching you we would complete several high-ranking missions per month, generating considerable income for the village. You have to think carefully when to fight despite hopeless odds… and when not. Konoha can't afford to lose too many shinobi because they don't know when to give up." Kurenai explained. "Preventing great harm to the village or fulfilling the contract with an important client is a good reason. Throwing your health and life away for a chance at promotion is definitely not a good one. It is a bit different in the finals, but as long as you give a good show the overall winner isn't that important."

The announcement of the next match put an end to their conversation.

"Eleventh match: Kiba Inuzaka against Misumi Tsurugi. Choji Akimichi receives a bye."

Naruto watched curiously as Kiba and Misumi took their positions.

"Unlike Yoroi I show no mercy against little punks. I'll say it now, if I put my techniques on you it's over. Give up immediately." Misumi boasted.

Kiba sneered at him, but didn't reply.

"Begin!" Hayate shouted.

"I'll end this quickly. I won't give you the chance to do anything."

Misumi opened the fight with a straightforward attack that Kiba easily blocked. Then the unexpected happened. The adult genin's body almost seemed to lose form as he wrapped himself tightly around Kiba.

"In order to gather information my body has been altered to be able to fit into any space. I can keep squeezing until I break your bones. If you don't give up I'll keep squeezing even harder." the man threatened.

Suddenly Kiba's panicked expression changed into a smirk. "Heh. No way. Akamaru, your turn."

With a puff of smoke Kiba disappeared. In his place was now Akamaru, but since the dog was much smaller than Kiba he simply fell out of Yoroi's grip, landed on the ground and ran away.

"Passing Fang"

Misumi had no opportunity to appraise the changed situation. Kiba attacked him from behind; spinning so fast only a whirl was visible. He hit him squarely in the back, shredding his clothing and damaging the flesh underneath. The force of the attack was big enough that Misumi was propelled to the next wall. Kiba was still on target and still spinning. Since Misumi's body was still very flexible it caused an interesting effect. It looked almost as if his body rolled up.

Finally Kiba ended the technique and a severely bleeding Misumi fell unconscious to the floor.

"Winner: Kiba Inuzaka."

Yakumo was the first to ask a question when Kiba rejoined the group. "Congratulations. How did you perform the kawarimi? Your hands were immobilized."

Kiba smirked. "I didn't. Akamaru did."

The small dog gave an affirmative woof. When Naruto thought about it, it was logical. Inuzaka dogs could perform the chakra-using techniques of the Inuzaka clan. Since they couldn't use hand seals it was probably difficult for them to learn normal techniques. Difficult, but possible; as Akamaru had shown.

A few minutes later the eleven victorious genin sans Sasuke were assembled in front of the Hokage, Hayate, Aoba and Ibiki. Hayate was the one holding the speech. "With this the preliminary trials for the final test of the chunin exams have been completed. To all of you who have won the right to advance to the final round: Congratulations. It has been a difficult task and you all have proven your worth. Hokage-sama, if you would please…"

The old man continued to explain the finals. They would be held in one month. Most what he talked about were obvious facts. Certainly a genin who wanted to become chunin should know how to analyze his opponents?

At the end they had to draw numbers to determine the matches of the finals. It would be a regular tournament.

First round:

First match: Naruto Uzumaki vs. Sumaru

Second match: Gaara vs. Sasuke Uchiha

Third match: Shino Aburame vs. Tenten

Fourth match: Kiba Inuzaka vs. Ino Yamanaka

Fifth match: Yakumo Kurama vs. Temari

Second round:

Sixth match: Winner of First match vs. Winner of Second match

Seventh match: Winner of Third match vs. Winner of Fourth match

Eight match: Choji Akimichi vs. Winner of fifth match

Third round:

Ninth match: Three-way match

"Man, you're really lucky, Choji. Two byes." Naruto remarked when they were back on the way to their rooms. They would return to the village proper on the next morning.

Choji shrugged. "I guess I ate enough fortune cookies to stock up on my luck." he answered good-naturedly.

The groups retired almost immediately to their respective rooms. It had been an eventful day and they would talk about the matches tomorrow.

Naruto did have a bit of trouble finding a comfortable position on his bed. The wound on his stomach troubled him slightly. The medics had drained most of the poison almost immediately and his regeneration took care of the rest. Two days tops and he would have recovered completely.

All in all he was content with the results of the preliminaries. The presence of the ninja from Hoshigakure had been unexpected, though. He would have to talk with his parents about the strange chakra they used.

'I wonder what surprises will await us in the finals.'

---

"Will the preparations be complete in time?"

"Yes, my lord. The latest delivery from Orochimaru arrived on schedule and the assembling of our troops is complete. We will be ready to do our part."

"Excellent. Soon Konoha will feel our wrath. We will have our revenge at long last. Proceed with your work."

"As you command, Sorakage-sama."

---

Author's notes: Thank you for all the reviews.

Whew, that was a long chapter; the longest by far to date. It has unfortunately not been beta'd. I thought about splitting it, but I wanted to deal with the preliminaries in a single chapter. I hope you enjoyed the read if you made it this far.

Since it's a bit difficult to remember who is one what team and who fought with whom I prepared a little overview:

Team roster:

Team 7: Sasuke, Sakura, Idate (gave up)
Team 8: Ino, Yakumo, Shinji
Team 10: Shino, Kiba, Asuka
Team 11: Naruto, Choji, Hinata
Team Gai: Lee, Tenten, Neji (gave up)
Team Kabuto: Yoroi, Misumi, Kabuto (gave up)
Team Sand: Gaara, Kankuro, Temari
Team Sound: Dosu, Zaku, Kin
Team Hoshi: Sumaro, Hokuto, Mizura (gave up)

Preliminary fights:

Fight 1: Sasuke vs. Yoroi Winner: Sasuke
Fight 2: Shino vs. Kin Winner: Shino
Fight 3: Naruto vs. Kankuro Winner: Naruto
Fight 4: Shinji vs. Asuka Winner: none - draw
Fight 5: Tenten vs. Zaku Winner: Tenten
Fight 6: Dosu vs. Temari Winner: Temari
Fight 7: Hinata vs. Sumaru Winner: Sumaru
Fight 8: Yakumo vs. Sakura Winner: Yakumo
Fight 9: Ino vs. Hokuto Winner: Ino
Fight 10: Gaara vs. Lee Winner: Gaara
Fight 11: Kiba vs. Misumi Winner: Kiba

Choji received a pass.