Kakashi: Spectator

Kakashi had thoroughly enjoyed the first two matches and was inordinately proud of both his students who had so far participated; Naruto and Sakura had both shown they had the skills and tactical ability a chunnin needed. On top of that his blond student had shown a flair for field interrogation and suborning enemy forces which would make it difficult for the judges to deny his suitability for promotion. His fuuinjutsu would also get him considerable support, considering how few of Konoha's seal makers could create original matrices and techniques suited for immediate use in the field. In fact, Naruto's sealing skills might get him promoted all the way up to tokubetsu jounin if he proved able to meet Konoha's official criteria for that particular area.

Sakura had likewise shown she could think tactically and had demonstrated that guile and trickery could defeat an enemy no amount of brute force could scratch. Her success had also highlighted a massive weakness common to most jinchuuriki: when cut off from their bijuu, even temporarily, they were far weaker than normal ninja of the same rank due to their reliance on their tenants. Naruto was not part of that majority however and had not even once accessed his bijuu during his fight, proving himself a competent chuunin on his own merit.

The Copy-nin was more concerned about what Naruto had revealed about the Hyuuga Juin Jutsu: he had personally believed until now that it was a creation of some past Hyuuga with a solid understanding of sealing and to hear that it had in fact been created to keep hostages and prisoners of war in line by an Uzumaki came as a shock. It did however make an uncomfortable amount of sense: after all, what better way to ensure your hostages don't escape than to threaten them with pain and death with a single handsign?

Kakashi sighed as, in the arena, the Suna kunoichi chased Shikamaru hither and thither with heavy-duty wind attacks. His wife had been rather twitchy this morning, muttering about snakes poised to strike, traps, lazy idealists and desperate fools. She had flatly insisted everyone leaving the mansion be armed well enough to seriously inconvenience an ANBU squad but Kakashi had not complained: this was likely connected to Orochimaru's 'inescapable fate' and the metaphorical pit the rogue sannin had dug and was going to fall into. Whatever did happen today, the Yuurei were posted around the village to offer assistance and both Itachi and Han were somewhere in the arena. Neither of the latter two were people to trifle with and their presence granted a significant boost to Konoha's forces.

It was also fairly clear that the Sandaime knew something was up, considering the number of ANBU stationed in the arena, and was expacting trouble. Certainly Ame-koi had been consulting with Nara Shikaku and the ANBU Commander quite a lot in the past week in between training Naruto and spending time with their numerous children, biological or otherwise.

Children. Kakashi was still adapting to fatherhood. You couldn't arrive late if your nine-week-old daughter got fussy in the middle of the night, as you would find yourself dealing with three screaming babies, a headache and grumpy older children coming to find out what all the noise was for. Being a parent was a lot like being in ANBU again but without any specialised training. Thankfully his wife, Minato and Itachi all knew what to do and were happy to offer guidance if not actually help; Ame-koi refused to do more than the required feedings during the night since she supervised the triplets throughout the day, his former sensei insisted he needed to experience these things for himself and Itachi just gave him a look and pointed out that he only had himself to blame for getting his wife pregnant in the first place.

The eldest living Uchiha hah eventually relented enough to explain that for the first six months of his exile from Konoha he'd been Koumori's primary carer and up at all hours keeping her fed and happy. Which was precisely why he refused to take over for the Hatake, considering the older jounin was the triplets' biological parent.

Kakashi chuckled softly as Shikamaru finally caught his opponent in his Kagemane no Justu then promptly gave up. The lazy Nara heir had shown all the necessary qualities a chunnin should have including knowing when to quit, just as Sakura had done before him. Next up would be the second round and since Naruto had a bye the fist fight would be between Sasuke and Gaara, followed by Shino versus the Suna kunoichi who had just 'won'. Gaara seemed to have recovered from his poisoning and drunken binge and was now standing close to Naruto, face blank and empty. Sasuke stood on Naruto's other side, visage similarly expressionless. When Genma called the two genin down Sasuke vaulted lightly over the balcony railing and Gaara turned and vanished down the hallway towards the stairs. A few seconds later Naruto abruptly chased after the redhead, not reappearing until the Suna jinchuuriki arrived in the arena. When he did re-emerge on the balcony he had Shikamaru with him, the Nara looking decidedly green. The faint smears of blood left behind by their sandals were disturbing: It suggested Gaara had killed someone in the brief interval between departing the balcony and entering the arena.

"Kakashi." The silver-haired jounin looked up.

"Hi there Gai. And Lee-kun as well! I trust your body is recovering well?" Kakashi addressed the spandex-clad genin who had fought Gaara in the preliminaries.

"Hai, Kakashi-san! Amemai-sama believes I will be fully recovered in another month or so!" Lee said brightly.

"Good, good. I take it Shinji-san examined you on her behalf?" Gai had been heartbroken to learn that the doctors did not think Lee could ever be a ninja again, but Ame had thought recovery was possible and had introduced the older spandex aficionado to one of the Kurai-nin who was both a medic and Ame's own younger brother. Shinji happened to be a bone specialist and had been perfectly willing to at least have a look at Lee. It had turned out the genin's problem had been fixable after all, which was a relief. Much as Kakashi found Gai difficult to deal with, losing a favoured student like that was something the Copy-nin wouldn't wish on his worst enemy.

Then in the arena Genma announced the start of the match and everyone turned to watch.

Gaara released his sand and Sasuke tested the defence with shuriken. Electrified shuriken, the jounin corrected himself as the flash and sizzle of current demolished half the sand clone the redhead had created to defend himself. Six months ago the Uchiha might have rushed in but the boy had leaned caution since then, instead drawing his ninja-to and letting electric energy dance down the blade before charging the clone. Good move; demonstrating elemental manipulation will get you points with the judges.

Four seconds later the clone was gone, Gaara was laid out on his back with a rapidly purpling bruise to the jaw and Sasuke was crouched where his opponent had been standing, short sword held in a reverse grip.

"I could have killed you then," the Uchiha said calmly, "but that would not have made victory any more achievable for me, would it?" A smirk flickered across the raven-haired boy's face. "I have to take you down without killing you in order to make it to the finals."

Kakashi knew Sasuke was alluding to the bijuu sealed in his opponent and silently agreed that killing Gaara would be a very bad idea, since it would release the Ichibi.

Sasuke dodged two more assaults from the mobile sand and kicked his opponent across the arena towards the depression where Neji had used kaiten before being trapped by Naruto. Is that Sasuke's plan? To use the seals laid out to hinder Gaara's access to his chakra? The Uchiha darted forward again, eyes red with sharingan this time, to land two more ration-enhanced blows to Gaara's torso with the hilt of his blade.

The sand recoiled then swirled closely around the redhead to form a sphere. Sasuke however did not pause to allow his opponent time to recover and slashed the blade of his ninja-to through the packed sand, briefly electrifying the formation before bouncing back a step and stabbing deep.

There was a shriek and the sphere fell apart, revealing Gaara standing there with a bloody scratch across his face and his left arm hanging limp from a deep, seeping wound in his shoulder. Sasuke abruptly skipped backwards, his deadpan "Oops," ringing across the arena.

Kakashi leapt to his feet instantly: when a jinchuuriki was involved 'oops' covered a lot of ground, most of it bad. Then the feathers started falling and the hokage's box exploded.

Notes

fuuinjustu = sealing techniques

Juin justu = cursed seal technique

raiton = electric release; type of elemental technique

A/N: Sasuke planned to trap Gaara in Naruto's triggered suppression field, but his plan did not survive first contact with the enemy. Alas. However Kabuto got impatient and decided it was time to start the invasion. Also, Lee's situation is somawhat changed due to Ame's presence. Next up: let the invasion commence!