A Happy Fox and A Lazy Cloud

by LazyFoxLover

The day Naruko Uzumaki was born she lost both her mother and father and became the Jinchuuriki for the nine tailed fox. Growing up she was mistreated and abused by the people of her village the one place she was supposed to call home, a place to feel loved and yet all she feels is hate and loneliness. Can this abused little fox find that home or love in a lazy cloud? ShikaXFemNaru

56. I am a Splendid Ninja!

Lazyfox: *bowing to the audience/readers/supporters* I have no words that can express how grateful I am to each and every one of you. I was going through a lot and to see all the support you all have shown me and have given me I'm truly humbled by such kindness. I can't tell you how many times I turned on my computer to write this chapter, but every time I did I just couldn't find the words to type, but I hope I made the wait worth it for all of you. Again thank you all so much for supporting me and being patient with me and this story. This chapter is for you guys.

Disclaimer: I LazyFoxLover do not own Naruto or any of the characters. All rights belong to its creator Masashi Kishimoto. Please support the official release and please do enjoy the chapter

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*Recap*

"Now to end this! GET OVER HERE!" Naruko shouted pulling Kankuro's strings harshly causing the puppet master to be sent flying towards her. "Like I said before: DON'T UNDERESTIMATE ME!" She screamed punching Kankuro straight in the face causing him to fly straight through several trees.

Seeing how far Kankuro was, Hayate dashes over to him.

Kankuro's face was covered in blood and his face had a fist mark planted on it. He checks the Sand shinobi to see if he would move any further and stands back up.

"*Cough* Kankuro of the Sand Village has been defeated in this match by Naruko Uzumaki." Hayate announced as he teleports them back into the arena.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"*Cough* Now to move forward to the next match." Hayate said as the names on the board shuffle around until it hit two names. "The fighters of the eighth match will be Hinata Hyuga against Kin Tsuchi!"

Kin smirked when she heard the name of her opponent,

"Yes, I get another shot at that weakling. This should be really fun!"

Hinata's lavender eyes widen in shock, "H-Huh? I-I'm...n-next?" She asked in fear.

*END OF RECAP*

Kin was standing across from Hinata sending the shy blue haired girl a dismissive glare. Hinata stood rooted to her spot unable to meet her opponent's eyes remembering the last encounter she had with the female sound ninja.

"You know to save us both the trouble of putting on this mediocre fight you should just forfeit now. I already told you this before you are a pitiful excuse for a Kunoichi and you should just give up" Kin sneered at her.

Hinata flinched a bit at how her opponent dismisses her so easily. "Y..your wrong about me" she shot back quietly.

Kin scoffed as she tossed her hair behind her shoulder. "Am I? Your voice lacks the confidence to back up those words. You're also shaking like a frightened puppy. Face it girlie you're a loser who doesn't have a chance of beating a real Kunoichi like me! So surrender now before you get hurt!"

"Why don't you shut the hell up?! You have no right to judge Hinata before the fight even starts!" Naruko yelled from the top balcony getting everyone's attention. "Hinata don't let her psych you out! You've come too far in your training to let anyone belittle you now. Now go out there and show everyone what you're made of!"

"Damn that little loud mouth! Can she never keep her mouth shut" Kin thought glaring back at the blond before turning back to Hinata to see she wasn't shaking anymore and that she was smiling. "Her stance changed?"

"Thank you Naru-chan…Hayate-sensei we can begin the match whenever you like to start" Hinata said.

"Fine fight a losing fight. Just don't blame me when you come back in a body bag little girl" Kin said.

Hayate cleared his throat as he looked at the arena wheel to see they will be heading to the water field. "Alright if you two are ready we'll begin shortly *cough* *cough*" he said as he teleported them out of the room.

"Do you think she's going to be okay?" Sakura asked.

"Oh yea Hinata's got this match in the bag. She's grown a lot from the shy girl you knew in the academy" Naruko said confidently.

Neji was standing silently in the back ground glaring at the blonde finding her words to be a bunch of lies. "If what I saw in the forest is Lady Hinata's growth then she hasn't grown at all. She'll lose this fight and bring shame to the Hyuga name just like she's always done. A failure will never change who there are. It's just their destiny" he said getting a glare from Naruko.

Naruko gripped tightly on the balcony bar wanting to punch Neji's lights out, but a calming hand was placed on hers.

"Let it go Blue eyes. He's just talking to rile you up. Hinata will prove him wrong just keep putting your faith in her" Shikamaru tells her keeping his hands on hers.

Naruko took a deep calming breath before turning to smile and kiss Shikamaru on the cheek. "Your right. Thanks Shika I don't need him to bring me down. Hinata's going to win you'll see" she said watching Neji scoff and turn back to the monitor.

Kakashi leaned on the back wall watching the interactions between the Genin and was making a mental list of how many beatings he was planning on paying Shikamaru when the preliminaries were over. "That's right you little punk keep messing with my little Naru-chan and you won't get to see the age of 16" the overprotective sensei and older brother thought before clearing his mind so he can watch his last student fight while keeping a lookout on Shikamaru and Naruko.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Hinata was standing on the open water plain watching her opponent who in return was studying her. "When I faced off against their team in the forest her teammates did more fighting then her so I never saw what she's capable of. Which means she watched my fight and learned what I can do…I'm going to have to think fast and strike her when I find an opening" she thought keeping on her guard.

"She thinks she'll find an opening to strike my chakra points like she did with Zaku. Sadly, I'm not an idiot like him so this fight was already won before it even started" Kin thought confidently as she drew out three senbons needles. "I don't know why you're stalling little girl but if you don't attack then I will!"

Hinata eyes narrowed as she watched three senbons needles speed towards her. Knowing from firsthand how a senbons needle user works Hinata was quickly able to avoid them and the multiple groups of needles sent her way as she took cover behind a little hill.

"Oh my, so I see you are a nimble little mouse. Quick to move out of danger and hide in a burrow so you won't be eaten by your predator" Kin taunted. "Too bad I know exactly how to draw you out my little mouse!"

Hinata took deep calming breaths brushing off Kin's taunts.

"She's just trying to get in my head. I can't lose my focus here. I will win this match to prove I've gotten stronger!" she thought determined to win. "So I've learned that she likes to use the senbon needles, but for a sound ninja that seems pretty out-putting. Her teammates use weapons that manipulated sound, but her weapon is silent so why is that?"

As Hinata pondered on the question while staying on her guard she heard bells jingling. Looking around confused she heard the ringing of the bells again causing her to loosen her guard.

"Got you my little mouse!" Kin said striking at Hinata from her blind side.

Hinata gasped in fright at Kin's sudden attack and was barely able to move out of the way managing to escape serious damage, but received long gashes in her arm from the needles. "I see now…your attacks are quiet at first that leads your opponent to believe you just use your needles to attack, but your needles are attached with bells that you use to distract your foes so you can corner them."

Kin smirked at her as she shook the blood off her senbon needles. "That's right little mouse. I toy with my prey making them feel like I'm a harmless little kitten. But once my prey gets close enough to me and fall into my bell trap I'll show my claws as I rip them apart!"

"Well, I'm not the helpless little mouse you think I am!" Hinata said activating her Byakugan and sending a palm strike out at her opponent.

Kin jumped out of the way of the attack while preparing three more senbon needles to counterattack with. "Take this!" She shouted as she threw the three senbons towards the Hyuga girl.

Hinata quickly stopped her attacks and backed up to avoid the incoming senbon needles. "The tricks won't work on me."

Kin smiled. "Who said it's the same trick?" she taunted as she jumped further back from her opponent.

Hinata looked at the discarded senbon seeing there was a bigger bell attached to the needles this time around but with no string attached. "What is she doing now?"

Kin smirked as she picked up a big size rock that had a decent bit of weight behind it. "Take this one little mouse." she thought viciously as she tossed the rock into the water behind the perch of the senbon needles.

When the rock caused a loud splashing sound the water began to ripple and splash. The sound vibrations of the water splashing triggered the sensory bulb on the senbon causing them to explode.

Hinata who was still stand near the senbon was not prepared for the blast and was hit with it causing her to be sent flying. The young Hyuga heir was tossed into the low rock ledge causing her to shriek out in pain.

Kin started laughing cruelly as she tossed more senbon needles to surround Hinata. Three of them had strings attached while the others just held the bells. "Welcome little mouse to sound bomb confinement zone. This is little trap is my favorite one to torture my victims with."

Hinata slowly sat up trying to recover from the blast attack. "W...what d..did you ju..just do?" she stuttered out feeling her ears ringing.

"You see my little mouse the senbon needles that have bells attached with no strings are sensory bombs. They are activated by the level soundwaves that hit them. The louder the sound wave the bigger the blast. Observe" Kin said as she shook the strings ferociously making the bells jingle loudly causing the sensory bombs to go off in tandem with each other.

Hinata's eyes widen as she moved out of the way as quickly as she could, but was still caught in the blast causing her leg to be heavily wounded. "My leg…" She thought as she felt the sting of the bloody wound.

"Aw, how unfortunate for the mouse's leg to become useless now," Kin said, "I bet you're regretting your decision to fight and have your end be this pathetic. No one would have batted an eye if you just quit when you had the all the opportunities presented to you."

"No...I refuse to run away," Hinata said as she tried to stand up despite her grievous wound, "After everything my team and I have been through to get this far, quitting would make all of that a complete waste."

Kin scoffed at the Hyuga's words, "Not as much of a complete waste as your death here. Oh why do I even bother? It's not like I care about what happens to you. You're nothing but a stepping stool for me to achieve my goal."

Hinata gritted her teeth as she moved into her battle stance. "I refuse to give up and lose to her. I will not be the weak link anymore or be the cry baby that needs to be protected and saved by others! Naruko-chan, Sasuke-kun and Kakashi-sensei put their faith in me and I will not let them down!" she told herself as she summoned chakra around her palms. "I will defeat you one way or the other! I will not lose to you!"

Even on her wounded leg Hinata found the strength to charge at Kin with her chakra infused fist making the sound Ninja go on the defensive.

"Where did this surge of power come from?!" Kin thought as she dodged Hinata's attack.

Hinata did not let up on her assault even though her leg was causing her immense pain. "I have to get her... This is my time to get her!" she thought as she sent chakra to the bottom of her foot charging her forward to strike Kin directly in her abdomen knocking her into the pound as Hinata's leg gave out causing her to fall to knee.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"WHOHOOO! That's my Hina-chan! Kick that bitch's ass!" Naruko cheered getting pumped up from watching Hinata's match.

"Wow, Hinata is sure full of surprises, Blue eyes," Shikamaru said, "Is that some kind of new attack or something that you guys have been working on?"

"Nope, but whatever it is, it's so awesome!" Naruko shouted as she began to cry, "My little Hina-chan is going to destroy that bitch!"

"Hehe, you're getting a little too excited over this, Blue eyes," Shikamaru said.

Kakashi focused only on Hinata and her changed fighting style, "That is no Hyuga technique. It's something entirely different, but the real question is how long has Hinata had this?" He thought to himself.

Up until this point, Neji had not given his full attention to Hinata's fight due to not caring much for her abilities. However, the moment Hinata started using her new fighting style, Neji's attention was trained solely on her.

The mere sight of Hinata using her fists to attack Kin caused swirls of surprise and anger to boil inside the Hyuga boy, "How dare…? How dare she keep this from me?!" He thought as he punched the wall, "Has Lady-Hinata been hiding her true strength from me all this time during our spars together? Does she think of me as a fool for her to belittle and think of me as some lowly branch member?!" He thought as he took a deep breath to calm himself down, "Mark my words, Lady Hinata, this will not go unpunished."

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Hayate watched Kin resurface and move to the pond's edge gasping for breath. Hinata who was taking the time the Kin was down to tend to her leg. Naruko's basic first aid medical ninjutsu lesson was helping her relieve the pain and stop the bleeding at least.

Kin got out of the pond hacking up bits of blood and water. Gritting her teeth Kin glared angrily at the blue haired Hyuga. "I'm done playing games! You dead!" she yelled getting back to her feet throwing out a senbon holding a bell and with a few hand signs she tripled the size of the bell and caused multiple clones of the senbon and bell to surround Hinata.

Hinata got back to her feet and glanced around in horrified dismay to see she was completely surrounded. "T..there's no escape" she stuttered out.

Kin cackled madly. "This will become your grave. The minute I set these bombs off you won't escape the blast range even if you by some miracle survive you won't ever be a shinobi again!" she laughed seeing the look of despair cloud over Hinata's face. "Farwell mouse girl it's been fun."

With that Kin tugged the line of the first senbon causing a roaring jingle to thunder in the clearing causing the other bells to chime. When each bell chimed they all began to glow signaling their imminent destruction.

Hinata was shaking trying to think of a way to save herself as she watched Kin pull the string of the bell. Knowing there was only one choice she had prayed that she would be capable of using her technique. "Please work" she prayed as she took a whole new stance just as the bells exploded around her.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"HINATA!" Naruko screamed out feeling her heart sinking and beginning to beat rapidly as she saw the explosion consume Hinata. "Please no..."

Kakashi along with the other sensei's looked on stupefied wondering if Hayate got Hinata out of the danger zone in time or not.

"I didn't see Hayate move... did you?" Kurenai asked Asuma.

Asuma could only let unlit cigarette hang from his gaping mouth unable to answer her.

Shikamaru wrapped his arms around Naruko's shaking form. "Blue-eyes..."

"Shika, Hina-chan got out of there right? Please tell me she got out of there?" Naruko asked quietly.

Shikamaru sighed and held her closer to him. "I don't know..." he answered honestly feeling her shake harder as she grabbed onto him tightly. "All we can do is watch still."

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Hayate was having a coughing fit as he tried to fight off the smoke from the blast cursing himself. "I didn't make it to her in time."

Kin who was still standing by the pond felt proud of herself. "I told her to quit from the very start. Too bad she had to die a senseless death. Oh well not my fault she threw her life away."

"Then it's a good thing I'm not dead."

Kin and Hayate eyes widen as they saw Hinata standing in a hollow out crater surrounded by the outline of the blast. The blue haired Hyuga's top coat was completely burned away leaving her in her undershirt. She had burn marks running up her arm and palms from the recent blast with blood dripping from the blast wounds, but thankfully she was still alive.

Kin fumbled for words to thrown into shock to comprehend what was right before her very eyes. Finally, the sound Kunoichi found her voice.

"IMPOSSIBLE! MY ATTACK SHOULD HAVE KILLED YOU! HOW DID YOU ESCAPE FROM IT?!"

Hinata started to cough due to her exhaustion starting to settle in. Not wasting the energy, she had left she forced her last ounce of Chakra into her palms running at the immobile Kin striking her directly in her main chakra point shutting her body down.

Kin gasped spewing out a mouthful of blood from getting hit so directly as she was going down she grabbed onto the worn out and battered Hinata. "T... tell me... *gasp* h... how did you sur... survive?"

Hinata took a deep breath as she looked down at her defeated opponent. "It's a family technique of mine. It's called rotation. It offers protection to an opponent's incoming attacks. Just a few seconds before the blast hit I was able to surround myself with my chakra to protect myself and fend off parts of your blast."

Kin tightened her grip on Hinata glaring at her as her anger rose for the girl, but she was render unable to speak as her body gave out on her and she let go falling unconscious at Hinata's feet.

Hayate sighed feeling his heart beating out of his chest. "These Genin are going to be the death of me *cough* *cough* Winner by knockout is Hinata Hyuga." he announced teleporting them back to the main arena.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

The minute Hinata heard Hayate-sensei announce her as the victor she lost all strength and feeling in her body. The young Hyuga was heading towards the ground after passing out on her feet, but before she hit the ground she was scooped up into Kakashi's arms.

Kakashi held his sleeping student tightly in his arms. "You did an amazing job Hinata-chan I'm very proud of you. Take a nice long rest" he tells her as he moves to carrier her off to the infirmary.

Shikamaru looked over to the still dazed Naruko and gently shakes her. "Blue-eyes? Hey snap out of it now, Hinata made it out alive with a win to boot."

Naruko was still in a frightened state. "But she almost died...she almost died" she whispered not being able to grasp at the horrible thought that her best friend and teammate had almost died.

"Blue-eyes..." Shikamaru said holding her again. "I know that scene was a total drag and I hate that Hinata is hurt, but remember she's safe now and that she's alive."

Naruko nodded trying to calm down. "That match was too close for comfort. How did Hinata make it out of there? I mean what just happened?"

Gai stepped in to explain. "It was right before the bell bombs were set off. Hinata was able to surround herself with her chakra to act as a shield. It's attack that is special to the Hyuga clan members it's a technique known as Rotation."

"Rotation?" Lee asked his sensei.

Neji who was quietly seething this entire time spoke up. "The Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven or Rotation as some like to call it is a secret taijutsu that is orally handed down only within the main house of the Hyūga Clan. This technique utilizes the chakra control gained through Gentle Fist training to release a huge amount of chakra from all the chakra points on the user's body. It is also a defensive maneuver that covers any and all blind spots of the user who uses it." he explained shaking again. "It seems Lady Hinata was able to summon part of the technique to save herself at the last minute, but did not even realize that she had the power to begin with for it was incomplete and only prevented deathly injury not complete protection as it should have proved if used correctly by someone of greater power than her."

"Correct. In Hinata's moment of desperation she was able to call onto her power of preservation and use a technique she has not been trained with before. Feel very proud of your teammate, young Naruko, for she was able to overcome a great obstacle and claim victory" Gai sensei tells the still sad looking Naruko.

"You're right... I'm really proud of Hina-chan. She's trained really hard these past couple months" Naruko said still sounding sad before she quickly slapped her cheeks and shook her head furiously. "But the most important thing is that Hina-chan won and that puts all of Team Kakashi through to the finals! Dattebayo!" she cheered perking back up a bit before turning to Shikamaru.

Shikamaru returned her look. "What?"

"Shika, you're the last team mate of Team Asuma which means no matter who your opponent is, you have to make it to the finals! No slacking whatsoever! You have to give your fight your all" Naruko tells him.

Shikamaru sighed as he rubbed the back of his head fearing the blonde would say something like that. "Man what drag. That sounds so troublesome to do."

"No complaining! At least one member of each rookie team has to make it to the finals!" Naruko declared looking over to Team Kurenai. "You hear that dog boy, bubblegum? One of you guys better make it through."

Kiba growled as he took to her. "You don't have to worry about Team Eight. Just like you all, three of our team mates are going to make it to the finals just wait and see. Isn't that right Akamaru!"

"Rah Rah!" Akamaru barked from Sakura's arms.

"Naruko... you didn't even acknowledge me in your taunts for my team" Shino said quietly going unnoticed by the Uzumaki girl and Inuzuka boy.

Sakura had a sweat drop running down her head as she looked at the remaining Genin. "So let's see who's left, besides me, Kiba, and Shino, there's the one guy from the sand, Lee, Shikamaru and the two cloud Genin we fought in the forest. 'Oh man my chances of actually passing onto the finals literally shot down the drain! I'm stacked into the mix of a power storm and I have no life preserver to save me!" she thought sinking to the ground in despair.

Kurenai gave her female student a sympathetic look.

Hayate began to cough signaling the start of the next selection. "Will Kiba Inuzuka and Omoi please step forward *cough*"

Kiba grinned. "Alright time for a rematch! I may not have fought this guy, but I have to avenge that lost in the forest." he said excitedly.

"Kiba tread carefully when you were fighting Kauri. You didn't get to see how he fights" Shino warned.

Sakura sighed from her position on the floor. "And what I gathered from my fight from him is that he's fast, laid back and gets easily paranoid. Not much help that does ya" she said letting Akamaru go.

"Looks like you're fighting dog boy Omoi" Karui said looking at her lazy pessimistic teammate.

"Looks like it. Well if I become the dog's chew toy at least find me a nice resting place so I'm not turned into a mind controlled zombie" Omoi said.

"Where do you come up with these ideas?" Karui wondered pushing Omoi towards the main arena. "Just get down there in fight."

"Okay..." Omoi said as he moved down to area with Hayate and Kiba.

Kiba looked at Omoi with an excited grin. "This is going to be fun."

"If you say so. I do look forward to fighting with you. Just becoming a mindless zombie kind of not looking forward to that, so I have to prevent that." Omoi tells him.

Kiba just stared at him like he was an idiot. "Right..."

Hayate coughed as he looked at the two of them. "Okay *cough* *cough* if both of you are ready we're going to the Mountain range so hold on" he said as he teleported them both away.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Omoi and Kiba found themselves on the open desert like plains. The open range had no cover and left everything bare for the sun to beat down on.

"So besides us killing each other the sun and terrain is going to help with the process" Kiba tugging at the collar of his sweat coat.

"Arf" Akamaru barked weakly from Kiba's head.

"I don't think it's that bad" Omoi said.

"Geez, were you born on the sun or something?!" Kiba asked in shock of how unaffected by the heat the Cloud ninja appeared to be.

"When you're on the same team as a hot-head, the heat is the least of your worries," Omoi said.

"Haha! Glad I'm not the only one stuck with a hot-head," Kiba said, "I guess the red-head on your team is the one giving you trouble. Mine's the pink-haired girl." Kiba said.

"Yea Karui has a temper on her, but she's not that bad as long as you don't get caught by her when she's in her foul mood" Omoi joked.

Kiba laughed. "Man I hear you on that one" he said breaking off his laugh as he fixed his opponent with a confident smirk. "Glad to see I get a strong opponent with a sense of humor as an added bonus."

Omoi returned the smirk as he positioned himself into his fighting stance, grabbing the handle to his blade. "Back at you. Now let's get this battle started."

"Couldn't have said it better myself" Kiba agreed crouching down on all fours as he readied his signature opening jutsu. "Ninja Art of Beast Mimicry: All-Fours Jutsu!"

Omoi watched as chakra covered Kiba's body seeing the young Inuzuka's canine teeth and finger and toenails grow to claw-like length. As his eyes became more wild and his pupils became slits.

When Kiba was finished transforming he rushed in at Omoi at blinding speed. Omoi withdrew his sword blocking Kiba's strike, but Kiba put more force into his blow pushing Omoi back.

"That's some strength you got there, but you should know better than to get to close to a lightning rod, my dog-loving friend" Omoi warned before focusing his chakra into his sword turning it a lightning blade causing Kiba to get tossed back from the electrical surge coursing through his body.

"Gahh!" Kiba yelled as he fell back to the ground with a thud before flipping over onto all fours again growling at Omoi. "Okay so my strength isn't enough to knock you on your ass, but I got more tricks up my sleeve. Come on, Akamaru, let's get in there and show him what we're made of!"

"Arf Arf!" Akamaru barked charging in first at Omoi.

Omoi sighed. "I don't like hurting puppies. Can he just sit on the sidelines?" he asked.

"No way in hell! Akamaru is my partner and we fight together!" Kiba snarled as he followed behind Akamaru.

Omoi looked sad as he readies his blade. "I apologize in advance little pup for hurting you. Hopefully I don't invoke the wrath of a dog god for this" he said as he unleashed his thunderbolt strike attack.

Kiba and Akamaru both jumped high into the air dodging the thunder attack when they landed back on the ground Kiba performed another set of hand seals creating a puff of smoke. "Jūjin Bunshin (Man-Beast Clone)" was heard from the smoke cloud.

Omoi watched as two shadows jumped out of the smoke heading right for him. Bracing himself Omoi was prepared for the two attacks, but was surprised when he blocked Kiba's first strike he was hit by a second Kiba sending him skidding on the ground.

Omoi jumped up wiping the dirt off his face to see a pair of crouching Kiba's before him. "I see. You turned your puppy into an exact clone of yourself. Pretty clever, but it won't do you any good when I cover this entire field in lightening!" he yelled stabbing his sword into the ground to send out bolts of thunder.

Kiba and Akamaru could hear the rumbling of thunder underground so they were skilled to dodge the incoming attacks. "Nice try! Our hearing is above the levels of normal humans any underground attack you try to use on us is pretty much useless! Now try this, Gatsūga! (Man-Beast Ultimate Taijutsu: Fang Over Fang)"

Omoi eyes widen as Kiba and Akamaru both turned into swirling mini tornados that speed right towards him. Using his speed Omoi leaped out of the way, but was surprised to see they were able to change their direction midair and was hit squarely in the chest.

The Cloud village Genin got the wind knocked so hard out of him that he coughed up a small amount of blood before he came crashing down on the ground creating a small crater from the impact.

Kiba and Akamaru landed a couple feet away from the downed Omoi smirking in victory at one another. "That's the way Akamaru! This match is ours!"

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"Ngh…" Hinata's lavender eyes slowly but surely began to open. When her vision cleared, she saw herself on top of a hospital bed in a well-lit room.

"Wow, I didn't expect you to wake up until at least a full day passed, Hinata-chan," A familiar voice said.

Hinata turned to her right and saw Kakashi sitting beside her bed, "Kakashi-sensei."

"You did an amazing job in your fight with the sound ninja, kiddo," Kakashi said, "You should be proud of yourself."

"Th-thank you, sensei." Hinata said before she winced at her wounds all over her body.

"Take it easy," Kakashi told her, "That sound ninja wasn't easy on you. The doctor said that it'll take at least four days for your wounds to heal. No major damage to your organs or limbs. You'll be good as new in no time."

"Th-that's good to hear," Hinata said, "So who's fighting now?"

"Well it's Kiba Inuzuka against Omoi from the cloud village," Kakashi said, "Shikamaru isn't up yet but I bet he will be fighting next."

"That's too bad," Hinata said, "I was looking forward to his match as well."

"...Hinata, there's something I need to ask you." Kakashi said.

"Yes, Kakashi-sensei?" Hinata asked.

"It's about Sasuke," Kakashi said.

"Sasuke-kun?" Hinata asked.

Kakashi made sure the door that lead into the room was closed before he began talking, "The mark on the right side of his neck. He didn't have that before entering the Forest of Death. How did he get it?"

Hinata's body slightly jolted when Kakashi mentioned the curse mark the snake lady in the forest gave him. She then remembered the horrifying change that curse mark made to Sasuke ever since.

Kakashi saw the horrified thousand-yard-stare in Hinata's eyes and gently grabbed her hand to calm her down, "Hinata-chan. If it's something that's traumatized you, I won't ask you again, but I need to know what happened out there."

"S-sorry Kakashi-sensei…" Hinata whispered, "I-it w-was horrible…"

"Don't worry, I'm listening," Kakashi said.

Hinata began to explain in detail what had happened to her team in the Forest of Death from the time she and Sasuke were separated from Naruko to the moment Sasuke went berserk onto the Sound ninja that attacked them.

"Who was it?" Kakashi asked, "What was the name of the woman who attacked you and gave Sasuke that cursed mark?"

"I-I think she called herself...Orochimaru," Hinata told him.

Kakashi's single exposed eye grew slightly wider when he heard the name of their attacker, "I knew it. No one else could have given Sasuke that mark, except him."

"K-Kakashi-sensei?" Hinata asked now seeing Kakashi's thousand-yard stare.

"Orochimaru must have disguised himself as one of the female Chunin exam participants and infiltrated the exam," Kakashi thought, "But why? And why did he give Sasuke that mark?"

"Is everything okay, Kakashi-sensei?" Hinata asked.

"Oh! I'm sorry, Hinata," Kakashi said rubbing the back of his neck, "I'm just glad that you guys got out of there alive. Thanks for explaining to me what happened out there."

"Will Sasuke-kun be okay?" Hinata asked worriedly.

"He'll be okay now thanks to you," Kakashi said, "I now know how I can properly help him and what to watch out for."

"That's a relief to here," Hinata said with a sigh of relief added with a smile.

"Now, you go back to sleep and get yourself a good rest," Kakashi said lightly patting Hinata's head, "Naruko, Sasuke, and I will be back to wake you up before you know it."

"Y-Yes, Kakashi-sensei." Hinata said as she lied back down on her bed.

After leaving Hinata's resting room, Kakashi couldn't help but continue to think about the story he was told.

"This is trouble on several levels," He thought, "I had better inform the Hokage in secret about this."

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"I wouldn't be celebrating just yet..." Omoi wheezed out getting back to his feet thanks to his sword as parts of his ripped sweatshirt fell to the ground showing his wounded stomach. "This match is hardly over, but it'll end soon enough."

"Ha! That's really rich coming from the guy who was just kissing the ground ya know. I admit your team got the better of mine in the forest, but there's no way I'm losing to you guys a second time! This next attack will take you out for good!" Kiba yelled tossing Akamaru a pill as he swallowed his own.

Once Kiba and Akamaru both swallowed the food pill their nails and fangs grew longer as their chakra increased. Crouching back down once again the twin Inuzuka pair narrowed their slatted eyes at Omoi with victory shining in their eyes. "You're finished Omoi! Gatsūga!"

Omoi watched calmly as both Kiba and Akamaru charged at him. Taking a slow and steady breath Omoi raised his sword out in front of him waiting for the twin tornados to draw closer to him. Just when the two fangs were about to hit him, he struck first.

"Kumo-Ryū Mikazukigiri (Cloud-Style Three Days' Moon Beheading)" Omoi said as he swung his sword clashing with the two fangs and with his focus being solely on his sword he poured his chakra into the blade turning Kiba and Akamaru's attack against them because it trapped the pair into a vortex of lightning.

When the attack ended both Kiba and Akamaru fell to the ground face first with their clothes a bit fried as electricity sparked from their bodies. The attack forced Akamaru out of his transformation leaving him back in his wounded puppy form unable to continue fighting.

Hayate walked over to the down Inuzuka boy and confirmed he was unable to continue. "The winner of the Ninth match *cough* *cough* is Omoi" he declared as he transported them all back to the main area.

Omoi sighed as he felt better knowing he was done battling for now, but he did feel bad for hurting the puppy. "Please honorable dog spirits don't haunt me or curse me for hurting one of your descendants" he prayed before he felt a nasty chill crawl up his spine. "I said I was sorry please don't hurt me honorable dog spirits!"

The sound of cracking knuckles was the answer he received for his plea. "Oh you're going to have to do more than pray to a dog spirit to save your ass from me Omoi! How dare you call me a hot-head you idiot!" Karui yelled starting to thrash Omoi around.

Samui sighed feeling embarrassed at her teammates childish behavior. "Why did Bee-sama make those two my teammates I will never understand" she sighed to herself watching as Karui threw Omoi into the wall successfully knocking the poor guy unconscious as she huffed and went back to their spot on the balcony.

Naruko was wincing as she watched Omoi get the crap beat out of him by his red haired team mate. "Sheesh, I hate to be Omoi right now."

Shikamaru nodded before sighing. "Man what a drag it would be to be on a mission with her to fight an enemy if that's how she treats the poor guy."

Sakura watched sadly as Kiba and Akamaru were carried off by the medical staff. "Kiba is going to be so mad at himself when he wakes up..."

Kurenai nodded before patting her students back. "He will feel frustrated for losing, but Kiba and Akamaru have nothing to be ashamed about because they fought giving it their all. Don't you think so Sakura?"

Sakura smiled at her sensei. "Hai! I think they were great out there too."

Kurenai smiled down at the pink haired girl before turning back to the monitor as the names began to spin again.

The remaining watched as two names appeared on the board. Upon seeing whose names were chosen a joyful laugh and cheer was heard.

"Alright! Shika it's finally your turn to fight! Not only that you're up against bubblegum too" Naruko giggled hugging her boyfriend's arm.

Sakura huffed at the couple sticking her tongue out at them. "Shut up whiskers just because I'm fighting your boyfriend doesn't mean I'm going to lose."

Naruko turned to the pink haired girl smirking. "Oh yea it does. My Shika's going to kick your butt and join me in the finals just wait and see" she teased.

Shikamaru let out a long sigh. "Great I have to fight against a girl how troublesome" he sighed.

Asuma let out a hearty laugh as he patted Shikamaru on the back. "Cheer up Shikamaru you got yourself your own personal cheerleader to root for you. Plus, if you do lose to Sakura-chan, I'm sure Hime won't mind playing nurse maid for you" the bearded sensei teased causing his young student to blush and growl at him.

A cough was made to draw the attention of the group to an irritated looking Kakashi who was glaring daggers at Shikamaru. "I think Hayate is waiting for you two to start the match. Best not to keep him waiting any longer" he spoke calmly, but anyone with a brain could sense the deadly aura pouring off of him as he stared at the now nervous Nara heir.

Shikamaru sighed again as he pulled his arm out of Naruko's hold to head down to the main area. "Troublesome over protective big brothers" he thought before getting stopped by Naruko again for she grabbed his hand.

"This is for luck so do your best Shika!" Naruko said giving him a short kiss before moving away from him grinning from ear to ear at him.

Shikamaru blushed as he stared back at her as he scratched the back of his head. "Ah... thanks Blue-eyes" he said turning away from her as he made his way downstairs.

Lee who stood behind them was wearing a bittersweet smile. He was happy for his friends, but also a little sad that he lost the girl that he's been in love with for years now. "As long as Shikamaru-kun makes you happy Naru-chan then I too will be happy for you both."

Kakashi was staring holes into the back of Shikamaru's head. "Keep messing with my little Naru and you really not going to see the age of sixteen pineapple head." the silver haired Jounin thought before getting a tug on his sleeve by his blond haired student.

"Stop giving Shika the evil eye Nii-chan. You make him nervous when you do that" Naruko demanded.

"Not my fault" Kakashi countered. "If he can't stand a stare down with me what makes you think he'll fare any better with Iruka-sensei and Lord Hokage?"

"We'll cross that bridge when we get there. Besides Ojisan is the one who gave Shika his mission to be my guard when you and Nee-chan weren't around." Naruko remarked.

"That was years ago. Agreements can change and be altered you know" Kakashi said.

"Or perhaps its stubborn over protective big brothers who don't know how to accept their little sister is growing up?" Asuma teased receiving a death glare from Kakashi.

Kurenai just rolled her eyes just chalking this one up as another thing that happens between men that she will never understand.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Sakura and Shikamaru stood before each other as Hayate watched the area wheel spin coughing a little as he saw the wheel land on the water field again.

"Only three matches left. Thank goodness this year's Genin are really turning out to be something else that's for sure." Hayate thought as he teleported the yawning Nara heir and pink haired girl to a lush green opened field that had a large Koi pond. "When both of you are ready you may begin."

Sakura put her game face on as she eyed her lazy and flustered pineapple haired friend. "Looks like whisker's encouraging kiss got you more off kilter than focused like she wanted" the pinkette teased.

Shikamaru let out a long sigh as he scratched his head in aggravation. "Man what a drag, I get paired to fight you of all people. Which means win or lose I'm getting an earful from a blue eyed blonde no matter the outcome. Man this really sucks."

"You think you're in a bind when it comes to the outcome of this battle?" Sakura asked sarcastically, "Think of what will happen if I lay a finger on you? I'd be lucky that an earful is the least whiskers will do to me."

Shikamaru groaned "There's really no way around this so might as well get this over with."

"Yea guess you're right. May the better Genin and genius win" Sakura said as she tossed two kunai with papers bombs attached at him.

Shikamaru moved out of the way watching as Sakura continued to throw more kunai towards him.

Shikamaru ran to the shadows of the trees provided in the garden for cover. "So instead of actually hitting me with your bare hands you're trying to turn me into a pincushion or a pile of charred meat?" he asked sarcastically.

Sakura smirked though she knew he couldn't see her. "Not exactly, but if it gets you to run scared for a bit I don't mind playing that game for a bit" she teases.

"So it's a game of cat and mouse how troublesome." Shikamaru sighed as he performed his signature hand sign bringing his shadow to life as he made it stretch out to attach to Sakura's.

Sakura being quick on her feet moved out the range of Shikamaru's shadow. "Bad move Shikamaru. Remember you're dealing with someone who pays attention and studies all of the villages noble clans. I know all about your shadow's limits and where to measure my distance from you."

Shikamaru tsked knowing getting the win fast and easy was too good to be true. "Yea I know that, was trying to end the match quicker is all."

Sakura huffed as she glared at the tree Shikamaru was hiding behind feeling her temper rise as her inner self was screaming at her to clock him one good time. "Cha! Stop being an overconfident jackass pineapple head!" she yelled punching the tree with extreme force making it splinter a bit.

Shikamaru once again was on the move not expecting the strength of the small pinkette. "Geez glad there was a tree there to save me..." he thought.

"Get back here and fight me like a man Shikamaru!" Sakura raged chasing down the fleeing Nara boy.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Seeing the pink haired Genin chase his own student down put Asuma in an amused chuckling fit. "Hehehe, that's my boy. He's leading that girl by the palm of his hand."

"Now, Asuma, isn't it a little too early to boast about your student temporarily having the upper hand against mine?" Kurenai asked hearing Asuma's little boast.

"Oh Kurenai," Asuma said as he lit his cigarette and puffed out a smoke cloud, "You underestimate Shikamaru's strategic mind. Even now he's leading little pinkie into his trap. The best traps are always the ones you lead your prey into with you as the bait."

"I wouldn't sell Sakura short if I were you," Kurenai said with a smirk, "She's as smart as they come and she'll outsmart her opponent eventually."

"Eventually, you say," Asuma asked, "That's if she has that time to do it."

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"Man what a drag this is turning out to be" Shikamaru groaned as he ran to the koi pond diving into the cool water to swim to the other side.

Sakura paused at the edge of the water right next to the stone statue of Koi fish swimming around a water maiden. "Coward! Why are you swimming away from me when you know I can't swim!" she raged pissed off Shikamaru would use her inability to swim against her.

Shikamaru pulled himself out of the water to the other side looking bored and unamused. "Because I was being chased down by a raging mad wad of pink bubblegum" he said dully as he took off his wet shirt and jacket. "How troublesome... now I have to let these dry before I can put them back on." said the shirtless shadow manipulator.

Sakura blushed not expecting Shikamaru to strip his upper clothing off in front of her. She quickly diverted her eyes from the shirtless boy knowing the hell she would pay if she stared longer than necessary. "I... Its y.. your own fault! Y..You're the one who jumped in the pond like a frightened puppy."

"So I go from a mouse to a puppy huh? Missing Akamaru and Kiba already then?" Shikamaru inquired with a bored tone knowing he had time to plan his next move since Sakura was afraid of stepping into the water.

Sakura's blush deepened as she threw a shuriken at Shikamaru who simply deflected it. "Shut up! Who miss that annoying loud mouth anyway!"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes as he went about planning his next move eyeing Sakura who too was planning her next move.

Sakura studied the water that had many bright orange koi fish swimming in the clear water. Glancing over to the other side of the pond she saw Shikamaru was eyeballing the clouds above him.

"Well since he's so distracted might as well give him something stare at" Sakura thought as she performed the snake hand seal. "Demon Illusion: Flower Haze" she thought creating a large flower under Shikamaru's feet.

Shikamaru smelled the flowery scent in the air telling him he was trying to be trapped in a genjutsu. Knowing that was Kurenai-sensei's signature attack style he predicted that Sakura would learn some jutsu's from her. "This might actually work in my favor. Let's see what she can do."

The flower under Shikamaru began to bloom and spread out around him when it reached its full size Sakura activated it allowing an explosion of flower petals to appear and attack him.

Shikamaru was able to dodge and cut up the deadly looking flower petals pretending to look like he was trapped in Sakura's illusion.

Sakura smirked as she moved to her next phase of her plan. She performed the dog to tiger hand seal. "Ninpō: Hyakka Ryōran (Ninja art: Profusion of Flowers)" she said causing the fallen flower petals to surround Shikamaru further catching the young genius off guard.

Sakura seeing her chance threw three stems of wolfs bane at Shikamaru getting one to hit the young Nara in his exposed back.

Shikamaru let out a grunt of pain as he felt the poison of the flower burn his back. He knew he wouldn't have long before the poison over took his system and paralyzed him. Too bad for Sakura his trap was already set in motion and this match was his for the win.

Sakura was standing on the other side of the pond looking smug about her plan coming together. "Take that pineapple head! That's wolfs bane meaning it very poisonous and will cause your body to go into shock soon. So I suggest you giving up now to save yourself the pain" she said smugly.

"Yea I admit you kind of caught me off guard a bit with that combo, but you seem to missing out on one big thing here Sakura" Shikamaru said smirking over at her as he took a step toward the pond which Sakura mimicked making her emerald green eyes widen in terror. "You're the one that's been caught this whole time."

"How? You never threw out you're shadow!" Sakura stuttered out as she took a step closer to the koi pond.

"That's where you're wrong. My shadow's been reflecting off the water this whole time. I left it sitting underwater waiting to see what move you make" Shikamaru bring them both to the edge of the koi pond were Sakura stood shaking. "Now the choice is yours Sakura do you forfeit the match or do we go for a swim?"

Sakura looked down into the koi pond feeling her heart beat speeding up. She was cursing herself for not paying attention to his shadow. She was also very frustrated with herself for being afraid of the water. Her plan was perfect; victory was almost hers as long as she stalls for the wolfs bane to take effect the match is hers. Steeling her resolve, she glared at Shikamaru.

"I'm not forfeiting. This match is mine Shikamaru so do you're worse!" Sakura yelled at him.

Shikamaru shrugged his shoulders. "Man woman and their troublesome stubbornness. Just don't come back pissed at me for what happens" he said jumping into the water with Sakura having to jump in with her.

When Sakura hit the water she started to panic because she couldn't move and she was forced to sit under the water submerged. She turned her panicking eyes over to a calm looking Shikamaru who was eyeing her carefully.

Shikamaru felt bad for scaring the pink haired girl, but this was a fight and he was aiming to win it. When he saw that Sakura was starting to lose her breath he brought them up to the surface. Since Sakura was attached to him he kept them above the water while Sakura took in a lungful of air.

"I'll ask again Sakura do you forfeit? It be kind of troublesome to keep dragging you under the water. Plus, you don't know how much longer you have until this wolfs bane takes effect and stops me from moving" Shikamaru told the scared pinkette.

Sakura turned terrified eyes to him looking absolutely miserable. The pinkette wanted to win this match, but he was right if the wolfs bane takes effect then they both could drown. Well she knew Hayate-sensei would get them out in time, but then it'll count as a double count out meaning they both lose. Her heart was constricting tightly in her chest feeling ashamed of herself for being so weak that she couldn't even swim, but above her feelings of self-disappointment she was angry and furious at Shikamaru for using her inability to swim and fear of the water so cruelly against her.

"Shikamaru you're such a jerk! This isn't fair and just cruel" Sakura yelled glaring at him with angry tears streaming down her face. As she was about to start cursing him out more she screamed as she felt something rub against her legs. Looking down she saw a large group of the koi fish surrounding her. "Wh..what are they doing?"

"Koi fish are put in gardens to bring the house peace and tranquility. They sensed how miserable you are and are trying to calm you down" Shikamaru explained watching Sakura start to relax around the koi fish. "When house leaders are stressed or need a break, staring at koi pond and watching the fish inside the pond brings them a feeling of peace. The koi fish seem to take what's ever bothering you, along with your fears and makes them disappear."

Sakura felt her heart beat starting to calm down at the presence of koi fish surrounding her. The bright orange fish were taking her panic and fear away from her just like Shikamaru said they would. As she floated in the koi pond she felt light. The water wasn't scaring her anymore and the anger she had built up for Shikamaru was gone. Letting out a long sigh she looked over to Shikamaru before turning to Hayate-sensei.

"Hayate-sensei I like to forfeit the match. Shikamaru out maneuvered me, so to save you from having to fish us both out of the pond I conceded defeat" Sakura said calmly though you could hear the sadness in her voice too.

Hayate nodded. "Due to forfeit *cough* *cough* Shikamaru Nara is the winner of the tenth match."

Shikamaru yawned. "Man what a drag, now I have to prepare for two fights. Hopefully Ino won't be up to do too much yelling..." he said swimming back to shore where his clothes were.

Sakura who was still in the pond looked at Shikamaru with wide eyes. "Wait Shikamaru! Why are you on the shore and I'm still in the pond?!"

Shikamaru who was shaking the water out his hair looked back over to her with bored eyes. "Shouldn't it be obvious to you by now? I released my Shadow possession when you started to calm down. You've been swimming on your own now for a while."

Sakura took a minute to think about what he said before it dawned on her. "WAIT! YOU MEAN TO TELL ME I JUST FORFEITED FOR NOTHING!"

Shikamaru grimaced at the loud volume she was screaming at that made his ears ring. "Pretty much. My plan was to use your fear of the water to help me win, but I also in the process figured I help you overcome that fear as well."

Sakura felt her blood boiling as she moved carefully to the shore. Even though she thought it was sweet of him to help her get over her fear of the water she was still beyond pissed he terrified her and tricked her into giving up the match. Once she got over to him she yanked him up by his collar to her face making him flinch from the look of death in her eyes.

"You sneaky little bastard! You made me look like a complete idiot! I swear pineapple head if it wasn't for you being my friend and poisoned right now I be strangling you to death then pummeling your dead corpse into a bloody pulp! You cocky, arrogant jackass!" yelled the enraged pinkette shaking the poor genius around. As she was shaking she remembered the wolfs bane coursing through his body. "Oh crap the wolfs bane we have to get you back so they can give you an antidote."

Shikamaru groaned as Sakura finished shaking him around. "Don't worry about that. You didn't get me with the wolfs bane stem just the petals."

"How? You were trapped in my genjutsu? I hit you squared in the back" Sakura said.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Shikamaru yawned as Hayate finally brought them back to the main arena. "No you didn't. I never fell into your genjutsu. I was able to prevent myself from falling for it and just made you believe that I had and as for the wolfs bane I conjured up my own little illusion so you believe you were actually in danger of drowning. All and all my plan went as I hoped it would, but it was still a drag to do so much work."

Sakura growled at him again. "I'm so going to kill you!"

"You even think about it, bubblegum, and I'll send you flying to the moon" Naruko yelled from the upper balcony.

Sakura shoved Shikamaru away to glare at the blonde haired girl. "Oh shut up whiskers! Pineapple head deserves it after the hell he just put me through!" she growled stomping over to the stairs.

Shikamaru sighed as he slowly made his way back upstairs getting a big smack on the back by his sensei.

"Well, done Shikamaru you're the single member of team Asuma that made it into the next round. Ino, Choji and I are counting on you to go all the way to the finals now" Asuma tells him.

"Oh great...more work" Shikamaru sighed. "What a drag this is going to be..."

Naruko jumped over to Shikamaru and gave him a big hug. "Yay Shika we made it to the next round together. That means we're closer to becoming Chunins together too" she said smiling brightly at him.

Shikamaru felt his cheeks dust over a bit, but returned her smile with his own as he kissed the top of her head. "Yea I guess so..."

Kakashi frowned down at the couple still not liking the public display of affection between them.

Seeing his fellow Jonin display of detest towards Shikamaru made Asuma chuckle, "There you go again with the scowl, Kakashi. I should make a mental list of how many times you do that to poor Shikamaru."

"It's not my fault your student let's my Imoto constantly exchange smooches with each other here of all places," Kakashi said.

"Hehe, you really need to get that brotherly over protective mood of yours under control. Hime is going to keep growing up ya know?" Asuma tells him.

"...Yea I know she will. I just want to keep protecting her for as long as she allows me too..." Kakashi said with a sad undertone.

Asuma could have sworn he detected a hit of sadness in Kakashi's tone, but decided not to bring it up.

Kurenai sighed at the thought of another one of her own students losing a match, "And Sakura was doing so well."

Sakura bowed to Kurenai sensei. "I'm sorry Kurenai-sensei..." she said sounding sad.

Kurenai smiled at Sakura and patted her head. "You did a magnificent job Sakura and your use of genjutsu has improved very well. I'm very proud of you for not only fighting so hard, but for overcoming your fear of water."

Sakura gave her sensei a tentative smile, "Thanks, Kurenai-sensei, but it's just that if I had won I would have been able to prove myself useful."

"Don't worry Sakura. You did prove something and that is that you're a fighter and that's what team Kurenai is about" Shino tells her as he begins to walk down to the main floor.

Sakura and Kurenai both looked up at the main monitor to see the Shino was chosen as was Samui.

"So we finally get to see what would have happened in the forest after all" Samui said as she made her way down to the main floor as well.

Shino and Samui faced each other down as Hayate stood between them. Neither the blond haired woman nor brunette haired boy said anything to each other they just stared each other down.

Hayate let out a cough. "The eleventh match is about to begin. The fight is between Shino Aburame and Samui of the cloud village. The match will be fought inside the forest" he announced before coughing again and teleporting them away.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

The three found themselves back into the forest with each other watching the other.

Shino stared at Samui waiting for her to strike and was pleased to see that she was indeed capable of playing along to his wish.

Samui drew her tanto and pointed it at Shino, "Before we start, I'd like to thank you again for allowing our team to make a deal with yours."

"You have no need to thank your own enemies," Shino said, "I simply made a logical choice to go along with your deal."

"Ouch, no need to hold back on your bluntness," Samui said sarcastically.

"The only thing I need to hold back on is how badly my insects will hurt your body," Shino said as he gathered his bugs around him all over his skin.

Samui took a defensive stance and scanned the bugs under Shino's control, "He uses those bugs as a means to attack opponents and defend himself. A frontal assault would be suicide. What to do…"

Shino pointed his right arm at Samui and a horde of bugs began flying out of his sleeve towards Samui.

"This again…" She thought as she began to run away from the horde. "Maybe I can somehow use those bugs against him…"

Shino then took his left arm and let loose another horde of bugs from the left sleeve to chase Samui from her left flank.

Samui growled at how similar this battle is turning out compared to their last encounter, but that's when she looked towards the trees, "He can't attack what he can't see." She thought as she jumped up to the tree tops and disappeared into the darkness.

Shino stopped his bugs, "Clever." He said before a beetle came out from his collar, "But I have just the right bug to track you down."

Samui crouched up against a tree, "This isn't going to be easy." She muttered before she looked above her to see Shino's beetle perched on the tree above her. "Dammit!" She shouted before she jumped from her spot on the tree branch.

Not a second later, that branch was engulfed in Shino's bugs.

Below on the ground, Shino watched the woman run from branch to branch away from his bugs, "A slippery one."

Getting tired of running away from bugs, Samui stopped on a tree branch and took out her tanto, "This is getting old really fast." She said before she began batting away every bug that came her way.

Shino quickly sensed his bugs getting hurt and immediately called back his bug hordes. This was the first time he ever fought with someone who could use swords. The thought of his precious bugs getting killed actually scared Shino.

Samui was puzzled by the bug ninja's odd behavior but then quickly put two and two together, "How odd. I never expected an emotionless person like you to get worked up by the potential loss of your bug servants."

"...They're more than just servants to me. They're the last remnants of my mother." Shino said.

"Your mother?" Samui asked.

"Yes, these bugs are all I have left of her." Shino said petting the beetle that landed on his shoulder.

"O-oh, I am so sorry." Samui said, "I did not mean to injure your bugs the way I did. I have done a great disrespect to your mother."

"No, it's my fault for sending them in the direction of a sword wielder," Shino said, "I underestimated your sword skills. Bugs aren't an easy target to hit especially with a tanto."

"Flattery won't make me go easy on you, you know," Samui said with a giggle.

"That was the truth and nothing more. The thought of my mother's insects being killed just fills me with fear. You could say it's the same as actually seeing her die."

"How did your mother die?" Samui asked, "I-If I may ask."

"I don't know." Shino said, "All that I know is that a few days after she left for her mission in the Cloud village, the only thing that returned were her bugs. Ever since they came back, they've never left my side."

Samui's expression went from confused to realization from hearing Shino's story.

"What's the use telling this story? It doesn't even have anything to do with y-" Shino started to say, but was cut off by Samui.

"Was your mother's name Kae Aburame?" Samui asked.

Shino immediately gritted his teeth after hearing that name, "Where did you hear that name?"

"Weren't you told about what happened to Kae?" Samui asked. "She was your mother after all."

"Stop dancing around the subject and just tell me," Shino demanded.

"Then you don't know. Shino, 6 years ago, your mother was assassinated." Samui said.

"A-assassinated…?!" Shino asked. "L..Lies! Father told me mother left us to go live in the cloud village of her own choosing."

Samui shook her head. "That is not the case. Your mother was killed and I know because I was there," she started to explain, but she sensed a change in Shino's demeanor.

"You were there... So you're telling me my mother was murdered and you were there! Just because she was a member of the leaf village did you just let her die then!" Shino growled out unleashing his bugs in a fit of rage.

Samui eyes widen as the bugs flew straight towards her. Samui went on the defensive and started heading deeper into the forest. The bugs on the other hand caught up to her quickly blocking every path she tried to take.

Gritting her teeth Samui plowed through the bug wall that stood before her. Sadly, she was not expecting to see that the bugs had devoured the next branch she was aiming for causing the young blond to plummet to the ground below.

When Samui landed on the ground she lost hold of her Tanto. With her sword out her reach the bugs grabbed it and brought it back to their enraged master. If anyone could see the eyes of the young Aburame they would see the anger and sadness swirling inside them.

"You no longer have your sword, so you have no way to harm my mother's bugs. This is payback for allowing my mother to die" Shino said coldly as he motioned for his bugs to encase Samui in a cocoon.

Samui looked scared as the bugs enclosed on her. "Wait Shino! You misunderstand!" she cried out from inside the cocoon wincing as bugs bit her in different spots making her flinch.

"What's to misunderstand? You said my mother was killed and you were there. There are only two scenarios that I see that could have happened. You and your village let my mother be killed or you killed her yourself. So which is it?" Shino asked coldly.

Samui felt bugs getting closer. "Both are wrong! My village and I did not kill her! She was dead when I got to her!" she yelled closing her eyes to brace herself as all the bugs made a dive for her.

After a minute of not feeling the stinging bites of the bugs Samui peaked her eyes open. She saw that all the bugs were frozen around her gently swarming her. She looked towards the front were the bugs parted to reveal Shino walking towards her.

"What do you mean by that?" Shino asked.

Samui let out a sigh of relief glad to see Shino was ready to listen to everything now. "The mission your mother was sent on 6 years ago was a fake one only used to draw her out from the Leaf village." she explained, "When the Raikage found out about the forged mission, he sent me and my sensei to warn your mother... but we were too late. Her throat had been cut too deeply and we were unable to save her. She had just died when we arrived at the scene." she explained showing that she was deeply saddened by the experience and even more so for Shino.

"...This isn't the story father told me. He told me that she had divorced him and decided to live in the Cloud village." Shino said trying to make sense of it all "...She's...she's really?"

Samui nodded feeling her heart ache for Shino, "I'm so sorry. If we had gotten there faster, she would still be alive."

"Who killed her?" Shino asked. "Who are the assassins who killed my mother?"

"I would love to tell you, Shino, but not here." Samui asked, "Please find it in yourself to be patient."

"...F-fine." Shino said as he suddenly took off his glasses and covered his eyes.

"Whoa, are you…?" Samui asked.

"My apologies...but...I've n-never felt this way in a long time," Shino said as actual tears fell down his face, "When I heard my mother divorced father, I... I cried for as long as I could remember. She was everything to me and everything I inspired to be. I wouldn't have thought to be a shinobi if it weren't for her. Not only hearing that she was murdered, but that father lied to me...it's impossible for me to hide my feelings…"

"... So that's why you act so cold," Samui said, "You poor guy. It's not a bad thing to believe that showing tears is a sign of weakness...but everyone has to cry, even I have cried. I lost a good friend years ago and I haven't been the same ever since. Don't worry, you're still strong just how your mother would want you to be."

"... Thank you, for telling me the truth." Shino said, "And... for letting me cry in front of you. I'm sorry for letting me temper fly. I just became so angry and upset that I lose my cool," he said handing Samui back her tanto.

"It's no problem at all," Samui said, "Now that I get a better look at you, you're adorable with that face" she teased putting her tanto back inside its sheath.

"Weren't you saying before that flattery wouldn't get me anywhere?" Shino asked hiding a blush under his collar as he put his glasses back on. "We've wasted enough time. Let's continue this match."

"Already way ahead of you," Samui said before she raised her hand, "Hayate-sensei, I forfeit this match!"

Shino was silent for a second trying to understand what the woman just said, "What?"

Hayate's eyebrow rose, "A second forfeit in a row?" He thought before he let out a cough, "Due to forfeit *cough* *cough* Shino Aburame is the winner of the eleventh match."

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

When the three were transported back to the arena, Shino was still in a state of shock so were Samui's teammates.

"Did...Did Samui actually forfeit her match?!" Omoi said not believing the strong blonde could actually throw the match.

Karui was silent not knowing how to process what their leader thinking.

"You...why did you-?" Shino asked.

"Now don't think I threw the match because I knew I wouldn't win against you," Samui said, "I did it because you're doing this for your mother and you deserve it after everything you went through."

"Samui…"

"But if you go and lose your chance at being a Chunin, I'll never forgive you," Samui said, "I'm not happy that I forfeited this match, but I know I did it for your sake so you better not waste it."

"I didn't want to win this way," Shino said with regret, "Not with my tears, but with my strength and skills. It feels like I've done nothing but guilt trip you…"

"Well then, use your strength and skill in the next round of the exams and we'll be even," Samui said, "Now then, how about we get you to the infirmary, Shino. That cut on your hand isn't going to treat itself."

"Cut?" Shino asked looking at his clean hands, "I don't have a-"

"Don't worry, Hayate-sensei, I'll escort Shino there myself so there's no need to call the medical squad." Samui said before she grabbed Shino's arm, "Come on, bug boy, before your wound gets infected."

"N-no need to pull me…" Shino said with another hidden blush.

After the two ninja had left, Hayate sighed, "Another forfeit...I hope this last match ends in a blaze of glory…"

Naruko shivered as she hugged Shikamaru's arm after hearing the story of Shino's mother. "Is Shino going to be alright?"

Shikamaru nodded, "Shino's a strong guy. He just needed to let out those emotions he's bottled up. I say it's about damn time."

Sakura was just as worried about Shino as Naruko was and the part where he actually cried caught her off guard. "Kurenai-sensei, do you know why Samui really dragged Shino out?"

"Oh, so I'm not the only one who's noticed the obvious lie the girl told," Kurenai said.

"Yeah, Shino didn't receive any damage during that fight," Sakura said.

"I'll go see him. You stay and enjoy the last fight," Kurenai said before she left.

"Putting that tragic story aside, that was indeed a good battle. Samui fought very hard when she was at the disadvantage. The Aburame clan is known for being quite skilled long range attackers. The bugs they use for their jutsu are helpful in their long range attacks and can be used for close quarter defenses." Gai explained to them.

"Shino was most efficient in defending Samui's attacks. I myself would like to have a fight with Aburame-kun myself in the future!" Lee announced feeling excited for the opportunity for a future fight.

"You need not to be focused on a future fight, but the one you are about to walk into Lee" Neji said stoically.

Lee and the others stopped talking as they realized the Hyuga boy was right. Naruko smiled as she turned to face her bushy eyed friend.

"Alright Lee you get out there and show that creep with the sand what you got" Naruko said.

Lee smiled widen. "Having you cheer me on Naru-chan feels my heart with the fire of victory" he said giving her the thumbs up as he jumped down over the balcony railing to the main floor.

As Naruko watched Lee jumped down to the main floor she felt a cold shiver go down her spine and for a split second she thought she saw the angel of death float above Lee. Quickly the blonde shook her head to get rid of the evil feeling though she did move closer to Shikamaru and hold his arm tighter.

Shikamaru gave his girlfriend a worried glance as he pulled her closer to him which made her give him a small smile, but then it fell into a worried frown.

Gaara used one hand seal to send himself to the arena floor in a swirl of flying sand in front of a grinning Lee.

"It's an honor to do battle with you. Let's make this match most enjoyable" Lee tells Gaara.

Gaara just stared with blank blue-green eyes at the green clad Genin. As they stared each other down a swish was heard in the air. In the blink of an eye Lee's hand was outreached and in his hand was a quark.

Lee smirked at Gaara as he dropped the quark to the ground. "Be patient are fight will begin soon" he said glancing at Hayate who was ready to begin the match.

After coming out of another coughing fit Hayate teleported the two fighters to the final mountain area to begin the last match of the preliminaries.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Lee and Gaara stared each other down as the wind blew across the western plain. Both ninja waiting for the signal to the match to begin.

"The twelfth and final match of the preliminaries is about to begin. Rock Lee vs Gaara of the Sand if both of you are ready then you may begin the fight" Hayate declared.

When Lee heard the signal to begin the match he shot off towards Gaara at lightning speed. "Leaf Hurricane!" he shouted striking his leg out with tremendous force to hit the red head in his upper body.

Lee's eyes widen as he saw sand pour out of his giant gourd on his back that formed a barrier around the redhead that took the blow of his kick. "...Sand?"

When Lee's attack hit the sand barrier the sand began to swirl and expand around Lee as if the sand itself was trying to trap him inside. Using his speed Lee was able to escape the grasp of the sand.

Not to be discouraged Lee moved back in to attack and break through the sand barrier. He threw punch after punch to the sand busting holes in it, but watched as the barrier repaired itself. Jumping back again Lee glared at the sand. "Dammit... this will be a lot harder than I believed."

Gaara stood emotionless as he watched Lee's futile attempts to break through the sand armor. "Is that all you can do?" he said gruffly before looking at Lee with a mad look in his eyes. "There hasn't been enough blood yet."

Lee felt a shiver go down his spine at demonic look in his opponent's eyes. Lee watched as the sand began to move towards him. Taking out a Kunai Lee began to slash away at the approaching sand. Slash after slash was made with Lee trying to clear a path inside to hit Gaara directly, but the sand continued to Gaara as if it had a mind of its own. Lee flipped far away from Gaara landing on a tall mountain ledge watching as the sand lay on the ground between them.

"This is troubling. Whatever move I make the sand seems to be there to counter me. My speed is just barely cutting through and I'm making no lead way" Lee thought gritting his teeth before smiling at Gaara feeling his blood pump with excitement. "But the challenge is most exciting. Sorry Gai sensei, but it looks like I'm going to have to go full out on him. Please understand my reasoning sensei."

Lee plopped on the ground taking off his orange leg mufflers. Gaara and Hayate both watched as the bushy eye browed boy took off two sets of weights from his legs. Standing up Lee let out a loud sigh of relief.

"Hmmm much better. I feel lighter than air again!" Lee cheered dropping the weights to the ground below.

Once the two weights hit the ground two massive craters were created into the dirt making the other one stare with wide eyes while the other one kept a mask of indifference.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Back in the main room the main room everyone was in a state of shock at seeing the amount of weight Lee had just taken off.

"Gai you are seriously too much sometimes" Kakashi muttered.

"Holy cow! Bushy-brows is already fast with those weights on he must have super speed after they come off" Naruko gawked in wonder.

"That is true, but my question is why is Lee only using Taijutsu? Can't he see that taijutsu isn't going to work on that guy?" Sakura asked.

"Yes it would seem that Taijutsu isn't going to work and that Lee should try to use Ninjutsu of some kind, but frankly he can't" Gai said getting everyone's attention. "Lee is unable to use Ninjutsu and Genjutsu. He only knows Taijutsu."

"You're kidding me right?" Shikamaru asked in disbelief.

"Afraid not. If you think that's bad you should have seen Lee when I got him. He really had no talent in taijutsu either and I thought he was a lost cause, but Lee proved me wrong. With only his Taijutsu Lee's going to show everyone just how much of a winner he really is" Gai said smiling at them.

Neji stayed in the background scoffing at how idiotic his sensei sounded. "What nonsense. A loser will always be a loser no matter how many times they try to improve themselves."

"Go get him busy-brow! Show that guy what you're made of!" Naruko cheered.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

As soon as the weights came off Lee disappeared from sight. In the next second the sand armor was hit catching Gaara off guard. After that Gaara saw just an inch from his face Lee's fist. This continued on with Gaara moving his head side to side trying to figure out where the next blow would come from.

"Can you keep up?" Lee taunted throwing at more blows and kicks making Gaara more disoriented. Lee taking the chance jumped up above him bring his leg down across Gaara's face. "Or am I just too fast for you?"

Gaara stumbled back after recovering from the blow glaring at Lee who looked pleased for finally making contact.

Not letting that one slide Gaara sent his sand out to attack Lee in a wave, but Lee was too quick for it and was able to get in Gaara's personal space and score a direct punch in Gaara's face.

Gaara was sent flying with the sand following after him as he skidded across the ground.

Lee stood back up into his fighting stance smirking at the down Gaara. "A direct hit! All my training and hard work with Gai-sensei is paying off."

Gaara lay stunned on the ground for a few seconds before he climbed back to his feet. Wheezing breaths came from the sand ninja, but what caught Lee's attention was the sand cracking off of his opponent's face and the demonic look back in his eyes.

"What in the world is going on?" Lee questioned as he watched the sand cover Gaara's body once more.

When the armor was back in place Gaara gave him his blank stare. "Well, is that all?"

Lee gritted his teeth as he started him down. "What incredible defenses. Even with my speed, my attacks are useless if I can't break through to hit him. My only option is to get him off the ground and away from the sand. I have to use it..."

Lee grabbed his bandaged arms and began to slowly unwrap them. He made sure plenty was unwrapped before he crouched and eyed Gaara with determined eyes. "Prepare yourself!" he shouted before disappearing again creating a whirlwind vortex around Gaara.

Gaara watched with unamused eyes as the small vortex grew around him. Growing bored of waiting Gaara addressed Lee. "If you're going to make a move then hurry it up."

"As you wish!" Lee said coming out of the vortex kicking Gaara straight up into the air. Sadly, Gaara didn't fly as high as Lee had intended for him to. "I'm not finish yet!"

Lee then proceeded to kick Gaara higher and higher into the air with the sand following after him. Sadly, the strain on his body got the better of him and he closed his eyes from the pain. In that moment Gaara saw an opening. Once Lee recovered from the initial pain he used his bandages to wrap Gaara up like a mummy in midair.

Lee grabbed the mummified Gaara and began to spin them both down to the ground in a swirling nose dive. "Take this! Omote Renge (Primary Lotus)!"

Lee's move sent them both plummeting to the ground at an amazing speed and upon impact with the ground a huge dent in the earth was made. Tossing up smoke and dirt in the process.

Lee jumped away from the crater he made kneeling on the ground panting hard from the strain and exertion he just put his body through. "That should have done it."

Gaara was seen lying motionless among the rocks looking as if he was knocked out. Hayate moved over to examine him, but found that the boy was cracking apart. When the sand crumbled it should a hollow shell.

"What?!" Lee demanded seeing the empty shell not understanding when Gaara pulled a switch on him.

A low dark chuckle was heard behind Lee and he turned to see Gaara coming up off the ground from the sand. Gaara has an amused sinister look on his face as he eyed Lee like he was prey ready to be feasted on.

Gaara performed a single hand sign and his sand exploded into stream all striking out at Lee knocking him around before sending him rolling on the ground.

Lee lay gasping for breath as he felt his legs tremble in pain making him feel immense agony that left him frozen to the ground.

Gaara was transfixed on the look of agony on Lee's face and licked his lips as he sent out a giant wave of sand to swallow Lee whole. The sand then slammed Lee in the mountain ledge ripping a loud wail of pain from him.

Gaara was enthralled by the sound and blast after blast of sand at the immobile boy. Enjoying each scream of agony he ripped from his little toy.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Naruko's eyes widen in horror from seeing the pain Lee was being put through, "Lee!"

"God...that sand kid isn't holding back on how brutal he can be," Asuma said.

"Shikamaru, what should I do?" Naruko asked going into a spazz attack, "What should I do? Lee's going to lose his match! He can't hit his opponent but his opponent can hurt him and he's in serious pain! What should I do?!"

Shikamaru quickly wrapped Naruko in a hug, "What you need to do is calm yourself down, blue eyes. You always get like this when things seem bad for our friends. If your friend is as strong as he is fast, he'll come up with a plan like I always do."

Naruko quickly calmed herself down, "Thank you, Shika...and yes I do tend to spazz out a bit when my friends get hurt."

"You have nothing to fear anyway young one. Lee still has an ace in the hole to win this match" Gai said.

"But how?" Lee can barely move and Gaara just looks like he's toying with Lee" Sakura said.

Gai gave her a charming smile. "The lotus of the leaf blooms twice my dear."

"Wait I've heard that before" Naruko said trying to remember from where. "Wait bushy-brow told me that, but I didn't know what it meant."

"The lotus of the leaf blooms twice..." "Gai tell me you didn't do what I think you did" Kakashi demanded looking over to the green clad Jounin.

"I did" Gai said looking over to his longtime rival.

"Then that boy, who's just Genin can open the eight inner gates?" Kakashi asked started to looked panicked.

"Yes that is right" Gai said. "He has the talent for it"

"Talent or not that technique is horribly dangerous. You of all people should know the dangers that technique can do to a person." Kakashi said. "The hidden lotus is a top jutsu you should never teach!"

"Hidden lotus?" Neji wondered.

"I don't claim to know what that boy means to you Gai, I'll even spare the lecture on personal feelings being drag into this, but what you've done had crossed a line on this!" Kakashi said, "You disappoint me Gai."

"What the hell do you know about that boy Kakashi? You can stand there and lecture me all you want, but can understand what that boy is feeling. That boy has something he's willing to put his life on the line for and because of that I'm willing to help him achieve it no matter the cost." Gai said.

"Even so if the boy opens the inner gates it could be disastrous. So tell me Gai how many of the inner gates can he open?" Kakashi asked.

"He's up to the fifth gate." Gai tells him.

Kakashi eyes widen in disbelief. "He can open that many gates? That feat should be impossible to achieve even with hard work. Maybe that boy is a genius to after all."

"Can we back up here a minute. You two keep mentioning these eight inner gates. What are they?" Sakura asked.

"The eight gates act as limiters that must be released in order to perform the hidden lotus" Gai explained.

"So what are these eight gates exactly?" Naruko asked.

"The eight gates are the specific points that the chakra network runs through. In layman's terms there were the chakra flows. Where the chakra point converge you can the gates. Gate 1: Kaimon-Gate of Opening, Gate 2: Kyumon-Gate of Rest, Gate 3: Seimon-Gate of Life, Gate 4: Shomon-Gate of Pain, Gate 5: Tomon-Gate of Closing, Gate 6: Keimon-Gate of Joy, Gate 7: Kyomo-Gate of Shock, and Gate 8: Shimon- Gate of Death" Kakashi listed off as he paused making sure the students were following his explanation. "Those are the eight inner gates that can grant you unbelievable power, but at a price. If someone was to open all eight gates they will have power that of the Hokage, but in exchange that person will inevitably die."

Naruko felt the cold shiver go down her spine once again as she watched Lee run from Gaara's sand blast feeling her heart rate pick up as she again saw the angel of death hanging over Lee's head. "Lee... please be careful..."

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Lee hit the ground again after barely dodging another round of sand blasts. This last barrage drained the energy out of Lee and he was left panting heavily holding up a shaky guard before the grinning sand shinobi.

"What good does that block do for you? It's pointless to keep trying. Soon you won't be able to feel anything again" Gaara mocked sending out another wave of sand.

Lee weakly dodged the first blast, but got crushed under the second one. Lee's eyes felt heavy and breathing became more difficult. "Is this really the end?" he thought.

As if his mind wouldn't let him give up he remembered what it is he's fighting for and what he has set out to prove to everyone.

"I want to show that I can be a splendid ninja as well! Even though I don't have Ninjutsu or Genjutsu. I want to prove it to the whole world!" Young Lee declared.

Lee slowly started to get back to his feet.

"You say you want to prove to the world you can be a splendid ninja without all the gifts others are blessed with right? Well, I think that's a fine goal as fine a goal I've ever heard of and one worth sticking too. Never waver from you path Lee and make me proud, be everything that you can be! Will you do that for me Lee?" Gai asked smiling.

Lee's breathing took a fighting stance as he closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath to steady his heart.

"Lee to be a splendid ninja means to live by one's own ninja way. A ninja is not measured by what techniques you have, but by your goals and dreams. Don't let anyone ever tell you what you can't be. Remember you decide what you're going to be not them. And if anyone has a problem with that send them to me and I'll kick their butt for you" said a ten-year-old Naruko who gave him her biggest and sincere smile.

Lee's eyes snapped open burning with determination and passion. The smile on his face was beaming. "Thank you Gai-sensei, Naru-chan I won't let you down. I'm fighting to protect my Nindo, my ninja way!"

Gaara didn't like the change in Lee's eyes. He wanted them to go back to being lifeless and filled with pain. Summoning up the sand again Gaara sent it out towards Lee.

Lee began to dodge the sand blasts back to his normal speed again. "I will make them proud. I will keep forging ahead and follow my path to the end and become the ninja I know I can be!"

When the barrages ceased Lee and Gaara had a many stare down with each other.

"Again I have to thank you for this fight. You have helped me push past my limits, but it is now that I put an end to this fight." Lee said going into a crouching position.

Gaara eyed him looking unamused again. "I don't know what you're planning right now, but this match is over."

"You are right it is over. One way or another" Lee said as energy began to pour out of his body as images of Neji, Sasuke, and even Naruko entered his head causing more energy to pour out.

Gaara could feel the power pouring off of Lee's body leaving him in a daze.

"I am not going to be the only one to lose here" Lee gritted out. "Gai-sensei please let this work! It is now or never!" Lee's body began to turn red as chakra started to coat his entire body. "I will protect and maintain my own ninja way! The third gate, gate of life open!"

Lee's body began to surge out more power whipping up a small sandstorm of his own causing Hayate to shield his eyes while Gaara watched on with awe struck eyes.

Lee however was far from finished. Crouching down lower he let out a yell. "The fourth gate, gate of pain open!"

Once the fourth gate was opened Lee shot off at Gaara like a bullet. Hayate nor Gaara saw him coming, but the path he left behind was torn up throwing up dust and debris.

Lee appeared under Gaara kicking him clear up into the sky. The force was so strong a gust of wind blew the dust around them. Above the dust you could see Gaara's cracking sand armor with the sand shield trying to follow after him.

"That's sand of yours is useless!" Lee screamed punching Gaara towards the ground, but followed it up by kicking back into the air. What soon followed was Lee punching and kicking Gaara around in a volley of attacks.

Gaara watched as his sand armor was slowly torn away from his body. "My sand armor...it can't handle any more of this attack... if this continues..." the red haired thought gaining a look fright at Lee appeared right before him. "No human should be able to move like this!"

"This sand armor of yours was most formidable, but now it's over. With this next blow this will be the end! The fifth gate, gate of closing open!" Lee yelled as all his muscles began to tear themselves apart from the inside out. "Neji are you watching me? This was my ace in the hole that I was going to use against. Do you see what you have to look forward too!" he thought punching Gaara straight in the gut breaking the armor up more.

Gaara grunted in pain as he felt himself speeding to the ground, but before hitting the ground he felt his sash get tugged on stopping him from hitting the ground. Lee who grabbed the sash tugged Gaara back up to him.

"Raaahhhhh! Ura Renge (Hidden Lotus)!" Lee yelled punching Gaara again in the stomach shattering the sand armor and sending him to the ground.

As Gaara was falling his gourd began to crumble away. Once Gaara hit the ground a massive crater was created under him. Lee fell to the ground bleeding from his nose as he rolled away from the crater.

Lee laid on his back completely spent. His entire body ached and he couldn't move anything. If he even tried, he was screaming in agony. Panting heavily Lee looked over to where Gaara was and his eyes widen at what he saw. "Im...Impossible..."

Gaara was laying on his back on top of a sand pile. The gourd that Gaara wore had turned itself into sand cushioning the fall. Seeing that Gaara was still unscathed was shocking to Lee, but what was more shocking than that was that the Gaara he saw lying on the sand pile was a girl.

The Gaara laying on the sand now had long crimson red hair, her eyes were bigger, her lips were thinner and finally were there was a flat chest hidden behind her clothes you could see two decent sized mounds of flesh being covered by her clothing.

Gasping for breath Gaara rose a shaky hand towards Lee making the sand move towards him.

Lee was in shock not expecting Gaara to still be able to move let alone go on the attack. Lee tried to crawl away, but it was pointless his body could no longer listen to him. The sand wrapped around his right arm and leg.

Gaara's hand began shaking as she slowly closed it. "Sand burial..." she said in a softer voice than the gruff one she had before.

Lee screamed in agony as his arm and leg got crushed in the sand's clutches. "I can't lose... I have to protect my ninja way..." he thought before falling to the ground unconscious from the sheer pain.

Hayate didn't let this continue. Drawing a deep breath, he teleported the two Genin back to the main room.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Back in the main area Gaara was not done with Lee. She wanted blood the monster inside her demanded more of it. Sending her sand back at Lee's prone body she was ready to crush him to death. "Now you die."

Unfortunately, she was stopped by none other than Gai himself as he blocked her approaching sand from getting to Lee.

Gaara was stunned by the sensei's actions as old memories from her past popped into her head. "But...why? He failed so why did you protect him?" she asked grabbing her head.

Gai was quiet for a moment as memories of training with Lee and the moments they shared together. "Because he's my student... and because he's precious to me."

"That's a sentiment that Gaara couldn't even begin to understand" Baki thought.

Gaara got up on her feet as her gourd began to reform to itself. "I quit."

Sakura looked on confused. "He…I mean she quits?"

"Doesn't matter. Hayate didn't call the match before Gai intervened. Once Gai stepped in Lee had lost." Kakashi explained.

Naruko gritted her teeth as she closed her hand around the balcony rail until her knuckles turned white. "Poor bushy-brow..."

"The winner of the final match is... Huh?" Hayate started to say but paused as he saw Lee standing back up. "What is that kid made of?"

"Unbelievable. After everything that boy put his body through he shouldn't even be able to move let alone stand up" Kakashi thought.

Gai moved closer to the shaking Lee. "Lee that's enough... it's over now you don't have to fight anymore. Besides you're in no condition to co..." he said before looking into his student's eyes and began to cry. "Oh Lee... what have done... you're not even conscious and you're still determined to show the world what you can do."

"The boy isn't even conscious, yet he's standing on his feet through sheer willpower alone." Kakashi said.

Gai hugged Lee close to him cradling his head as he cried. "It's okay Lee you've already proved you really are a splendid ninja."

Hayate watched the student and sensei for a moment before sighing and turning to the red haired girl. "The winner of the final match is Gaara."

Gaara showed no signs of caring that she won her cold stare was trained slowly on Lee and Gai. Her eyes narrowed more at them not understanding what it meant to be precious to someone as she walked away.

Temari let out a sigh of relief. "Well, it was obvious Gaara was going to win from the beginning, but now her secret's out. How are we going to explain this to the elders and father?" she asked looking over to Baki.

"I don't know... To think that Gaara's sand armor and disguise was broken by that kid is no less of a miracle. I guess she underestimated the wrong opponent" Baki said. "But lucky for us the demon inside didn't come out like we had feared."

Temari nodded knowing her father was not going to be pleased. "As long as I can remember father has always hidden Gaara's gender. He told me and Kankuro that under no circumstances were we to allow her true gender to be known. Unless we wanted our enemies to know so that Gaara could be an open target for them. Well, Gaara's a lot stronger now so she might be able to protect herself now. Plus, now she won't have to use up most of her chakra keeping up the transformation jutsu 24/7 now." she reasoned with herself.

Naruko couldn't stand this anymore. Jumping down from the balcony she ran immediately to Lee's side passing by Gaara. Naruko turned her watery blue eyes to the red head with a hard glare who meet her gaze with her cold blank stare. "I can't believe Lee lost to her..." she thought.

Gai had just put Lee down when Naruko got to his side. "Here let me help bushy-brow until the medical team gets here" she said to the senseis who let her kneel by Lee's side.

Naruko taking her place beside began to examine him and what she saw made her hands start to shake. "This can't be right... please no" she thought feeling the tears pool in her eyes as she started the first aid treatment.

Gai saw the look in Naruko's eyes and felt his heart start to break more. Soon the medical team showed up with the stretched. Naruko let the medical team know she had started on Lee's upper body to help control his breathing. Nodding the medical team started to prep Lee's arms and legs. Gai watched as the same look Naruko had appeared on the head medic's face and he heard the small hiccup come from the little blond as the medic leaned over to talk with her.

"This doesn't look good. I'm sure you have assisted the extent of the boy's injuries. What conclusion did you draw?" The head medic asked Naruko who looked as if she had been stabbed in the gut. The head medic sighed as he looked up to Gai. "Are you the boy's sensei?" he asked.

"I am. What is it?" Gai asked him before looking over to the shaking Naruko before looking back to the medic.

Naruko knew that the head medic was right, but it just felt so wrong to say the words. Knowing what he was going to tell Gai broke her heart even more as she watched Lee's chest barely rise and fall. Not being able to watch anymore she had to divert her eyes. "Don't bother explaining it to Gai-Sensei... I'll tell him, you... you guys just go worry about taking care of Lee" she tells the head medic getting up.

"Are sure you can handle telling him?" the medic asked.

"I'm going to have to. Just please make sure Bushy-brow is seen to right away. You can't let his condition worsen" Naruko said in a quiet voice. Nodding the head medic signaled for his team to stretcher Lee out.

"What is it Naruko what has you and the medics so worked up about? What is Lee facing?" Gai demanded.

"What the medic wanted you to know is that though Lee is breathing on his own, he has compound compressive fractures, with torn muscles and ligaments throughout his body. If that was all Lee was suffering you could expect him to make a full recovery, but the damage he to his right arm and leg is so severe he..." Naruko started to explain, but choked up on the last sentence because she didn't want to believe it. It felt like if she said it was going to be true.

"He what? Naruko what is it?" Gai asked feeling that tear in his heart expanding at the sheer look of torment on the young blonde's face.

Taking a deep breath Naruko looked up to Gai sensei with tears streaming down her face catching Gai, Gaara and the others watching off guard to see the look of misery on her face. "Because of the damage done to Lee's body he will never be able to fight again. Lee's days as a shinobi are over."

Gai couldn't process what the young girl was saying finding that her words were more painful than any injury he has ever taken in his entire shinobi career.

"Oh Lee I never let myself think that you could lose. I wanted so badly to help you prove to the world that your ninja way was the right way. Please forgive me Lee. I should have stopped that match before it went to this degree... I'm so sorry" Gai cried.

Naruko was shaking never hating her medical knowledge more than she did now. "What's the point of having medical ninjutsu or knowledge if I can't do anything to help the people I care about!" she thought bitterly holding her grandmother's necklace in her shaking hand.

Naruko felt like ripping it off her neck and throwing it because she was so pissed off at herself, but a gentle hand enclosed her shaking fist around the necklace and bringing it close to her heart. She was then pulled into a warm embrace.

"Never curse the gift Lady Kaede left for you Imoto. She wanted you to be able to heal the wounded in more ways than one." Kakashi tells her.

"It isn't fair. All Lee wanted to do was prove himself in battle. He wanted to be strong so he could fight with Neji and Sasuke, why was that so wrong?" Naruko asked.

"Maybe that was the price was just too high for him to pay. Lee made the choice to use a life threatening technique to forge ahead in his path. It was his sacrificed to honor the unspoken oath between you. Lee was not just fighting so he could fight with Sasuke and Neji, but so he could walk beside and fight with you Naruko. Never forget that Imoto be strong and worthy of his sacrifice." Kakashi tells her.

Naruko sniffled as she nodded her head. She may hate what has happened to Lee, but she swore to herself she will find a way to give Lee back his dream. "I swear Lee I find a way to heal you!" she swore before locking eyes with the red haired girl glaring at her. "And I'll make her pay for doing this to you."

Hayate let out a sigh of relief. "Phew these matches are finally over..." Hayate thought before starting to cough.

Hiruzen smiled pleased with the turnout of this Chunin exam. "We have so much talent for this year's finally. My bones are just shaking with excitement.

"Well then as of this moment, the preliminaries to the third exams *cough* *cough* are now complete!" Hayate announced.

Hiruzen moved to stand before the statue that showed the two hands performing a hand seal. "I must congratulate all of you on the

accomplishments of those proceeding to the finals and to those who fought hard to make it through. I like to ask for those who won their match to please stand before me so I may explain the next phase of the exam."

The finalist each made their way to the main floor. Naruko stood beside Shikamaru and Omoi. Next to Omoi stood Karui who stood beside Shino who finally came back from getting his hand checked out. Next to Shino was Neji. Next to Neji was Temari. Next to Temari was Gaara who was next to Dosu to finish the lineup of finalist except for the two missing members of Team Seven.

"Besides the absent Sasuke Uchiha and Hinata Hyuga we have six finalists from Konoha, Two Cloud, Two Sand and one Sound ninja. Not a bad pool if I do say so myself. I'm pleased to see Naruko-chan and Shikamaru-kun made it through as well" Hiruzen thought smiling to himself.

"Um... Lord Hokage they're all yours now." Hayate said.

Hiruzen cleared his throat as he stepped forward. "Right. Well then starting now I shall begin explaining the finals."

The finalist all looked focused trained on the Hokage's words as the sensei's of the finalist looked on proudly from the upper stands.

"As I mentioned earlier in the preliminaries you all will conduct your final round battle in front of everyone. Each of you will represent the battle strengths of your respective lands. So we want you to fully showcase your various talents. And thus the finals will commence one month from now!"

"Why one month from now?" Karui asked.

"Well for starters you each fought a hard battle and you each showcased what you are capable of in combat. Another reason is so we can send word to other leaders and lords men to come witness the finals for themselves. For this one month it is wise for you each to train hard, improve and many even learn some new tricks to better help you against the opponent you face" Hiruzen explained.

"I get it. It's a stationary period for our bodies to recover essentially as well as do prep work so the next time we fight we're all on equal footing to give the lords and higher class shinobi a good show" Shikamaru said.

"Precisely. Now I would like to let you all go now, but first there's one last thing we must do for the finals. Inside the box Anko is holding are slips of paper. Each of you take one." Hiruzen explained.

Anko came around to each of the finalist pulling out a slip of paper until only two remained inside.

"Now then since everyone now has a number each of you will read of the number you have. Shikamaru-kun will start with you and work are way down" Hiruzen said.

"Man what a drag this is going to be" Shikamaru thought. "I got number..."

---

Lazyfox: And there we have it guys. After a year of being away this is what I bring you a cliffhanger. Now I know that's kind of a bitch move, but there's a reason behind that. Reason being is...

Random: She wants to see what you guys think the finals order is going to be. Also you bitch! How could you leave me alone for all this time! The crazy lady been torturing me this entire time while you were away and … and … and Wahhhh I missed you so much! *tackle hugs Lazy to the ground*

Magic: Wahhh Nee-chan I've missed you too! Reading fanfics just hasn't been the same without you! *joins the hug*

Lazyfox: *pats heads* There, there I've missed you both two. Now before I say goodbye I need to invite my writing bae and best buddy Espaada-4-Jurabi to come out. He's been my godsend and rock for the last year to help me get back into my writing spirits and helped me a lot with this chapter too. So he deserves a warm welcome and thank you ^w^

Jurabi: Oh come on, Lazy, you're giving me too much credit. It was your choice to drop off that previous author's note. I just suggested it to you. It's really nothing.

Lazyfox: Well, to me it was special and I believe you deserve your credit. So guys please go check out his account and read his stories especially his One Piece ones. I'm a sucker for good one piece stories~

Jurabi: B-but please don't have high expectations for it because it's really not as good as this story. I mean even the old version of that story couldn't compare to this great story.

Lazyfox: I wish he stop doubting himself. He's really good at background stories and dialogue. Yea for Shino's mother backstory you have this guy to thank which I will expand on in a future chapter. Now how did you guys like the Gaara reveal? Did anyone see me pulling a gender swap on him or did you all see that coming? I left you to ponder meaning things I know, but I wanted my return chapter to be amazing. Well, that's all for now guys. I hope to see you all again in the next chapter so until next time...

Everyone: JAA-NEE!

In memory of: Originally this chapter was supposed to be posted on December 3 which was my aunt's birthday. This chapter was made in her memory because she's my reminder to always do the things I love. Even when the things I do makes no sense to anyone else I should always be true to myself. I love you Auntie and I will never forget you.