Opening - Chase the World by May'n

"Ah... I've been looking forward to this," Orochimaru murmured, leaning forward intently.

Sasuke Uchiha, as per usual, was exuding a faint aura of chakra similar to killing intent that, rather than outright intimidating his opponent, informed them that he was thinking something along the lines of I really don't care about you, but since I'm here I might as well beat you into the ground. This aura, a specialty of his, was combined with the fact that his hands were in his pockets and he wasn't even bothering to look at Kiba.

Instead, his whirling two-tomoe Sharingan eyes betrayed his real emotions, killing intent and hatred aimed at Orochimaru under his guise as the Kazekage. Sasuke could actually feel how desperately his Sharingan wanted to evolve, how near it was to developing a third tomoe, but it wasn't enough. He'd failed to complete his doujutsu, even with a month of training it in battle against Kakashi, and that meant he wouldn't have it for either the exam or the invasion.

"Oi. Sasuke."

The Uchiha scion snapped his attention back to Kiba, just barely managing to sculpt his features into the typical condescending Uchiha look of nonchalance, instead of the furious glare he'd tried to intimidate Orochimaru with. He had an image to maintain, after all. "Hn?"

Kiba smirked at him, and Sasuke noted respectfully that he was imitating, rather well in fact, the Uchiha mask of superiority. It was, however, just an imitation. An admirable attempt, to be sure, but Sasuke was convinced that the expression could only be managed by an Uchiha, whether because it only looked properly badass with an active Sharingan, or because the look itself was a part of the Uchiha bloodline.

"How long do you think you can keep up with me?" Kiba asked.

Sasuke chuckled dryly. This mannerism was likewise practiced and rehearsed until he had it perfected. He closed his eyes for a moment, then aimed his deactivated Sharingan at Kiba to conserve power. Kiba does have a good point. Most of the jutsu I learned from Kakashi-sensei burn through my chakra quickly. I can only fight at full power for about five minutes. "Long enough."

"Perfect." Kiba's calm mask shattered into an excited grin. "That's perfect! See, I haven't done nearly as much as Naruto and Hinata in the past few months. For Kami's sake, Naruto ripped a guy's soul out a few weeks ago! And what have I been doing?" he laughed. "Training. You don't get bragging rights and infamy by just training. You need to show how strong you've gotten, and I've had no chances to do that. That's why people think of Team Eight as the Hokage's son, the heir of the Sage of Six Paths, the Hyuuga with the strongest Water Release in Konoha, and... the guy with the cute dog."

"Bitter, are we?"

"Nope." Kiba grinned even broader. "I'm not gonna deny what Naruto and Hinata have done is freaking awesome, so what I'm saying is that I need to start doing awesome stuff too. Call it, proctor."

"Begin."

Kiba promptly exploded into a cloud of black smoke. Sasuke's inactive eyes widened. I didn't see it happen with my Sharingan, damn it... he clasped his hands together in the Tiger seal. It could have been some kind of elemental clone dispelling, but I've seen records of fire clones in the Uchiha libraries. Hand seals forgotten, jutsu sealed away as kinjutsu anyway, since it's absurdly dangerous to learn, and it doesn't explode into smoke like this.

More importantly, he'd be disqualified if he didn't actually enter the arena, or more exactly, if he was outside it once the match started. Whatever this is, it's not a clone jutsu dispelling. He's in that cloud of smoke. "Sharingan!"

Sasuke stepped back, wide-eyed. It's laced with his chakra... but I can still see him through the smoke. He saw Kiba's new form, and despite having seen it before, he still failed to suppress his basic instinct to feel terror. It's just an Inuzuka technique, it's gotta be. So what if this one's on fire? It's still just a transformation, just a ninjutsu! He pulled his hands out of the Tiger seal and swiped them through several more. "Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!"

Over the roar of his own flames, Sasuke just barely heard Kiba's distorted voice chuckling. Then the fireball struck Kiba's cloud of smoke, which promptly ignited and exploded, shocking Sasuke. Dozens of pieces of debris, burning in pieces roughly the size of a Phoenix Flower, scattered in all directions. Sasuke easily dodged several. I got him! "Kiba... are you still alive in there?"

"Eight points."

Sasuke froze under the combined and unexpected killing intent of Kiba and Akamaru, unable to turn and face the foes standing behind him.

"Larnyx. Spine. Lungs. Liver. Jugular vein. Subclavian artery. Kidneys... Heart," Kiba spoke in a voice that could be described as both a growl and a purr. "These are the eight points targeted by the Silent Killing. Each one induces death that, while not necessarily instant, is fast enough that the victim has no time to scream."

"Attaboy," Zabuza said and nodded approvingly from his seat in the crowd.

"Tell me, Sasuke Uchiha... given a choice, would you prefer to be struck in any of those eight points over the others?"

Sasuke shuddered. He's... like Itachi, and Orochimaru... this killing intent is... "Kiba... what the hell are you?"

"Calm down," Kiba prompted him, and cut off his killing intent. "What am I?" he chuckled darkly. "You can't even imagine how happy I am that you asked me that. What am I? I'm the Hellhound of Konoha!"

Then the genjutsu clone behind Sasuke vanished.

"Now, I'll say it again." The fifteen-foot-tall, three-headed white Hellhound emerged from within the smoke, just before it began to fade. "Calm down. You can't give me a good fight, and these people a good show, if you're this scared! Gather your wits, shinobi of Konoha! Show me this power you were so proud of!"

Sasuke began making hand seals. He smirked, despite the fact he was still shaking faintly from Kiba's killing intent. "H-Hn... you're too loud, Kiba. Tone it down a little. Actually, tell me... how did you put that clone behind me?"

"Oh, that?" Kiba asked innocently. "I had a basic clone transform into a fireball, along with a few real ones I spat out with the Phoenix Flower Jutsu. It passed you, reassumed its true form, and delivered a line I was taught to rehearse perfectly. The intimidation factor of the Silent Killing being described with those words... it's remarkable, isn't it?"

"So your strategy is to intimidate me."

"No," Kiba laughed, which sounded odd through the distorted voice of his Cerberus Mode. "I was just doing that for kicks. Zabuza-sensei had me practice intimidation methods, along with his personal variant of killing intent, and... well, I kind of took a liking to it. Terrifying people has sort of become a hobby of mine."

"You're not half bad," Sasuke acknowledged, "but you forgot something. My brother is Itachi Uchiha, and before he left the village, the nightmares he showed me were far worse than anything you could come up with!" He was still making hand seals until that moment, at which point he roared, "Fire Release: Fire Dragon Bullet Jutsu!"

Kiba's demonic form was completely engulfed by Sasuke's attack, but when it passed, he was unharmed. "Oh, maybe I should have mentioned that. These red flames around me can't be interfered with by any Fire Release ninjutsu. My Hellhound Mode acts as a barrier to protect me from fire jutsu, no matter how strong."

Sasuke scowled. "Damn it..." that just leaves me with my Lightning Release... Those techniques are all stupidly taxing on my chakra, and worse, I doubt any but the Chidori pack enough of a punch to bring Kiba down in this state. "Fine. I'll give you a bit of credit, Kiba, without my Fire Release I might've been crippled."

"Might've?"

"Oh, maybe I should have mentioned that," Sasuke echoed. "I have my secondary element now!" he slapped his hands together in the 'clone seal,' and called, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

All six of Kiba's eyes narrowed. A shadow clone? He bared his teeth in a growl as an exact copy of Sasuke formed next to the original. But that's not an elemental jutsu... what's he thinking?

The clone drew a kunai and sprinted toward Kiba, who let it approach, amused. When it got within range, he lunged, and clamped the jaws of his central head down on it. "Huh. Tastes like silicon oh shi-"

The Lightning Release Shadow Clone exploded into a field of crackling electricity in Kiba's mouth, and Sasuke sighed in relief as most of the clone's borrowed chakra returned to him. Now that I've actually used that trick in a fight, I don't think I like it any more. Splitting my chakra in two like that is too risky. Not to mention the first jutsu I used was my Fire Dragon Bullet... If he could prevent me from recovering the chakra in that clone, he'd be all but guaranteed to finish me off.

Kiba and Akamaru both growled in annoyance, seperated into their original forms to eliminate the damage from Sasuke's lightning that might otherwise have killed them. "Ow..." Kiba stood, and cracked his neck to both the right and left. "You said that was a shadow clone," he observed angrily. "So what was with the lightning?"

"A little trick I picked up from Kakashi," Sasuke grinned. "He figured out how to apply nature transformation to a shadow clone, while not increasing its durability to the level of a true elemental clone. Instead, it violently releases a set fraction of the chakra it's made up, and returns the rest to the creator. It explodes."

Kiba grinned. "How many of those things can you make?"

"Just one at a time," he admitted sadly. "In order to make any more, I'd need to learn the Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu."

"Ah... so the jutsu Mizuki used was a seperate variation."

"And a kinjutsu," Sasuke added. "Kakashi claims he doesn't know it, but I have my doubts... either way, I can only make one clone for now." he paused. "You're completely unharmed after taking a blast of lightning to the face. Care to explain that?"

"Uh... not really," Kiba grinned at Sasuke's indignant glare, and shaped a few hand seals. "Fire Release: Hidden Smoke Jutsu."

The air around Kiba and Sasuke darkened and thickened into black haze, rendering the fearsome crimson eyes of the Uchiha completely useless. "What is this?" Sasuke demanded angrily. "I can't see your chakra through this smoke."

"That's because this smoke is my chakra," Kiba replied. His voice echoed in all directions, never betraying his location. "In Kiri, there's a popular stealth ninjutsu used in conjunction with the Silent Killing, that laces the air with water and chakra. Simply by channeling fire chakra instead of water, I created this variant of it. According to Zabuza, the Hidden Mist has foiled Byakugan and Sharingan alike for decades. Apparently smoke works just as well."

"Hn..." I'm getting tired of this! The Uchiha ran his hands through four quick seals, then stopped. "So you can't see me either... you're tracking me just by sound and scent."

"That's right." Kiba's voice distorted as he shifted back into Cerberus Mode. "You reek of fear, by the way."

"Come find me, and see if I look afraid!" Sasuke snarled, then aimed his right arm at the ground and grasped it with his left hand. "Chidori!" His arm lit up with lightning up to his elbow, and gave off a piercingly loud sound like a flock of birds chirping.

Kiba growled, and stepped into Sasuke's field of view, immediately noting the Chidori his foe held. That thing looks like it'll hurt, he noted grimly, then opened his three mouths and breathed out a cloud of smoke and ash.

More smoke? Sasuke lunged forward with his Chidori aimed at Kiba's central head. I don't get it, why bother trying to make the smoke thicker when I've already spotted-

With absolutely no warning, the ash cloud between the two Genin ignited into a massive fireball. Sasuke flinched and cried out as the heat from the flames washed over him, and the shockwave of the explosion threw him back. Kiba retreated backward out of the smoke being scattered by the blast, reverting to Baskerville Mode as he did so.

The last Uchiha in Konoha groaned and crawled to his feet. My Chidori... half my chakra, wasted! "Damn it!"

"You're kinda making this too easy, Sasuke." Kiba grinned as the last of the smoke faded.

Damn it, I've been way too impulsive... That stops now. Sasuke dusted himself off, and drew a kunai. I got caught in that smoke, but it wouldn't have been too hard to run away until I reached clear air. Plus, I got trigger-happy with the Chidori and it's cost me. From now on, I'll be careful. I'll watch his every move with my Sharingan, keep my distance, and wait for a proper opening!

Kiba noted the blade in Sasuke's hand, and decided not to release his next fireball. He knows a weapon like that won't do much against my Cerberus Mode, but he probably thinks if he throws enough of 'em at me, he'll wear me down. Is he planning to outlast me? His canine form shrank back down to a normal human's size. His clothes reappeared over his white fur, and while he was hunched over, he was perched on two legs.

Sasuke grinned. "I thought so. It takes a lot of chakra to maintain that form, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, I can only last about nine minutes in Cerberus Mode." The Uchiha flinched. "Oh? More than you expected? In this Baskerville Mode, and with the chakra I have left, I can probably keep fighting like this for twenty minutes. Plus, in this form I'm lighter and faster, and I can actually use Inuzuka-style taijutsu."

Sasuke tightened his grip on his kunai, scowling. He leapt backward as Kiba approached on all fours in a blur of crimson flame. He wasn't bluffing; he's much faster now. He backed away, just barely dodging several swipes of Kiba's burning claws. I can still track his movements with the Sharingan and dodge, but barely. Kiba jumped into the air and whipped a roundhouse kick at Sasuke's head. I can't afford to block when his limbs are on fire!

Kiba crouched down in front of Sasuke, easily dodged a swipe of the Uchiha's kunai, and opened his mouth to spit out a single Phoenix Flower fireball that struck Sasuke's chest, knocking him backward. Sasuke cried out in pain from the heat, but the fireball quickly went out, revealing that his shirt bore a circle of black soot but was otherwise unharmed. "Fireproof clothes?" Kiba questioned.

Sasuke grinned. "You're not the only one with protection from the Fire Release." Really, these clothes aren't meant to stop enemy ninjutsu, but when an Uchiha is forming a fire jutsu, they run the risk of a half-formed jutsu backfiring on them. A proper attack jutsu, like a Great Fireball, would easily burn through it, but Kiba doesn't know that.

"So your clothes protect you from the Fire Release... well, I'll just aim for the most exposed parts of your body. Your knees, right arm, and head!" Kiba resumed his taijutsu onslaught and swiped several times at Sasuke's head.

I can see him coming, but I can't predict him, the Sharingan wielder frowned, quickly backpedaling to avoid Kiba's attacks. His movements aren't entirely human, and he's good! Almost as fast as Lee with his weights on, but... He drew a second kunai with his left hand, and blocked Kiba's next punch precisely on its blade. Unlike with Lee, I can move fast enough to counter these moves, if barely. He bared his teeth in pain as Kiba's Flame Armor burned his left hand, but he pulled back his right to stab forward.

Kiba snarled, and caught Sasuke's right-hand dagger, then grasped the left as well. The blades glowed orange, prompting Sasuke to release them and wipe his hands on his shirt frantically. The two kunai slowly began to melt as Kiba's grip tightened on them, but he tossed them aside before they could completely liquefy. The weapons sizzled as they struck the ground, blackening and igniting the patches of grass they landed in.

While this was happening, however, Sasuke had already resumed making hand seals. "Lightning Release: White Vajra Jutsu!" A thick shaft of white light, just under a foot long, appeared in Sasuke's right hand. Arcs of crackling lightning forked away from the core of the jutsu. Kiba stalked forward on all fours, growling at Sasuke and the lightning in his hand.

Sasuke jumped backward, putting far more distance between himself and Kiba. "This jutsu flies slowly through the air, slower than a kunai, and its power isn't enough to tear the ground apart like the Chidori. In spite of that, it's a very useful B-rank jutsu. That's because this jutsu is the only one in my arsenal that tracks its target."

A homing ninjutsu... Kiba stared intently at the bundle of lightning in Sasuke's hand. Is it completely impossible to dodge?

"It's a heat-seeking missile!" Sasuke roared, and threw the White Vajra like a javelin.

Kiba leapt away from it, but only to buy time, since it continued to follow him at the pace Sasuke described. It's following my Flame Armor, I can't shake it off! He tried to dodge to the side of the projectile as it closed in, but it simply swerved and passed cleanly through his flames to hit his hip. It exploded into dozens of lightning bolts that scattered in all directions, throwing Kiba through the air. The Hellhound groaned, but stood as quickly as he could, expecting Sasuke to close in while he was down.

Instead, Sasuke had already formed a second White Vajra before Kiba could look up. "Looks like those flames protected you from the worst of it, but I can tell that it hurt you, and with this jutsu, every single shot I fire will hit you. I won't be wasting any chakra on a miss." he pulled back his right arm and threw the second White Vajra.

Kiba's face, distorted by Akamaru's canine features, split into a broad grin as the bundle of lightning approached, startling and confusing Sasuke. He shaped the Flame Armor with his chakra, pulling it off of his body and directing it forward between himself and the White Vajra. He grinned even further when he saw Sasuke's jutsu come to a dead stop, floating in the center of his flames.

"That was lucky," Kiba decided, and explained, "That lightning thing didn't explode when it touched my flames. It had enough momentum to actually hit me, and that's what set it off. It flies to the heat source, then explodes when it hits something. Those two things don't have to happen in the same moment. So if I do this..."

The ball of red flame that was once Kiba's armor flew toward Sasuke, and the White Vajra within followed. The Uchiha's mouth fell open with a combination of shock and total outrage, as he was forced to dodge his own jutsu.

"Or this..." Kiba's flames vanished entirely, and the lightning resumed its normal pattern of tracking the most notable heat source in its current path, in this case Sasuke, who growled in frustration, breathed out a Phoenix Flower to distract it. He followed this up by throwing a kunai at the ball of lightning to set it off at its current, safe distance.

"It's starting to piss you off, isn't it?"

Sasuke bared his teeth in a furious snarl. It is... he formed the first of four hand seals, and the tomoe in his Sharingan began spinning rapidly. It is! His Cursed Seal began spreading over his neck. "It is!" He roared, and formed his second Chidori of the day. "You're pissing me off, Kiba!"

He charged with Chidori in hand, and Kiba grinned, just before shifting into Cerberus Mode. The canine head on his left breathed out a cloud of Hidden Smoke, the central head mockingly laughed at Sasuke, and the right head bent down bared its teeth.

Sasuke rammed his Chidori through the right head's teeth, shattering them and spearing the Cerberus' tongue. He snarled, and pulled back his head to stab upward into the roof of its mouth, piercing, electrifying, and ultimately destroying its brain.

Kiba and Akamaru immediately split apart into two seperate, unharmed entities. Kiba promptly closed the short distance between himself and Sasuke to punch the Uchiha in the face. He then reignited his Flame Armor and shifted into a taijutsu style more typical of an Inuzuka, swiping at Sasuke with open, clawed hands. Sasuke felt the impact and heat of each strike, and once his his Cursed Seal receded mid-beating, he quickly came to realize he'd made a mistake in using it.

Kiba finished his assault by stepping back and planting his foot in Sasuke's solar plexus, knocking the Uchiha to the ground where he wheezed for air, badly winded. Kiba drew a kunai, crouched next to Sasuke, and pressed the blade to his neck, clearly showing he'd won. Sasuke twitched, accidentally nicking his own throat on the kunai, but he glared at Kiba even as Genma called, "Kiba Inuzuka has demonstrated a clear upper hand and can kill his opponent at a moment's notice. I award him the match, and he will advance to the next round."

"Did you use that curse seal thing on purpose?" Kiba demanded angrily, but pulled away his kunai.

"So what if I did?" Sasuke shot back as he sat up

"Answer the question," the Hellhound growled.

"...No. It just happened. So how'd you survive my lightning-covered fist going through your brain?"

Kiba halfheartedly chuckled, and dropped the kunai back into his pouch with a clinking sound. "You and I have given away enough of our tricks in front of a huge audience. I think I'll keep that one secret."

"Hn," Sasuke muttered, then stood, brushed himself off, and turned his back to Kiba. "Next time, I'll be sure to destroy you."

Kiba laughed much louder, and replied, "I've got no problem with regularly kicking your ass. Since you're Konoha's Uchiha prodigy, it might even help me build that reputation I want so bad."

Meanwhile, Orochimaru sighed loudly under the Kazekage's hat and cowl. "Ah, Sasuke-kun, I admit I'm far less than impressed."

"Orochimaru, what the hell are you planning, anyway?" Naruto turned to face him with an expression of honest confusion. "You're outnumbered three to one."

"By an old fool and two Genin, yes. Then again, we could count these Konoha and Suna ANBU," he gestured to the masked shinobi around them, "but to be quite honest, I have a plan in mind to deal with them, so I can take my time killing you and capturing two of the Bijuu in one battle. They'll make excellent bargaining chips to trade with the Akatsuki."

"So you don't think of me and Gaara as a threat at all?" the boy in black and orange questioned. "I'm stronger than I was the Forest of Death, ya know."

"I was merely toying with you in the Forest of Death, child," Orochimaru replied. "Well, I still have to hold back my full power if I'm to capture you alive. The Akatsuki would be less than pleased if I killed you and set back their plans until the Nine-Tails reappears. Likewise if I accidentally kill the One-Tail."

"You expect to accidentally kill a mass of sentient demonic chakra the size of a small mountain?" Gaara questioned, paraphrasing what Shukaku was currently screaming at Orochimaru.

Orochimaru ignored Gaara, instead pointing to the arena. "Pay attention, boy. The proctor just called your friends back down there." True enough, Hinata, Tenten, Chouji and Temari were all making their way to the center of the field, where Genma and Kiba were standing.

"That was the last match of the first round, which means it's time to assign Chouji Akimichi to his match in the semifinals, among other things." The proctor pulled a deck of cards from his weapons pouch, fanned them out in front of Chouji, and said, "If the card you pull has the number one on it, you'll be fighting with Hinata and Tenten. If it says two, you'll fight Temari and Kiba."

Chouji nodded, pulled a card from the deck, and read it. "Two."

Genma took the card back. "All right then. The first match of the second round will be Hinata Hyuuga versus Tenten, followed by a three-way match between Kiba Inuzuka, Chouji Akimichi, and Temari," he announced. "However, all but one of you have already been in a match and drained your chakra reserves to various extents. As such..." he pulled three blue soldier pills from his pouch, and handed one each to Tenten, Temari and Kiba. "You're being given a soldier pill and enough time for it to fully kick in. Hinata, you already took one after your match."

She nodded. "So what now? You said we weren't going to begin the second round right away?"

"That's right. By taking a break here, we can take the time to introduce you to the various Daimyou who will eventually be hiring you for higher-ranked missions. These people," he waved a hand at the crowd of rich civilians, "are your future clients, and as such they have a bit of influence on who will be made a Chuunin today. They've already read a bit about you, but now you have the oppurtunity to tell them more about your skills, including ones you couldn't normally show in an open fight. Things like laying traps, blacksmithing, infiltration."

"Ah..." Tenten nodded. "I like the sound of that."

"So do you wanna go first?" Genma questioned. "Go ahead, brag your heart out. You're supposed to."

She nodded again. "My name's Tenten, no last name in case you were wondering. I know a bit of Fire Release jutsu, but I'm best at creating weapons. I'm great with fuinjutsu and blacksmithing. All of the equipment I'm carrying," she triggered her barrier ninjutsu briefly, "Or wearing, was all designed and crafted by me. This suit I'm wearing is breathable, retains moisture, and allows for full freedom of movement where civilian clothes, or even typical shinobi uniforms, would restrict my body to some extent. More importantly though, it's an 'ultimate defense,' which is the term for a defensive jutsu that can protect me from any number of directions at once. In fact, it doesn't even take that much chakra to maintain."

She took a step back, and shrugged. "Who's next?"

"I'll go," Kiba replied. "I'm Kiba Inuzuka. This..." he lifted Akamaru out of his hoodie so the puppy could woof happily at the crowd, "...is Akamaru. In case you haven't heard, my clan trains and fights with ninja hounds. Our clan jutsu all focus on either imitating the traits of our dog partners, or using a Collaboration Transformation to combine our bodies. Me and Akamaru here are using a new experimental jutsu to share our bodies without Collaboration Transformation. In fact, we can even connect our minds too."

He grinned. "We combine that with our Fire Release affinities to create what we call Hellhound Mode. That's what I was using against Sasuke. Akamaru and I are the only two beings in the world who know it, and once we work out the last few kinks, in theory it should surpass the existing Inuzuka techniques, like the Two-Headed and Three-Headed Wolves. We'll give you all a good look at our power in the next round, and that's all I gotta say."

"Uh, can I go next?" Chouji asked, and set down his bag of chips.

Kiba glanced down at the half-full bag, then back up at Chouji, who didn't seem to realize he had willingly released his grip on food. Somehow, that strikes me as a really, REALLY bad sign. He nodded shakily, and stepped away from Chouji.

"I'm Chouji of the Akimichi Clan. I'm not fat, I'm big-boned, as are most of my clanmates. Our jutsu usually revolve around voluntary shapeshifting. We can change the size of our whole bodies, or specific parts of it like our fists or arms. It takes a lot of fuel to keep a body that size going, so we Akimichi are almost constantly eating. That's because some of the higher-level Akimichi jutsu can convert calories directly into chakra. The more I eat, the longer I can fight. For the record, I've been eating nonstop since this morning, and I'm gonna use that energy to win this tournament."

Temari sized up the overweight, unarmed boy who seemed to be wearing underwear on his head, and burst out laughing. He turned to face her, and she quickly fell silent. He didn't seem angry that she was laughing at him at all, but that only made the look on his face more unnerving. "I'm going to defeat you," he repeated calmly, wearing a subdued smile. "I've said all I need to, so who wants to go next?"

Temari remained silent, so Hinata spoke up. "I'll go, thank you, Chouji-kun." she looked up at the expectant crowd, and blushed faintly. "My name's Hinata Hyuuga. My clan's kekkei genkai," she pointed to her pale lavender eyes, "is called the Byakugan. With it, I can see in all directions, through objects, and for incredible distances. I can even see a person's chakra network."

"The Hyuuga Clan's unique taijutsu style, the Gentle Fist, uses the Byakugan to aim for the chakra network and tenketsu, so we can inject our own chakra into it. Doing that interferes with my opponent's ability to use chakra. First, they lose the ability to use ninjutsu. Then their muscles stop responding, then they pass out completely. It's around that time that the lack of chakra circulation begins to shut down their organs. All of this can happen in a matter of seconds too, and if I strike the right place, like the heart or brain, I can kill my opponent instantly."

"But," she added firmly, "All of that is what you could expect from any Hyuuga. I don't want to make it sound like those abilities are unique to me or even rare in Konoha. It wouldn't be fair for me to take credit for that. Now, as for the skills that are more unique to me... after I learned the Gentle Fist, I began applying the heightened chakra control I earned through it to other things. I created my own Gentle Fist jutsu, the Guardian Sixty-Four Palms."

She gestured to Tenten's barrier armor. "It's an ultimate defense, which I'm still currently improving. I recently added my Water Release affinity to it... speaking of which, apparently my skill with water is exceptional. I haven't found any water users in Konoha that I could compare my abilities to, but in Kiri the Water Release is much more common. I talked to a Kiri-nin recently who told me that I can generate and control more water than the average Special Jounin in his home village."

"As far as I can tell, that must have something to do with my chakra control. The more of it a shinobi has, the less chakra they can use for a jutsu, and so they can use more powerful jutsu, as if their reserves are larger than they really are. I've created my own water jutsu, the Hollow Water Dragon, which takes a lot of control but it's also very easy on my reserves. I can even turn it to ice instead of water, which makes it even more powerful."

"...I should probably mention that most Water Release users consider it impossible to control ice without a kekkei genkai..." she shook her head. "Still, I can't take the credit for that either. I didn't come up with it myself; it was taught to me. Anyway, it's been pretty useful. I can make my defenses stronger and my attacks hit harder when I use ice instead of water. Now, what else was there..." Hinata hummed thoughtfully. I'm saying all of this in hopes of getting promoted to Chuunin, so I might as well... "Oh. I know the Rasengan, which you saw when Naruto-kun and I used it. It's one of the Fourth Hokage's famous jutsu, along with the Flying Raijin."

While a vast majority of the crowd began whispering amongst themselves about the Yellow Flash and Hinata's implication that the jutsu was still known to Konoha, she stepped back and nodded to Temari. "They're all yours," she smiled.

"Uh..." Temari glanced around at the four Konoha Genin, in particular Kiba and Chouji. "Thanks..." They don't look like much, but they're all strong. "I'm Temari of the Hidden Sand. I manipulate wind with this fan here," she tapped the weapon over her shoulder, "And I've studied the Wind Release in my village extensively. As the daughter of the Fourth Kazekage," she looked up at Orochimaru, knowing exactly who he was under his mask, "I've had the privilege to study higher-level Wind Release jutsu that wouldn't normally be available to a Genin."

"Rather than explaining my abilities any further," she decided, "I'll just show you all by winning this tournament." She fell silent then, and nodded to Genma.

"All right. Now that that's out of the way," he declared, "There's only one more subject to talk about." he smirked. "Betting. Now that all five remaining Genin have explained their abilities in some capacity, and with the exception of Chouji, have all actually shown those abilities, we're offering you a new way to get more involved in the tournament. If you're risking something on the outcome of the battle, you'll surely be paying close attention to it."

"This is something Konoha has never done before, but our hope is that you'll help us choose who gets promoted to Chuunin more carefully. Plus, it should make the event more engaging for you. Within the next few minutes, you should see Chuunin walking amongst you with scrolls, taking bets-"

Naruto stood, perched atop the railing of the Kage's balcony where Sarutobi, Gaara, and Orochimaru sat. He cleared his throat and called out loudly, "Somebody write this down! Three million ryou on Hinata Hyuuga winning the whole thing! Believe it!"

"Naruto-kun..." Hinata sighed, listening to the sudden murmurs from most of the crowd. "What are you thinking?" Then she blinked. Wait... he's... hoping people will bet against him? People who know who he is, the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki, might want to take the bet just to challenge him... it's just a guess on his part, but there's no real risk to him because... she paused in her thoughts, and began to smile. Because I'm going to win anyway!

Hinata grinned as Naruto waved to her, and she waved back. Neither one of us ever goes back on our word, and I promised him I'd win this tournament. He believes in me, and I won't let him down. I'll win this tournament, for both of us!

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