I don't know what it was about the hotel bed, but as soon as my head hit the pillow, I was out like a light. Suddenly, I was back on that mountain side fighting that same Iwa nin. I saw it happen in slow motion, my Shadow blade sinking into his heart. Blood spraying out to cover my hands and arms.

The fact of the matter is that I've trained enough to always go for the kill instinctually that if I get caught off guard I'll do it even if I don't want to. I already resigned myself to the fact that the Iwa nin's greasy black hair, sharp gray eyes, and pointed face were never going to leave my nightmares. However, I didn't expect his face to start changing.

Black hair turned blond, sharp features elongated to a more adult face, and gray eyes turned dark blue, then a blood red. I pale. "No," I whisper. I'm staring into the face of my father. My dead father, that I just killed.

Then I'm sobbing. Then screaming.

My eyes fly open as a strangled gasp escapes my mouth. Hana's staring down at me worriedly, as Itachi runs into the room with Ryu-Sensei in tow. Ryu-Sensei takes one look at my face, and sits down on end of my bed.

"Yoruka," he starts, "you did what you had to do. From what Itachi told me, that Iwa nin was going for the kill."

"I know," I whisper. "It's just-" I take a breath, "It's just these are the Chunin Exams. It's not a mission. I could handle it if this were a mission. But this is supposed to be a show of cooperation. And the Iwa nin looked like he was the same age as me."

"Ryu-Sensei, I killed a child," I whisper in shame.

Ryu-Sensei pulls me into an awkward hug. "Yoruka, he was a shinobi. He knew the risk. You placed the lives of yourself and your teammates above the life of an enemy shinobi. He had no qualms about killing you. So, I'll say this again. You did what you had to do."

"Yeah," Hana offers me a weak grin, "you're alive, and that's all that matters."

Itachi pokes me in the forehead over Ryu-Sensei's shoulder, "We care about you, Yoruka. And we're glad you placed your life over his."

I bury my face into Ryu-Sensei's shoulder and shudder. If he notices water soaking through his clothes, he doesn't mention it.

I carefully shove the Iwa nin into my Box Of Issues. I look up at my team, and sniff. "Thanks," I say softly.

For the rest of the month, Ryu-Sensei drills us tirelessly. I also find out that Itachi copied some of Cee's lightning jutsus from our first disastrous C-rank. Apparently, Itachi's secondary nature is lightning, so he can use them.

"Itachi, if you don't use some of those during the tournament for the express purpose of rubbing it into Cee's face, I'm going to be disappointed in you," I tell him, struggling to keep my face straight.

Itachi shrugs, "You know me, Yoruka. Fueled off of spite." He returns, doing a much better job at maintaining a poker face.

Minato arrives at the end of the month, dragging Kakashi, Obito, and my long-suffering uncle-who's-actually-my-cousin with him. The tournament is about to begin.

"Alright," a Kumo Kunoichi announces, "this is going to be a tournament. Your village Kage will decide if you pass or not. First up, Inuzuka Hana versus Suna no Daichi." She announces.

I grin at Hana, "Break a leg," I pause for a moment, "preferably his."

Itachi snorts and wishes her good luck as she and her ninkin jump into the arena.

Suna no Daichi has a wind chakra nature. Something he makes abundantly clear as soon as the match starts. He throws what appears to be a wind blade at Hana right from the start. She dodges easily as she works in tandem with her dogs to corner the Suna nin. She gets in close enough to force him into a taijutsu match. And boy, does it not end well for Daichi. Hana's ninkin leaping at him at inopportune moments isn't really helping him, either.

The match ends when Hana punches him in the face, knocking him out. "Inuzuka Hana is the winner!" Announces the Kumo Kunoichi.

"Next match will be Kumo no Yurei versus Nara Yoruka!"

"Good luck, Yoru," Itachi says as I go for the stairs. Hana high fives me as I pass her.

The match starts, and I open with throwing three kunai at the Kumo Kunoichi I'm facing. She evades obviously, but she's in the shadow of the wall of the stadium. I grin as she tries to move.

My Shadow Imitation Jutsu having been started before the match even started, Yurei didn't even notice me activate it. I throw a lighting infused kunai to paralyze her. She collapses as I deactivate my jutsu.

"Nara Yoruka is the winner! Next up is Nekozawa Sara versus Kumo no Kei!"

That match passed uneventfully until the Iwa girl summoned a very large tiger. That was pretty much the end of that round.

"Uchiha Itachi versus Arashiki Akazumi," is the next match called.

"Kick his ass, Itachi," I grin viciously, while Hana cheers her agreement.

Itachi's match is embarrassingly short. Itachi opens with a perfectly executed A-rank lighting jutsu that he copied from Cee, and the poor Kumo nin was out before he had a chance to attack.

I glance over to where the Raikage is sitting with Cee, and I can't help but to smirk a bit. I high five Itachi when he gets back to our seats.

"The first match of the semifinals will be Inuzuka Hana versus Nara Yoruka!" The announcer says.

"Hey, Yoruka, I know all your shadow tricks, so don't hesitate to go all out with those new jutsus Kakashi taught you," She wiggles her eyebrows at me.

I snort, "I have the perfect distraction for your ninkin, Hana. So don't hesitate to use any hidden tricks you have."

She lets out an offended huff, "I can't believe you'd use your cats against my dogs like that!"

Then the match begins, and Hana's ninkin run at me dodging my shadows as I summon Arashi and Rai. The Haimaru brothers try their best to stay focused, but, well, saying Arashi is antagonistic is an understatement and Rai is almost as bad.

I stop trying to catch Hana with my shadow, she's way faster than me. Instead, I use Lighting Release: Discharge in a surface area attack. She barely dodges, and I'm sending kunai to her predicted location. I graze her with one, but she evades the rest.

I send Discharge out in a smaller, cutting crescent next. It catches Hana off guard, and she gets hit with the edge of the jutsu. Then I'm dodging an earth jutsu, and Hana has me on the defensive.

She's trying to corner me into a taijutsu match. I'm not going to let her. I surreptitiously form a lighting clone, hengeing it into a rock. I let her get close enough to start hand to hand when I replace myself with my disguised lighting clone.

She punches the apparent rock, and it explodes into a storm of lightning.

Hana shakes her hand out, "Clever, Yoruka," she winces.

I smile at her, "I try."

Hana snorts, and next thing I know I'm backflipping out of the way of a brace of senbon.

"Wow, rude," I snark as I jump back from one of her ninkin who decided I was the better target.

Rai got his attention again, and the ninkin was off. I very quickly use the replacement jutsu to get behind Hana, and before she knows what is happening, I slam my fingers into the pressure point at the back of her neck. She falls unconscious.

"Nara Yoruka is the winner!" I hear as I help the medics get Hana out of the arena.

Itachi wins his next match in the same way he won his first one. It's wildly amusing to see a 12 year old Genin throwing around A-rank jutsus. His chakra reserves are freakishly huge, and mine are probably more depleted then his are.

We get a 30 minute break before the final round starts. Hana joins us to go eat when she wakes up.

She playfully grumbles that she never should have taught me where pressure points are. The break was fun.

Itachi and I face off across the arena. As soon as the match starts, Itachi fires off another lightning jutsu. I redirect it into the wall behind me to the confusion of most the crowd.

I grin, "Hey, my hand only tingles now!" I shout to Itachi.

He snorts and starts dodging my shadow. He's not as fast as Hana, but he has his Sharingan active. Itachi spits a fireball at my head, and I duck under it. I smirk victoriously, I have him.

The floor opens up underneath Itachi in a way reminiscent of an earth jutsu. I panic, and tug my shadow to me, dragging Itachi with it away from the hole.

Itachi lands on top of me, and we tumble to the floor. Then we're falling into a hole that opened up underneath me while I was distracted.

I sharp shriek escaped my mouth as we descended into darkness.