Chapter 5: Never Give Up, Never Surrender!

I watched the next pair of names appear on the screen seeing the last of the sand ninjas and a boy named Rock Lee were up next. I stared intrigued at his eyebrows and strange attire but judging from his sensei who was cheering his name it made sense. Reno came bouncing over to me seeming to be fine again while Shino went to stand with Kurenai who whispered something to him.

"What did I miss?" Reno asked while I replied, "Hinata and her cousin were the last fight, he would have killed her had it not been for their sensei's stepping in."

Reno frowned glaring over at Neji while I patted his head saying, "Relax, Hayner and I will get a chance to beat his butt later."

Reno made a face knowing he was a little salty about not passing but nodded reluctantly as we all looked down seeing the battle had begun. Lee was fast, faster than I had ever seen watching as Gaara's sand kept protecting him from getting attacked. Gaara watched him almost bored making no effort to attack him just waiting for Lee to grow tired. I watched Lee jump up high seeing him pull his leg warmers up seeing he was wearing weights around his ankles.

"How much weight can he have on those?" Reno asked snorting watching them fall to the ground leaving two huge craters.

"Quite a bit by the looks of it." I said leaning towards him watching his mouth drop open looking like a fish.

Hayner reached over closing his mouth as Lee disappeared in a flash now standing beside Gaara watching Gaara's eyes widen in surprise. I could barely keep up with Lee's movements only seeing Gaara's sand react to his movements watching the pressure alone push Gaara slightly. With a final swipe of Lee's leg, it was brought down watching Gaara's head get thrown downwards. I looked at him curiously seeing that he had built a sand barrier around his body.

"This guy is going to be tough to beat." Hayner said beside me making me nod replying, "Kiba did warn us about him."

"I get the feeling we haven't seen the worst of it yet." Reno said watching the fight intrigued.

We watched Lee begin to charge up for an attack seeing the veins in his forehead become more pronounce while his body turned a darker color. Before I could even finish blinking, he was on Gaara again watching this body get bounced around. With one final kick Gaara was brought to the ground knowing that if this attack went fully through, he wouldn't be able to get back up. We all stared in anticipation seeing that once the dust cleared, we learned that Gaara was a sand clone.

I looked over towards Lee seeing he was way over his limit barely able to move as sand started making its way towards one of his arms and a leg. I winced hearing the bones break from the pressure of the sand feeling Reno grip my hand terrified. Seeing the look in Gaara's eyes he was ready to kill Lee but thankfully Lee's sensei jumped down stopping that from happening. Letting out a breath of relief I looked between Hayner and Reno knowing I probably wouldn't even be able to compete with him.

We watched Lee get his unconscious body wheeled out with his sensei right beside him while Gaara walked off clearly not caring. There was only one fight left seeing one of the rookies as well as a member of the Sound village enter the arena. For the most part their fight wasn't impressive at all seeing the Sound Ninja easily outmatch the rookie Choji.

I stood beside the other Genin who passed the preliminary round as we were told that in a month's time we would have the final rounds. Each of us would fight another opponent and branch it down till only one person was on top. The Hokage made sure to tell us though that just because you lose doesn't mean we can't become a Chunin. He showed us the board for who we would be fighting first as I looked up at it.

Naruto vs Neji

Sasuke vs Gaara

Temari vs Shikamaru

Yuna vs Dosu

Hayner vs Kankuro

Shino vs first winner

I breathed a sigh of relief that my first opponent wasn't Hayner or Gaara and judging by the fight between Choji and Dosu I felt I could take him. We were given the okay to leave as Reno, Hayner, Ren and I made our way back to the village together.

"Man, you guys got a lot of training to do this month." Reno said putting his hands above his head smirking as he said, "Sucks to be you."

"Just because they passed doesn't mean I'm not going to work you too Reno." Ren said poking his head making Reno grumble.

"My father already said he would train with me, what is your plan Yuna?" Hayner said looking in my direction as I shrugged saying, "I'll do what I do best."

"Train alone to come up with some bloody awesome moves?" Reno said making me smirk looking towards him saying, "Precisely."

I stood deep in the forest panting lightly as my blood slowly seeped back up my arm going back into my body. Collapsing on the ground from the amount of chakra it took to put it back in left me feeling drained. I had been working on doing my own blood techniques apart from my clan knowing that dying from blood loss would probably be the death of me. We only had a week left till the final fights and most of my time was spent alone meditating or sparring with myself.

I was nowhere near completing the technique but in a pinch, it would mean my life especially against some of the other competitors. Reno had come out a few times to let me fight against him, but Hayner had been mostly MIA training with his father. Ren would occasionally watch us spar and give me advice on what the other competitors were like, but I felt confident enough.

I leaned back against the tree closing my eyes to rest when I felt something crawling on my forehead. My eyes opened instantly swiping at whatever it was becoming aware of my surroundings hearing movement to my side.

"Whoever you are come out." I said evenly standing up hearing footsteps approach being met with Shino making my body tense up.

"What are you doing out here?" I asked cautiously while he stared at me saying, "Collecting insects, did I interrupt your training?"

Crossing my arms straightening my stance I replied, "Yes… I'd prefer to keep people in the dark."

"What is it you can do, my teammates nor Kurenai are able to tell me anything on what you actually do." he asked while I looked towards him saying, "That's none of your business nor is it anyone's business."

He was quiet for a moment before saying, "Do you hate me?"

My expression changed to surprise before saying, "Why do you think I hate you?"

"I'm not stupid, you move away from me when I'm near you and always get defensive whenever I'm around." he said as I made a face of discomfort replying, "Look… I'm sure you're a nice person but… I hate bugs."

The wind moved between us blowing my hair getting uncomfortable with his silence before he said, "Why?"

"They're gross… creepy and I just want to crush them." I said motioning my hand movements seeing his eyebrows angle in astonishment.

"Then Yuna Ketsueki you are my enemy." he said pointing towards me as the wind picked up blowing against me hard as he walked away silently.

I may have just made a big mistake.