Sakura and Shino returned to the arena to the sound of cheering. Most of the Konoha genin and several of the jonin-sensei where shouting or clapping their approval, not just for Sakura, but for Shino as well. A few more, like the Suna jonin and his female genin, managed to smile and nod in acknowledgement of the bout. And a few, like the entire group from Oto, simply stared.
But all that was secondary to the two genin, because on the arena floor, Sarutobi Hiruzen stood, hands clasped behind his back and a surprisingly cheerful grin on his face. "Welcome back, to both of you." He raised an arm, quieting the others, then turned to Sakura and spoke loud enough to be heard by all. "In my time as Hokage, I never felt the need to give much consideration to the rules to the Chunin Exam. There has never been a need for it before. And yet today, I find that I must examine carefully what has been taken for granted by countless others before you. This is no small feat, Haruno Sakura, and you have every right to be proud of what you have done." Sakura started to blush heavily, and it only intensified when Naruto gave out another cheer from the stands.
Hiruzen turned to Shino, his smile still in place. "You, too, should be proud, Aburame Shino. When faced with an opponent who changed the very nature of your mission, you checked in with those in charge, rather than assume you should persue. When given confirmation, you did not hesitate to act, and proceeded in a sensible manner with your mission. Your loss may be unfortunate, but you should also be proud. I fully expect you to succeed the next time you enter this arena."
Hiruzen the gave a dry chuckle. "Not the least of which because we must now become much more specific in the terms we use to describe this test." There was some muffled chuckles from the Konoha teams, and one possible snort from those from Suna. "From here on out, leaving this arena will be considered a forfeit. In the future, we may expand the arena to provide more cover and options, but for this year, it shall remain a test of strengths. Besides, until we know of the future plans, I would rather we not destroy too many walls." This last got a few more laughs, and Sakura turned to give her fellow Konoha genin a bow.
The Hokage waved at Sakura and Shino, dismissing them. They turned and bowed to each other, a formal show of good sportsmanship, then jumped to their team's places on the platform above.
"Y-you did good, Shino-kun," said Hinata, gently patting him on one shoulder. She reached into her pocket and offered him some of her medicinal cream, which he accepted with a grateful bow, revealing his heavily damaged face.. Kiba laughed and punched Shino lightly in the arm, and over Akamaru's yapping, said, "She mangled you, man! I can't believe she got you! You had that wrapped up!"
Shino shook his head, and his teammates could hear that the stoic young man's voice was filled with respect and a hint of reproach. "I allowed myself to be complacent once my allies had her in their grasp. I will not make that mistake again. And should you make it to the finals, do not take Haruno-san and Kieri-san lightly, Kiba." He sat carefully on a bench, his back rigid, and started to focus his chakra on his bugs, encouraging them to aid the healing process on his injuries, while applying the cream to his face with care.
Sakura, meanwhile, was greeted with a loud cheer from Naruto, who jumped in and picked up Kieri to spin her about, singing her praise even as she stared at him moodily. Sasuke held out his fist to Sakura, who bumped it and grinned. "Good job," he said, and his small smile was genuine. She smiled back, then turned to pry Kieri's claws from Naruto's face before he could even begin to shout.
"Good job indeed," said Kakashi, resting a hand on her shoulder and looking at her with obvious pride. "You should know that you surprised a lot of competent, experienced shinobi today, including the Hokage himself. Also, the Hokage swiped the security tapes for your match before I could get to them. I would not be surprised if they end up circulating amongst the shinobi forces in the near future, as a lesson on thinking outside the box. I could not be prouder of you, Sakura."
Sakura beamed at Kakashi-sensei, and reached up to scratch Kieri's chin, drawing a contented purr from the cat. "I couldn't have done it without you, my friend." She walked over to the bench and slouched down, relaxing every muscle in her arms, legs, and back, spreading out over her seat exactly like a cat who has found your favorite jacket on the bed. Kieri curled around her neck and went limp as well. But both had their eyes open, and were carefully watching the upcoming matches. Some of these people might be her foe in the next round, after all.
Soon, the screen lit again, and the next two contenders were called forward by Hayate, who managed to restrain his coughing long enough to do so. "Tsuchi Kin, Tenten, step forward, please."
Tenten stood and stretched, smiling, with a dangerous glint in her eyes. She looked at Guy-sensei and Lee, who gave her a pair of identical youthful poses. "Go forth and show them the power of your youth and the edge of your weapons, Tenten," said Guy, boisterous as ever, while Lee simply shouted "Youth," from behind their teacher.
She turned to Neji, who was leaning against the wall, arms crossed. "Not going to wish me luck?" she asked, trying to remain cheerful. Neji barely moved, only turning his head slightly to aim his eyes at her. "Your foe looks like one who puts a lot of stock in appearance. I doubt she has trained nearly as hard as you. You're fated to win, I am sure."
Tenten rolled her eyes. While Kakashi-sensei had managed to break some of Neji's arrogance out of him, he still retained his fatalistic streak. If anything, it was now more intense, now that he was open to learning techniques outside of his clan. Apparently, he was fated to bring outside influences to the famously traditional clan. She shook her head, banishing thoughts about her team, and jumped down to meet her foe.
Kin was already below, having wasted no words on her team or sensei. She wore a simple dull green vest and a matching set of pants and scarf that shared a blotchy camouflage pattern in grey and black. Her hair ran all the way to the back of her shins, long and luxurious. But most importantly, to Tenten, she was smirking the entire time, her entire stance speaking of confidence, not just in her strength, but in her foe's weakness.
Wait and see, you smirking schmuck.
Hayate raised his hand between them.
Tenten crouched slightly, her eyes narrowing, her body tensed and ready to begin. Kin crossed her arms and smirked harder.
"Begin!"
Kin's arms moved the moment Hayate's hand began to drop, throwing six senbon at Tenten before the man's voice faded. Her smirk faded slightly when Tenten ducked under her surprise attack without the slightest hesitation and replied with a kunai, which landed at Kin's feet. She flinched slightly away, then looked at the blade in the ground. There was no explosive tag, nor any seals, or any other sign of danger.
"You seriously can't even throw straight, can y-" Kin's eyes widened, and she dove to the floor as another kunai passed directly through where her face had been moments earlier. She turned her dive into a desperate roll as more and more kunai buried themselves into the floor behind her, then a desperate backpedal when they started to arrive directly in front of her. She turned to look at Tenten, who was standing in the same pose, slightly crouched, a single scroll partially unrolled in one hand.
"I never miss," said Tenten, her eyes never leaving her opponent. Her left hand flexed slightly, sliding the scroll open a little more, and with a quick motion, Tenten placed her hand above the storage seal that was revealed and pulled another kunai from the scroll.
Kin's hands flashed and she drew another set of senbon, this time from her special pouch, and let them fly. There was a sound of ringing in the air as the needles flew, the bells attached to them tinkling quietly. Tenten stepped slightly to the side, directly into the gap in the middle of the set of senbon. The gap Kin deliberately left in her throw.
She reached again for some senbon, sidestepping another throw from Tenten as she did so, and let them fly in the same pattern… but with a couple bell-less senbon in the gap this time. She had practiced her skills for ages, testing her theory on target after target, and the results were always promising. When faced with her bell senbon, foes instinctively latched on to the sound to indicate where the fast moving and hard to see needles were. Then, once they had, she would throw some senbon without the bells in the mix, and her foes would often ignore the soundless needles until it was too late.
Kin smirked as the senbon flew, and then lost her smirk when Tenten dodged hard to the side, avoiding both kinds of needles while continuing with her own attacks. Kin started dodging frantically as she threw more and more of her mixed needles to no effect. Tenten meanwhile kept throwing a steady stream of kunai, one at a time and with frightful accuracy, at an exact rate of one per second. Kin lurched and jumped and rolled away, reversing direction frequently as Tenten got an eye for her movements. Tenten, meanwhile, dodged in a sedate and careful manner, never moving more than a body length away from her starting point.
"You may as well stop with the bells," she said cheerfully after almost a full minute. Kin was covered in sweat and dirt from her efforts, while Tenten looked as fresh as she had when she got into position. "I told you my aim is excellent, and so is my eyesight. I can see how many are coming at me."
"Not any more," said Kin with a devilish smile. She twitched a finger, and several of her bells started to ring in a dissonant manner, raising a clamor that seemed to build on itself, until Tenten clutched at her head and stumbled slightly to one side. She glanced down at the floor, steadying herself, but when she looked back up, there were now several Kins standing in a line. Each one hefted a handful of senbon and smiled viciously at her.
Tenten unsealed several more weapons and tossed them quickly, and was gratified to see the various Kins all dodging, the exact same move repeated by each image. This means two things, Tenten thought. First, it's an effect on my own perception, not a bunshin or other clone technique. Second, she is still in the group, and probably somewhere near the middle of the pack. She started to focus on the two in the center, trying to find the real Kin, but her foe was careful to dodge attacks on both herself and her nearest double, preventing Tenten from picking her out.
Then Tenten flinched and jumped to one side as Kin started throwing again. "A lot harder to dodge when you don't know which ones are real, isn't it?" Each Kin threw at the same time, and the images made a mere six needles look like sixty. But Tenten smiled and started to weave slightly, avoiding all of the needles. Kin frowned, and started to speed up her throws, but only the false needles struck Tenten, passing through her harmlessly. Soon, Tenten was throwing back again, her throws fast and wild, most of the kunai hitting the ground at Kin's feet.
Kin finally stopped throwing, having spent most of her ammunition to no effect. "That's simply not possible," she snarled at her opponent, who was rolling up her now empty scroll. "How can you possibly avoid every real needle?"
Tenten laughed in her face. "I told you, my aim is excellent, and so is my eyesight. There are only two ways you can attack me with that illusion. You can have your duplicates all throw forward, in which case, I only need to dodge the ones coming near me, because the others are duplicates. Or you can have them all throw at me, in which case, all the incoming needles form a focal point at wherever you're aiming. Step away from that focal point, and the real needles miss. For all your masterful throwing skills, you are no match for me. Yield now."
Kin rolled her eyes at the trash talk. "Bring it."
Tenten made three hand seals and took a deep breath. Kin froze, slightly confused at the sudden change in tactics, and that was all Tenten needed.
Tenten was not very skilled sat the Grand Fireball technique by traditional standards. When she exhaled, instead of a tight ball of flame, she sprayed a thin sheet of fire from her mouth, blanketing the area before her. Kin raised her hands in front of her, but while slightly painful, the fire was no threat to her. As soon as it passed, she dropped her arms and prepared another throw.
Then she heard the hissing sound.
Kin looked down at her feet, and what she saw chilled her to the bone. There were two types of kunai on the ground around her, some with standard brown corded handles, and some with green. Fully a third of the weapons had green handles, and they were tightly clustered around her and her doubles. And the green cords around the handles were rapidly burning away, winding a hissing trail from the pommel ring to the base of the blade itself.
Like a fuse.
"I never miss," said Tenten, turning away and diving to the ground.
The explosion that followed was terrifying to behold. It was no fancy, beautiful fireball, but a nearly invisible wall of concussive force. The kunai themselves were shredded instantly by the force of the explosion, flying out at terrible speeds in all directions, embedding those pieces in the floor, walls, ceiling, observation platforms… and Kin as well.
When the dust and debris started to settle, Tenten picked herself off of the floor, hissing at the few tiny cuts on her legs from stray shrapnel, then looked at her foe. Kin was on the ground, curled into a ball and bleeding profusely. Her arms and legs, carefully held close, had taken the brunt of the shrapnel, and were in such tatters that Tenten doubted the girl could move even if she wasn't incapacitated from the blast itself.
The room was silent for a moment, before Hayate appeared beside her. "Winner, Tenten," he said calmly as he waved some medics over for the fallen girl. The cheers from the Konoha teams were slightly more subdued than they had been for Sakura, but the serious looking blond girl from Suna gave her a respectful nod, and coming from what looked like a serious kunoichi like herself, that meant more than any amount of cheering.
"Well done, Tenten," shouted Lee when she arrived back with the rest of her team. "You blossomed beautifully before all of the spectators today!" Tenten glanced at Guy, who had the dignity to cough into his hand and look away, then sighed. Lee was a good guy, but she was beginning to wonder if he was deliberately pulling her chain sometimes.
"I told you. Your fate determined your victory over your opponent." Neji had yet to move from his spot against the wall, and his tone was not congratulatory, but condescending. It was probably as close as she would ever get to a positive reaction from the Hyuga boy, but suddenly that wasn't enough.
Tenten whirled on him and stomped forward, until she was directly in front of him. "You keep saying that fate determines everything. Fate made my victory. Fate ensures yours. Fate, fate, fate. Fuck fate! I earned my victory! I earned it with hard work, planning, and skill! I earned it with sweat and more than a little blood!"
Neji shook his head at her. "How it happens does not matter. Fate is-"
Tenten gave him a push, a light push, but enough to force him to stand up straight. He barely moved, but by the look on his face, it was as if she'd attacked him. "You think you're all stoic," she shouted at him. "Will you be saying it was fate when you lose? Will that be fate too?"
"I won't lose." Neji sneered at her, his face turned ugly with disdain. "None here can best me. Not the Uchiha. Not Lee. And not you." He turned away from her and crossed his arms. "Pray we do not meet in the finals, Tenten. I won't hold back."
"Neither will I."
Tenten grit her teeth and turned away as well, walking to the other side of Guy and Lee. Lee looked confused at the way his teammates were acting, but Guy… the look on his face was not confused. He looked like he understood the situation perfectly, and it pained him. She took a deep breath, closing her eyes and counting down from ten, before opening them again. After a moment, she tentatively raised her hand and gave Guy a thumbs up. It wasn't as youthful as his own, but it brought a small smile to his face at least.
Standing behind Guy, his face turned away but his byakugan active and watching the scene, Neji held his arms tight around himself and frowned. They'll see, he thought. They'll see.
"I'm going to be next," said Lee, leaning over the railing and staring at the light board. "I know it!"
"I'm going to be next," said Kiba, when he heard Lee. He stepped to the railing and stared as well.
"No, me, I'm next," shouted Naruto, practically jumping in place.
Hayate nodded to the shinobi manning the board, who activated the randomizer and displayed the next match on the screen.
The three boys at the railing wailed in disappointment.
"Kankuro and Dosu, come down please."
The others watched as the two contestants jumped to the arena floor and moved forward to the starting positions. Dosu was first to arrive, the feathery straw raincoat on his back rusling slightly with each step. His slouched posture, combined with that raincoat, gave him a hunched, bestial appearance, and the glare in his one visible eye did little to dispel that image.
Kankuro made quite a contrast with his opponent. Clothed in a simplistic black jumpsuit with a matching hood, he had a very bland appearance, save for two things; The large, bandage wrapped bundle on his back, and the sharp, angular pattern marked on his face in purple paint. He stood straight and tall, his bearing proud, and he had an easy smile on his face.
Hayate called for the match to begin, but neither combatant made a move. They stood in position, staring into each other's eyes. After several seconds, Naruto frowned. "Why aren't they doing anything?" he asked himself.
"They're sizing each other up," said Kakashi, as he and Sasuke joined the others at the rail to watch. Kakashi leaned forward, perfectly mimicking Naruto's own posture. Sasuke smirked and did the same, waiting to see if Naruto caught it. His teammate immediately changed positions, but Sasuke couldn't tell if it was deliberate or not.
Eventually, both of the combatants seemed to relax, affecting a casual air. "Nice makeup," said Dosu, his voice deep and smooth. "Did your mother apply it?"
Kankuro smile did not fade or change, remaining just as it was since his match was called. "Nice face," he said in immediate reply, his voice light and cheerful. "Did your father teach you to hide it?"
They returned to their staring contest without another word.
"Why don't they do something?" said Lee after a few moments. Kakashi looked at him, and was pleased to see the boy was confused instead of anxious for action. Confusion could be solved with insight, after all. A taste for action, however, was often a fatal flaw, and one he was worried the young man may have picked up from Guy, who was the same way in his youth.
"What you see," came the voice of Guy as he joined them at the railing, "is a true shinobi battle in action." He had no youthful enthusiasm in his voice, only a simple and calm certainty, as solid as a rock, and the moment he spoke, Lee had a small notepad and pencil in hand. "When two shinobi meet on a battlefield, it is rare for the battle to end with only a single thrown kunai or flashy jutsu. They must fight and work to determine their foe's strengths and weaknesses, so they know when and how to strike to achieve victory. And at a time like this, when two cautious foes face each other, there are often times when they will stop fighting and plan."
"Sometimes," Kakashi cut in, still watching the two contestants, "a shinobi will trash talk, or even simply converse with their foe, and you may get the impression they are having fun or feel so confident that they can do so. But any good shinobi will take that time to watch for hints on how to fight. Naruto, based off what you have seen so far, what sort of abilities or traits do you think the one with the raincoat has has?"
Naruto looked Dosu up and down carefully. "Well… I already know he has that metal thing on his arm. But he keeps both of his arms covered, which means he might have another trick up his other sleeve." He turned and looked at Kakashi, who nodded encouragingly and waved his hand for Naruto to continue. He returned to looking at Dosu, putting his relatively weak observational skills to use. "He looks thin, so his abilities probably don't rely on physical strength. Umm… He has a rain coat, so he either uses water technique or possibly wants others to think he does. That's about it for me."
Kakashi gave him a pat on the shoulder. "Not bad," he said, "but we'll have to get you some practice some time. Sasuke, what about the black one?"
Sasuke had expected this, and had been watching carefully while Naruto was talking, his sharingan active to take in as much detail as possible. "He's not in the best of shape, so he's probably not a taijutsu master, and probably avoids it when possible. The giant bandaged wrapped thing on his back must be important to him, if he bothers to carry it into combat, and I can see some odd chakra flowing between it and him. A weapon, I assume. And I assume he's already performed some sort of replacement technique."
"Why?" asked Kakashi.
"His face looks fake. When he talks, his lips and muscles are not moving properly, and I think he's keeping the same smile on his face to minimize those movements. It's not a bunshin, I can tell those apart. I'm assuming he replaced himself with something."
"Cheating sharingan eyes," mumbled Naruto, drawing a smirk out of Kakashi and Sasuke both.
Eventually, it was Dosu who made the first move. He charged and swung his arm with the metal resonator on it in a wide arc, deliberately swinging short of his foe as he had with Naruto. But Kankuro didn't flinch or otherwise react meaningfully. Dosu's eye narrowed and he took another swing, only for the black clad boy to latch on to the resonator with both arms, making a loud wooden clatter as he did so.
"Surprise," said Kankuro, before his mouth opened unnaturally wide. He started to shoot senbon out of his mouth, but Dosu had already hit the release on his resonator and was jumping back, lunging frantically to the side as Kankuro's head twisted unnaturally to follow him, spitting senbon at an amazing rate. Eventually, the flow of needles stopped, although a clicking noise could be heard in his mouth for a moment before whatever mechanism that shot the senbon stopped as well.
The bandages on the package loosened, revealing the real Kankuro, who had a far more sinister smile on his face. The fake Kankuro crouched defensively in front of him, his facial features now cracked and broken, revealing some sort of elaborate wooden puppet underneath. The real Kankuro moved his fingers slightly, and the puppet reached back and handed the resonator to its controller.
"Meet Karasu, my little kabuki puppet." He was examining the resonator in a very careful manner, although most of his attention remained on Dosu. "Nice toy," he said, looking at the metal device. "Unfortunately, I was paying attention when you used it back at the written exam. You should try something new."
"I am," Dosu said as he raised his hands in the snake seal, the one traditionally used for explosive tags.
Kankuro threw the resonator away as hard as he could, and with a few more twitches of his fingers, he brought his puppet about to shield him from the blast. After a moment of silence, he let out a laugh, and moved his puppet to watch Dosu reattach the metal device to his forearm. "I should have known," he said, shaking his head at his own error. "That would be like blowing apart my puppet. I'd do it in a battle, but not for a match like this."
Dosu finished attaching his resonator, checked its fittings, and then created two illusionary doubles. "I'll give you credit," he said, and his voice had a slight bit of warmth to it. "I did not expect to have to use any sort of ninjutsu in these matches. Still, you won't be rid of me so easy." He and his illusions crowded into one another, merging and then separating before starting to circle carefully a few feet out of Kankuro's reach.
Kankuro did not spin with them, and did not seem inclined to try and figure out the real one. He simply allowed his puppet to drape over his shoulder and waited. After a few moments, all three copies of Dosu lunged forward, but before they could reach their target, Kankuro's puppet opened its mouth and dropped a small sphere that exploded into a smoke screen. Dosu pressed his attack, lunging into the cloud of billowing smoke.
The observers heard the sound of the puppet launching senbon, and a flurry of needles flew out of the cloud in several directions. There was a moment of silence, then the cloud dispersed, revealing Kankuro laying on the ground beneath his puppet. The puppet was leaning forward with both arms swept back and its face towards Dosu, who was covered in needles. He took a step forward, then dropped to his knees. "How?" he managed to ask as he struggled to move.
Kankuro stood and dusted himself off. "I assumed you would attack from behind. Everyone does. So I set Karasu's main weapon to fire directly behind my previous position, and some secondary ones at the locations of your bunshin, just in case. The poison is paralytic, by the way. It's over."
Hayate landed next to Dosu and nudged him, sending the genin slumping to the floor. He turned to the Hokage and said, "Winner, Kankuro."
Kakashi nodded to himself up on the stands while medics came to get Dosu, then turned to his students. "A few lessons from this. Never attack from directly behind a shinobi, because they will be expecting it. Never limit yourself to a single type of attack or technique. And when your opponent does something unexpected, assume it is a trap and evade. Sure, you'll look silly jumping around if they don't attack, but dead people can't be embarrassed."
"But won't a good opponent expect you to never attack from behind?" Sakura asked from where she had settled earlier.
Kakashi smiled. "That's the Poison Chalice puzzle." His genin looked confused, so he walked over and sat down next to Sakura, waving the other two over as he did so. Reaching into his pouch, he pulled out two slips of paper and held them up. "Pretend that we decided to test our wits against one another. One is an exploding tag. One is a fake. We must both pick one, place it on our head, and then a third party will activate it. We are certain that only one is explosive. We are certain the third party is neutral." He turned away for a moment, scribbling on one of the papers, then turned back and set one down in front of himself, and the other in front of Sakura. "Which one is the real tag?"
All three genin stared at the slips of paper. Sasuke was the first to look away, shaking his head. Sakura did so shortly after, palming her face as she did so. Naruto pointed at the one in front of Kakashi and grinned.
"Why that one, Naruto?"
"You're tricky, Sensei. You know that I will assume you gave me the poisoned one, and assumed I would take the one in front of you." Naruto crossed his arms and grinned.
Kakashi smirked and nodded his head. "Sure, sure. But how do you know I am not expecting you to assume the one in front of me is real, and thus actually give you the real one? As you said, I am tricky."
Naruto made what he probably thought was a "serious thinking" face, then pointed at the tag in front of him. "That one," he said, with utmost certainty. Kakashi reached over and hovered his hand just above the tag.
Sakura grinned at Naruto, not a sweet and friendly grin, but a grin with teeth. "But Naruto, how do you know he doesn't know you know? He might be expecting you to know this, and thus gave himself the tag, expecting you to assume a single layer of trickery is not enough."
Before Naruto could reply, Sasuke gave him a light slap in the back of the head. "It's an infinite loop, dobe. You can never be certain what your foe knows. In your case, you can probably never be certain what you know, either." Sasuke ducked Naruto's fist with a laugh and watched his friend fume.
The thought rolled around in Sasuke's mind for a moment before settling. Huh, yeah, I suppose he is my friend. Sasuke was not the friendly type. He understood the concept, but until this very moment, he didn't really understand what it was. As a child, his friends had all been family members, some close, some distant. They were different. They were family.
Sasuke had always figured that being friends was a decision, made deliberately, a sort of social contract to remain neutral with each other, but what he felt now was the same as he once felt for his cousin, who used to play catch with him, or his uncle, who used to tell him stories on rainy days.
Then he felt a chill run through him, remembering what had happened to his past friends. He realized, standing in the middle of the exam, watching Naruto argue game theory with Kakashi, that friendship meant one thing to him: Loss.
Because in the end, he would lose his friend. It might be in combat, a kunai in the dark or a fiery jutsu. It might be to an illness, a slow and painful decline. It might just be of old age, when their bodies simply stopped working. But some day, he'd lose his friend, just like he lost...
He started slightly, and looked up to see Sakura standing next to him, a hand on his shoulder. "Are you ok?" she asked, frowning slightly. "You suddenly went quiet and kind of shut off for a moment. Had me a little worried." Even Kieri, perched on her shoulder, looked concerned.
Something strange took hold of him then. He found that he didn't want to keep his thoughts to himself for once. He wanted her input, valued it even, because surely it was something she had faced as well. He swallowed painfully through the knot in his throat, and in a quiet voice, he asked, "How do you face the eventual loss of a friend? I just realized... some day, all friendship ends. How can I make more bonds, knowing how it will hurt to lose them?"
Sakura shrugged. "I can't answer that for you. But as for myself..." She watched Kakashi and Naruto arguing even harder after the blond found out that both slips of paper had been marked as traps with a fond smile. "I think, faced with an inevitable loss, the goal becomes to get as much out of the deal as you can. In a fight. In relationships. In life itself. Get what you can, while you can, and enjoy it."
Kieri chose that moment to meow from her place on Sakura's shoulder, then jumped down and began rubbing against Sasuke's leg. He leaned down and idly scratched the cat's back, getting a pleasant purr from it. "She's a cat, Sasuke. She'll live fifteen years at best, assuming nothing happens to her on duty. Should I flinch away from her, knowing I'll almost certainly lose her some day?" Sakura leaned down and scooped up her cat then flipped it upside down and burrowed her face in its tummy, making little muffled growling noises while Kieri halfheartedly grumbled and batted at the girl's pink hair. Sakura pulled her face back and gave Kieri a kiss on the nose, saying, "But then I'd miss this fuzzy little tummy!" All the attention caused the cat to flop back in her arms and start purring again.
Kakashi and Naruto suddenly stopped arguing and looked at the announcement board, and then at Sasuke. Naruto had a huge smirk on his face, but Kakashi looked alarmed. Sakura looked up at the board before Sasuke could, then grinned cheerfully. "Looks like you're up, Sasuke. And get your game face on, it's going to be tough."
Sasuke looked up at the board and felt a moment of dread. I just know this is going to turn into some sort of battle for her fair maiden blossom or something stupid.
"Uchiha Sasuke, Rock Lee, please come down for your match."
"YOSH! I SHALL FIGHT UCHIHA-SAN FOR THE RIGHT TO PROTECT THE FAIR MAIDEN SAKURA!"
Damn.
Author's Note: No big name fights yet, so sorry, but I need to cover the smaller ones at some point, and I believe I made this interesting enough to make do. I am not completely happy with the Kankuro v Dosu fight, and feel it is the weakest match I have planned.
That's right, even Gaara's match should be more interesting, rather than the traditional, "Gaara uses Sand Coffin immediately, the end" fights you often get in fanfic.
I was also deeply pleased to see the overwhelmingly positive reaction to Sakura v Shino. I cannot promise every match will be that awesome… but I think I can safely say the majority will be. The only two I was worried about was Kankuro v Dosu, and one other fight that I simply cannot reasonably stretch out far enough to be interesting.
Thanks to Heaven's Eagle for beta reading this chapter. It certainly reduces the editing passes.
Cute Kirby mentioned that I keep messing up Kieri's name, and comments how mentally, she labels her "Kyrie." Amusingly, that's half my problem, my own internal label is "Keeree," which would not work when spelt out as such. However, I made a note to check the spelling on her name before posting, so hopefully it'll happen less often. EDIT: Personal gender identification pronoun updated to meet Cute Kirby's specifications.
depressedchildren mentioned how the alternate cursed seal can be used as a carrot and a stick to goad Sasuke into following Orochimaru. Well considered, but incorrect on all but one thing. We'll wait and see what that one thing is. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.
Death276, fear not. Shikamaru, much like his canon counterpart, will not give up, if only because it would make home life and life with his team far too troublesome. I cannot promise he'll win, however. It depends who he is matched with, and how hard he thinks.
Illucidia mentioned wondering who was cleaning out the competition in the tower. It will not come up in the future, so no harm sharing now: It was Dosu, Kin, and Zaku, being their usual ruthless selves. Like Shikamaru mentioned, the rules did not explicitly state that people in the tower were safe.
Thanks for catching those errors, PoisonedWit. Love the name, by the way.