Yo yo!

Welcome back to KOC! Thank you all for the support and kind welcome back even though I've had you guys waiting for what seems like forever. As always, I appreciate the feedback as I continue on this journey of writing. Also, gonna skip the unnecessary bits in this stage of the exam and just head straight to the prelims after everything is taken care of at this point in time. Cool? Cool.

P.S; Being as that this is a fanfiction, and I am the god of this universe, I'll be tweaking with the rules a bit just for the sake of my story and the way I want it to flow with some of the things I'd like to do moving forward.

Anyways, I don't have much else to so, on with the chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Konoha's Orange Comet!

Arc: The Chunin Exams

Chapter 12: On With the Exams!

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu! (Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!)"

Namiko, as well as everyone else in attendance winced and shielded their eyes as a weird looking Sasuke volleyed – as the name implied – a great fireball towards the sound ninja that had come to pick a fight with him.

Namiko took note of just how much bigger as well as hotter this fireball had been compared to the ones he usually produced. She assumed it had something to do with his weird appearance, which had something to do with the weird mark he was given by Orochimaru.

She pursed her lips as she watched the fireball collide with the space the sound team had been occupying. She recalled during her escapades in the Land of Frost that Orochimaru and his hench-people had been experimenting on people, so she wondered if the mark on Sasuke's neck which she assumed to be a cursed seal, had any correlation.

"Pay attention blondie!" Behind her, the same gung ho sound ninja that had attacked them initially, had his arms pointed at her. She simply sighed and thought to herself that she'd focus more on the task at hand and think more on Sasuke's predicament at a later date.

In a blur she had used her Jinton and suddenly reappeared behind her attacker. A look of horror was bestowed upon his face as he felt Namiko's presence behind him.

"Two can play at that game by the way." She flashed through a set of hand seals before clapping her hands together then held out her right hand with the palm facing him. "Futon: Reppusho! (Wind Style: Gale Palm!)"

A giant blast of wind generated from her hand and attacked the sound ninja named Zaku, sending him pitching away into a few trees. With him preoccupied with trees, Namiko turned her attention to Sasuke, who was still in the same spot preparing another fireball to launch at other two sound ninja that were up on a tree branch having dodged the earlier fireball.

Sasuke then launched the fireball to which they dodged again, when the one she had assumed to be the leader of the group landed off to the side she dashed towards him. Out of the corner of his eyes he noticed her and smirked under his bandages.

Suddenly, when Namiko was only a few feet away from him her Jinton dropped and then she dropped to the floor clutching her ears and groaning in pain. The sound ninja spun on his heel and delivered a swift kick to her check knocking her to the ground, he withdrew a kunai and was about to stab her when his body suddenly froze.

Kagemane no Jutsu (Shadow Possession Technique), success."

Ino watched as Shikamaru captured the ninja in his technique, however, what she paid most attention to, was the look of rage in his usually stoic Nara eyes. She smiled internally; it seemed as though the Nara heir really didn't play when it came to their hyperactive friend.

"Not so fast!" The female of the sound team appeared above them and launched a volley of senbon towards Team Ten plus Sakura and it was Sakura's turns to contribute. She slammed her hands on the ground and a dirt pillar rose from the ground and blocked the senbon causing the kunoichi to curse as she landed on the ground and that's when she suddenly felt her consciousness leave her body.

Then she randomly yelled. "Choji now!"

The plush boy nodded and used his family jutsu to turn into a giant ball and roll over the kunoichi, quickly and effectively taking her out of the fray. As he was done, Sakura was confused but turned to see Ino laying on the ground. It took a few seconds but then she opened her eyes with a smirk.

"Hell yea! That's how the Ino-Shika-Cho formation does it!" She remarked and held up two fingers in a cute pose causing Sakura to chuckle. She wasn't sure know when Team Ten had gotten here but boy was she glad they did.

And thus, it was Shikamaru's turn to react as he jumped back, causing the sound team's leader to do the same and thus away from Namiko who was finally able to let go of her ears. She groggily stood up and back tracked a few steps closer to Shikamaru and the others.

It was only at this point that Namiko suddenly remembered why the ninja that had dealt damage to her seemed so familiar. He was the same one that had attacked Kabuto during the first stage of the exams without seemingly touching him. She cursed to herself as she had let herself get done in so easily by his attack when she should have known the type of ability he had possessed having seen it briefly before.

"Shikamaru…" She breathed out groggily and the black-haired boy turned to her. "How much longer can you hold him?" She asked.

The Nara shrugged. "Maybe, five minutes or so…" He trailed off as Namiko smirked.

"Perfect, I only need one."

In a blur Namiko created two shadow clones and activated her Jinton and dashed at the sound ninja and delivered a swift uppercut that sent him into the air, she leaped high into the air and as she did so, the two shadow clones joined the parlay, each delivering a kick that sent the sound ninja higher in the air to meet Namiko.

And as he was where she wanted him, Namiko spun in the air and delivered a heel to his back sending him speeding towards the ground. "Uzumaki Barrage!" She yelled as she made contact with his body.

The sound team's leader groaned as he made harsh contact with the ground and looked in fear when he realized that she wasn't done yet. Above him as she was coming down, she went through a set of hand seals and yelled a Jutsu name as she punched him in the gut.

"Raiton: Hiraishin! (Lightning Style: Lightning Rod!)"

As the name implied it used the user's body as a pseudo lightning rod and lightning shot down from the sky, traveled through her body and exited through her fist where she had made contact with the sound genin.

He let out a yelp of pain before falling unconscious from the pain and Namiko breathed a sigh of relief as she slumped to the ground. She felt as though she was at her limit, her chakra levels were pretty average…at least for her at this point, but the fatigue and lack of sleep was probably starting to take its effect on her.

"Kin! Dosu!" Everyone in attendance turned to Zaku climbing out of the bushes back into the clearing. "I'm going to kill you all!" He yelled, seeing his defeated teammates. He then turned menacingly towards Sasuke who was looking at him amusingly. "Starting with you!"

Namiko groaned out loud. This one trick pony was starting to get on her nerves.

"Zankukyokuha! (Extreme Decapitating Airwaves!)"

As the name implies this version of his jutsu was more extreme, and that was shown by the amount of earth it ripped apart on its way to Sasuke. When the jutsu died down there was nothing left where Sasuke's had been standing.

"Sasuke-kun!" Both Ino and Sakura yelled simultaneously.

"Ha! Save your breath he was blown into dust!" Zaku yelled victoriously.

"Who? Me?"

Every single hair on the back of Zaku's head stood up as he heard Sasuke's voice behind him. Before he could do anything to prepare himself tho Sasuke grabbed his arm and kicked him in his back and held him to the floor.

"You seem very prideful of these special arms of yours, it would be a shame if something were to…happen to them." And with that Sasuke broke Zaku's left arm earning a scream of pain.

"AHHHHH! Okay! Okay! I concede. I give up!" Zaku yelled but a sinister smirk dawned on Sasuke's face. He was far from over and broke Zaku's other arm.

Looks of horror spread across the faces of the other Konoha ninja present at the display of the pure lack of remorse in Sasuke's face. "Okay Sasuke, that's enough." Namiko said as she stood up. Beating a dead horse wasn't the way Konoha ninja did things and she wasn't going to let Sasuke go overboard even if the sound team were not only their enemy but Orochimaru's henchmen as well.

Sasuke turned to Namiko with a smirk. "Enough? Don't be naïve you Dobe. They got a lot more coming." He then reached into his pouch, withdrew a kunai, and twirled it on his fingers before pointing it towards Zaku who was writhing on the ground in pain, tears even forming at his eyes.

Having seen enough of this rage-stricken Sasuke, Namiko dashed at him using the Jinton and delivered a swift punch to his gut, causing him to cough up spit and keel over and then with him bent over in pain she dealt a chop to the back of his neck causing him to fall to the ground unconscious.

"Namiko! What the hell?" Came Ino's worried screech as she rushed over to Sasuke. Behind her Choji, Sakura and Shikamaru watched the face of Namiko turn sour. Choji stopped eating mid chip while all Sakura could do was frown at her teammates.

Shikamaru on the other hand felt for his blonde friend. He knew the last thing she wanted to do was stop Sasuke the way she did, but it was something akin to necessary friendly fire as he knew Sasuke would have gone overboard with whatever had gotten into him.

"Yare yare…" The Nara sighed out before walking over to Namiko and placing a hand on her shoulder. "You good Namiko?" She only nodded before a groan could be heard and everyone turned to see the female member of the sound team – Kin – sit up groggily.

"What are we gonna do with these guys?" Sakura asked the group.

Kin raised her head to see her two teammates down for the count. Dosu was done for, having been electrocuted by Namiko while Zaku had passed out from the pain of both his arms being broken. She also noticed all five of the six Konoha genin present looking at her.

"Nothing." Were Namiko's words as she shrugged off the weird feeling of having to attack her teammate in a serious manner. Namiko walked over to Kin and activated her Jinton causing her hair to glow and float in order to give her a slightly more intimidating appearance. "What scroll do you have?"

Kin trembled slightly and pointed towards Dosu. "D-Dosu has it. It's an earth scroll!" She pleaded frighteningly.

"Sakura." Namiko called then gestured for her to get the scroll in question to which Sakura did. It took a few seconds, but she withdrew the earth scroll from Dosu's person. "Listen here," Namiko's attention returned to Kin. "Tell your boss that if he messes with my team again, he's done for." And with that she let the Jinton fall, created a shadow clone which picked up Sasuke and put him on their back. She then turned to face her fellow shinobi and looked over her shoulder to Kin. "Get your teammates some help." She, the clone carrying Sasuke and Shikamaru then walked over to where the rest of Team Ten plus Sakura had been standing.

"What's your plan Namiko?" Shikamaru asked, crossing his arms in the process.

"Well, we have both scrolls now, and I want to get Sasuke to Kakashi-sensei as quickly as possible so he can take a look at that mark that caused him to go bat shit crazy on us." She explained to which Shikamaru nodded. "You guys gonna be okay?" She asked, genuinely concerned for Team Ten as the exams seemed to be heading in a direction way above a genin's skill level by the second.

"Yea we got this, go get Sasuke taken care of we'll see you guys at the finish line." Namiko nodded and while she was still worried for her friends' sake Shikamaru gave her a look of reassurance that was able to settle her nerves. "Ino, Choji, let's go." Shikamaru said and after a wave from Choji and Ino sending a look of concern to Sasuke one last time, Team Ten disappeared into the forest, on their way to get a scroll of their own and complete this stage of the exams.

Namiko sighed one last time to clear her mind before turning to Sakura.

"Are you good to go Sakura?"

The pinkette smiled at her teammate. "Yeah, all good on my end Namiko."

"Alright then, let's get Sasuke taken care of." She said before she used the Jinton to climb a tree in a matter of seconds then came back down. "Okay, tower's this way. Let's go." Sakura nodded in response and her, Namiko and Sasuke on the back of a Namiko shadow clone headed towards the tower located at the center of training ground 44.

They had been given five days to complete this stage of the exam but after twelve or so hours in the forest, Namiko and the rest of Team Seven had just about enough.

"…and that's about what happened."

Namiko had just finished conveying the events of stage two of their chunin exam to her Jonin sensei. It had taken them a couple of hours but after defeating the sound team and parting ways with Team Ten; Namiko, Sakura and a Namiko clone carried Sasuke arrived at the tower and opened their scrolls which summoned Kakashi to them.

And thus, Namiko and Sakura took turns relaying the events of their days to Kakashi. The silver haired copy ninja walked over to where Sasuke was being carried and examined the mark before sighing and taking Sasuke from the clone – who threw up a peace sign before poofing out of existence – and threw him over his shoulder.

The ninja that knew over a thousand ninjutsu then withdrew a set of keys from his pocket and tossed one each to Namiko and Sakura. The keys had a plastic tag on it that had a number on it.

"Well, against all the odds and craziness you three were able to pass part two of this year's Chunin Exams so congratulations are in order I suppose. Those keys are for the room you three are going to share until the end of the five days where you'll be given the rules and whatnot for part three." He explained. "You two can head back to your rooms and freshen up and get some food from the cafeteria that's here."

Comically at the mention of food Namiko's stomach grumbled and she blushed sheepishly.

"Ano, sensei…what's going to happen to Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked.

"Well for starters I'm going to try and learn more about this mark and maybe try to seal it off temporarily until we can figure out exactly what it is and what it does." He could see that there was a look of worry on both his genin kunoichi's faces. "Don't worry girls, I'm sure Sasuke's gonna be fine. I won't let anything happen to you three." He smiled through his mask reassuringly at them.

This seemed to work on Sakura, but he noticed that Namiko still seemed somewhat out of it. He could tell she still felt bad for having to attack her own teammate especially at a time when he was vulnerable. So, he walked up to her and ruffled her hair.

"Don't worry Namiko, you did great I'm proud of you."

Namiko clicked her teeth and removed Kakashi's hand from her head.

"Geez Kaka-sensei, I'm not a kid."

"Hmm…" He thought to himself. "I suppose you're right. You're fourteenth birthday is coming up if I'm not mistaken…my, my, you're growing up so fast from that little troublemaker I used to watch over when I was in the Anbu."

Huh? Kakashi sensei used to watch over her when he was a member of the Anbu?

"What do you mean sensei?" Namiko asked to which she received a signature eye smile.

"Alright then," He changed the subject. "I'm glad you three made it through the exam this quick, that means you get four odd days to recuperate for the next exam so enjoy it while you can, I'll see you guys around later...also, fighting with other teams in here is prohibited so keep that in mind yea? Ja ne." And with that he disappeared in a shunshin with Sasuke in tow and the doors at the end of the little hallway they stood in unlocked, allowing them to enter the main part of the tower.

The two kunoichi took some time to explore the tower and it turned out to be a considerably simple layout with dorm like rooms, a few restrooms and a large cafeteria with some vending machines.

Eventually they made their way to their shared room. Like the rest of the tower it was a simple layout, three futons spread evenly apart, a small couch as well as a microwave, mini fridge, small dining table with four chairs and a door leading to what they could only assume was the bathroom.

"Hey Sakura, can I take a shower first?" Namiko asked her pink haired teammate.

"Of course, Namiko, you deserve it, take as long as you need." Sakura said as she sat on the couch. Namiko smiled at her and unsealed her backpack from a scroll before entering the bathroom and closing it behind her.

She stripped down, entered the shower and turned on the water, sighing in relief as the cold-water cascading down her body. As she stood there washing her hair and scrubbed her skin, she couldn't help herself think about the shit show of a day it had been. From getting attacked while she tried to pee, to getting swallowed whole by a snake to squaring off with one of the three legendary Sannin.

Then she thought back to what Kakashi had said a little while ago. He had been watching her as a child. She wondered if that was in part due to the fact that she was the village's Jinchuriki and they had to make sure she was protected, or worse yet make sure she wouldn't do anything to harm the village.

She grew a tick mark thinking back to how Kakashi had changed the subject, she vowed to herself she'd get him to explain what he meant at a later date. Her mind then drifted to what else he had said, her birthday was coming up.

It honestly wasn't a day she was very fond of, as it was also the day the Nine Tails had attacked Konoha and ultimately been sealed within her. The tenth of October was also the day Konoha celebrated the defeating of the Kyubi at the hands of its late great Yondaime Hokage. She knew now why she had always been shunned out of the Kyubi Festival even though it was also her birthday.

She sighed. A puzzled look then plagued her face. She had never asked Kurama about that night or how it had escaped from her mother, or why exactly it had attacked Konoha. In a split instant she entered her mind scape and stood in front of the Kyubi…

Only she had entered her mind scape exactly as how she had been clothed in the real world…or rather, not clothed in the real world. She let out an eep and used her hands to cover her lady bits.

The Nine Tails scoffed. "Baka. Your femininity means nothing to me." It simply said before closing its eyes and laying its head on the topside of its paws. Namiko knew he had a good point and dropped her hands but started to blush heavily and recovered herself.

"Just keep your eyes closed!" The fox only grunted in response. "Anyway, I came to ask you something."

"How I escaped from your mother's seal and why I attacked Konoha?" It asked.

"How'd you know?"

"I can hear your thoughts child, or have you forgotten we are literally conversing within your mind?"

She sighed; this fox sure was sarcastic.

"Sarcasm aside Kurama, what exactly happened that night?"

It was the fox's turn to sigh.

"It was a rather embarrassing night on my end but fine. Your mother was moved to a secure location the day she was supposed to go into labor, the location was so secure only a handful of people knew where it was yet somehow, we were attacked."

Namiko's eyes widened. "Attacked?"

"Yes, the person not only knew where to find your mother but also knew that the seal used to hold me at bay would weaken during childbirth and they used this knowledge and moment to forcefully extract me from your mother."

"And so, you attacked Konoha for having you sealed away for so long?" She asked.

The fox shook its head and scoffed.

"You think after being sealed away for so long, the first thing I'd do with my free time is waste a second more of it on this pathetic village?" It growled out to which Namiko frowned.

"Actually, I do, you said it yourself you're the Nine Tailed Fox, hatred and destruction are all you know." The fox grunted. "However, I'd like to give you the benefit of the doubt, so tell me how you ended up attacking the village."

Kurama was silent for a short while.

"The person that attacked your mother while she was giving birth to you…it was an Uchiha, and their dojutsu; that accursed Sharingan has the ability to control me, once it's been mastered."

Namiko looked even more shocked at that little tidbit.

"Until that night I'd only ever been controlled once before, when that retched Uchiha that founded this village fought your Shodai Hokage. I couldn't tell if it was him again the night you were born, but the feeling was eerily familiar." Kurama explained.

The Uchiha that helped found the village. What was his name again? Damn, she really should have paid more attention in history class in the academy.

"Ano…what was his name again?" She asked sheepishly.

"Madara Uchiha."

That's right, now she remembered. He had founded the village along with Hashirama Senju, their First Hokage. God, she sighed to herself. This whole thing was starting to give her a headache.

Who was the man that attacked her mother? What was his agenda? How did her mother's location get leaked?

A lot of it didn't particularly make sense, and of course she was only learning of Kurama's perspective. She was sure if she could've talked to anyone else involved it may have given her a little more insight, but that wasn't something that could be accomplished.

She finally let all shame go and dropped her hands and rubbed the bridge of her nose. Wait…hold on.

"Kurama, how long exactly have you been sealed?" She asked.

The great nine tailed fox seemed to think for a little while.

"Including the almost fourteen years within you, I'd say about fifty to fifty-five years, give or take." Kurama admitted.

"Damn…" She said softly.

"A pity yes, but I've somewhat grown used to it."

Namiko smiled sadly at the fox. The way she saw it, at the end of the day it was still an animal, no? A giant animal that was pure chakra, yes, but an animal, nonetheless. That meant it probably enjoyed being free and not couped up behind a prison cell within her mind.

"Ano," she began. "So how exactly did the Fourth Hokage stop you?"

"Hmm…your fa…Fourth Hokage battled with and defeated the Uchiha to the point he retreated and then summoned the Shinigami. With the help of your mother to restrain me, he combined that Kinjutsu; the Shiki Fujin (Reaper Death Seal), with a Fuinjutsu to seal me within you."

"Hmm…" She thought to herself. What was that weird pause about? Like many things today, she pushed that to the back of her head for the time being. "Well, thanks for the explanation, Kurama, I'll let you rest." And with that, she returned to the shower.

She finished showering and changed into some clean clothes and exited the bathroom.

"All yours Sakura." Namiko said as she continued drying her luscious blonde hair. Sakura smiled at her teammate and entered the bathroom leaving Namiko in the room. Namiko then sat on the edge of one of the beds and let out a very deep and long sigh.

"I wonder if Jiji knows anything about that Uchiha Kurama was talking about…" She thought to herself as she finally finished drying her hair and hung the towel on the nearby rack. "Seems like my birthday is a real mess huh…" She chuckled dryly. "And it's coming up in a month."

Oh

She suddenly thought to herself. If her birthday was coming up in about month that meant Shikamaru's was literally right around the corner. He was only a couple weeks older than her. She wondered if she should get him something, he didn't really seem like the type to celebrate his birthday nor the type to be very welcome to gifts, as he was a very simple and stoic person.

She fell back on the bed and closed her eyes.

So much today just didn't make sense to her, and it was getting to the point where she was starting to get a migraine. From Kakashi saying he used to watch over her as a child to learning about the date of her birthday almost fourteen years ago to now having to worry about birthdays coming up. The past couple hours were starting to become just a big a headache as the previous dozen hours had been.

She closed her eyes. She had yet to get any sleep since she woke up early this morning and she had been going nonstop for close to twenty hours. And so, she let her worries and thoughts take the back burner for a while as she began drifting off to sleep.

Four odd days had come and gone in the blink of an eye. Kakashi had returned a healed Sasuke, who didn't show any signs of a grudge against Namiko, and his curse mark had been put behind a seal of some sorts for the time being, until Kakashi could find a more permanent solution.

And so, Team Seven stood in the hall that was going to hold the next stage of the chunin exams. The hall was of standard size with two catwalks on either side of the room while to the front there were two giant arms forming a hand seal. Standing in front of the seal was the Sandaime Hokage, the two proctors from stage one and two, as well as all the jonin sensei of all qualified teams.

Including Team Seven, there were eight qualified teams. Team Seven, Team Eight, Team Ten, Team Nine, the sand trio, Kabuto's team as well as a team each from the Iwagakure and Kumogakure. And Namiko couldn't help but feel the team from Iwa as well as the Kumo team seemed to steal glances of her every now and then, though she couldn't tell what for.

She also found it interesting that four of the five Konoha team's that had made it passed the second stage of the chunin exams were the rookies from her graduation year as well as a team from the year before. All the experienced teams hadn't made it to her surprise. It seems like that crazy snake lady was right when she said she'd cut them down by at least half, though she had done a much better job.

Namiko was then cut out of her musings by the Third.

He cleared his throat before speaking. "Welcome, and congratulations to all of you for passing the second part of this volume of the chunin exams, I know it was not an easy road for most of you." The Hokage paused to take a puff from his pipe. "It seems as though this batch of chunin hopefuls is quite the tough cookie to crack, which is why before stage three of the exams, we'll be having a preliminary battle round."

This statement brought about his whispers from a few of the genins present. Before anything further could be said, a man dressed in full Konoha jonin attire appeared in a cloud of smoke.

"Could you allow me, Hokage*cough*-sama."

The Hokage gave the Jonin a curt nod. "Very well."

"All, I am Hayate Gekko, and I will be *cough* the proctor for both this preliminary round as well as the final stage. Please *cough* pay attention as I am going to explain the rules for both rounds." Behind him, the genin – who sweat dropped at the cough every few words – watched a screen on the wall come to life with all their names.

"With *cough* twenty-four genin remaining in the exam, we will have a preliminary battle round, meaning you all will be randomly selected to partake in one-on-one battles until the amount of genin are cut down to twelve, with the twelve winners *cough* moving on to the final stage, which is going to be a *cough* bracket style tournament." The man named Hayate explained. "Any questions so far?"

Silence.

"Good, for the preliminary *cough* battles, your names will be selected at random." He gestured to the screen behind him. "For the twelve of you that make it on to the final stage, four of you will get automatic byes into the quarter finals of the final stage, with the remaining eight squaring off for a chance to *cough* fill in the remaining four spots of the quarter finals. The automatic byes will be determined today during the preliminaries as you are going to be graded by the three proctors on a variety of aspects, including *cough* overall ability."

As he finished explaining Namiko raised her hand, and he gestured towards her.

"Is there a possibility of facing off against our teammates during either the preliminaries or the final stage?" She asked, a rather insightful question from the usually knuckleheaded blonde Jinchuriki.

"Hai, from here on out the chunin exams are no longer *cough* a team exam." He explained.

Hearing this Namiko smirked and leaned backwards slightly. "You hear that teme, I might get the chance to pummel you on the big stage." She whispered to her Uchiha teammate.

Even though she wasn't facing him she could feel Sasuke smirk behind her.

"Perfect, I owe you some payback for that sneak attack in the forest."

The conversation ended with a chuckle from both teammates, and behind them Sakura could only smile at their antics.

"The rules for the prelims are *cough* simple, you battle until one of you can't go on or until I end the match for whatever reason. Is everything *cough* clear so far?" He received nods and no objections. "Now, I also have to ask, for any reason would *cough* anyone like to remove themselves from contention?"

Namiko looked around when he asked that question and the only thing that caught her attention was some slight hesitation from Kabuto, but he looked at his sensei and she assumed that the look his sensei gave him was enough for him to push his doubts to the side and push through.

She smiled at that fact, good for him.

"Perfect, more *cough* on the final stage will be revealed after *cough* the preliminaries have been concluded, and so, let's begin."

Hayate turned and everyone in attendance watched as the screen began flashing through their names until it finally halted. Causing a member of Team Seven to smirk. The screen read;

Sasuke Uchiha v Yoroi Akado

Hayate turned back to face the chunin hopefuls. "Will all *cough* participants except the two named make their *cough* way to the spectator area." He said and gestured to the catwalks.

As everyone made their ways to the catwalk, Namiko and Sakura stood a second longer with their teammate who was about to do battle.

"Are you good enough to fight Sasuke?" Namiko asked, gesturing towards her neck as she did so.

The Uchiha nodded. "Yea, I'm fine this is nothing."

Namiko pursed her lips and eyed him. He had only been returned by Kakashi a couple days ago and she also knew that the seal Kakashi had placed on top of the seal he got from Orochimaru was only a temporary fix and that it could act up at any moment, her knowledge of Fuinjutsu let her know that much.

But she sighed internally, even if she was concerned nothing was going to stop Sasuke from competing in the exams. So, with that, Sakura and herself bid him good luck and made their way up to the catwalk where they saw their sensei waiting, along with the other Konoha teams. The other three teams from the other villages chose to spectate from the catwalk adjacent to theirs.

Up on the catwalk with Team Seven, Kakashi noticed the look of concerns his genin kunoichi held for their teammate.

"Don't worry girls, he'll be fine. I've already spoken to him, if the seal acts up, I'll remove him from the exams."

Namiko turned and looked up at her sensei and nodded.

Down on the floor, Sasuke and the man from Kabuto's team, Yoroi, faced off each other as Hayate stood in between them. Hayate pointed at both genin and asked them if they were ready, receiving a nod from Yoroi and 'hn' from Sasuke.

"Very well *cough, Hajime!" Hayate yelled and jumped back.

In an instant, the Konoha ninja named Yoroi launched a few shuriken towards Sasuke. Sasuke withdrew a kunai of his own and dodged two of the shuriken before ricocheting the last one back towards Yoroi.

As he did this though, he clutched his neck and fell to a knee.

"Even though he sealed it?!"

He had only done some light working out and training while waiting for this part of the exams to begin and while he felt a tingle every once in a while, it seemed the slight overexertion of dealing with the shuriken affected him in a greater deal that he had expected. Kakashi had warned that he couldn't overdo it with his chakra being as that the seal responded to him using chakra in the first place.

Sasuke suddenly got wide eyes as he sensed a presence in front of him. He looked up to see Yoroi swinging a fist towards him. He cursed and jumped out of the way, sticking the kunai that was still in his hand into the ground to slow his momentum.

Now in an advantageous position, Sasuke used his feet to trip up Yoroi and bring him down to the floor, using his legs to hold him in place. This didn't last long, however, as Yoroi smirked and grabbed onto Sasuke, and that's when Sasuke suddenly started feeling weak.

"What the…? My chakra!"

Sasuke couldn't dwell on the sudden power loss long though. He looked up and saw Yoroi smirking at him. He grinded his teeth and delivered a kick to Yoroi's torso, sending him flying back a few yards or so.

Sasuke then groggily stood up.

"To think you'd still have any bit of strength left." Yoroi spoke as he dusted off himself. Everyone could see that Sasuke was worse for the wear. His breathing was shallow, and it seemed as though he was barely standing as is. "Not to fear, I'll end this quickly!"

Yoroi dashed at him as he finished speaking, using his palm to try and grab onto Sasuke to do more damage. They began a short game of cat and mouse as Yoroi continuously slashed towards Sasuke who was barely mustering up enough strength to dodge.

Sasuke leaned to the right as Yoroi aimed a grab at his head. Sasuke was able to dodge the brunt of the attack, but it seemed like Yoroi fingers got a touch on his hair, which once again drained his chakra causing him to stumble passed Yoroi.

"Down for the count, are we?" Yoroi asked but suddenly had to jump away as Sasuke launched a back kick towards him.

Breathing heavily Sasuke turned to face him.

"This guy clearly wants an up-close battle…something I'm not capable of right now, and the way the seal is acting up when I overexert myself, long range might be out of the question too…" Sasuke thought to himself as he placed a hand on his neck where the curse mark was located. "What should I do…?"

Silence filled the arena, only thing that could be heard was Sasuke's heavy breaths.

"Baka."

Everyone, including the two combatants looked up on the catwalk, where Namiko was standing. She was leaning forward, bracing up on the guardrail.

"You call yourself an Uchiha?" She asked, earning narrowed eyes from Sasuke.

"Namiko!" She received some chiding from Sakura, but knowing where she was going with this Kakashi placed a hand on Sakura's shoulder, letting her know to let Namiko do what she was doing. Of course, his teammates couldn't help him in battle, but there were no rules against motivating your teammates.

"If this is all you have to offer, you can't even hold a candle to me…" She trailed off and took a deep breath, knowing that she would be teeter tottering on a thin line with what she was about to say. "Much less, him."

Sasuke glared at her a while longer. His eyes then noticed who was standing near Namiko, and that's when his victory became seemingly clear. He smirked and turned back to face his opponent who began charging at him.

"Pay attention!" Yoroi began throwing attacks at him, but Sasuke was suddenly up for the challenge, successfully able to dodge every one of them. Then, Sasuke disappeared. He reappeared right under Yoroi and delivered a kick to his chin sending him high into the air.

Sasuke then leaped to meet him. "That part was borrowed, but from here, it's a Sasuke Uchiha original."

Sasuke and Yoroi began trading blows in the air. Yoroi was able to counter every punch or kick Sasuke threw until Sasuke finally got the better of him and swung a back hand to his face, sending him speeding back down to the earth. Sasuke came down as well and gave him a punch to the gut and spun in the air before distributing a kick to his mid-section at the same time he made contact with the ground.

"Shishi Rendan (Lion's Barrage!)"

Sasuke skidded back on the floor following the impact and weakly sat up.

Hayate walked over to Yoroi and gave him a quick once over and then looked at Sasuke.

"I'm going to end this match *cough, right here. Winner, Sasuke Uchiha!"

Sasuke looked up towards his teammates and sensei, the former two were grinning from ear to ear while Kakashi offered an approving nod, and then he groaned and began following backwards. In an instant, Namiko appeared behind him, using her leg to keep him upright.

Sasuke turned his head and saw that it was her and offered her a smirk. Behind her, he could see medic's coming to treat both him as well as his defeated adversary.

Sasuke sighed. "Arigatou, Namiko." He said causing Namiko to chuckle as the medics helped Sasuke onto a stretcher.

"Anytime, I owed you one after all, teme."

"Hn, dobe." Was his only response as both him and Yoroi were stretchered out of the battle hall.

Namiko then returned to the catwalk as names began flashing on the screen again, preparing to spit out the next battle of the chunin exam preliminaries.

Shino Aburame v Tomimoto Raikurai

"Namiko, Sakura, I'm going to check on Sasuke, I'll be back shortly." He received two nods and disappeared in a shunshin as the two genin who would be battling made their way to the arena floor. It was a member of Konoha's Team Eight, and a genin from the Village Hidden in the Clouds.

"You got this Shino! Show him what Konoha's made of!"

Namiko turned to see Kiba Inuzuka and his partner, a little white dog, cheering on their teammate. Namiko chuckled at the antics and turned towards the fight that was about to begin, her eyes drifting to the Kumo nin. He sported attire she assumed was standard for Kumogakure being as that not only his genin teammates were wearing it, but also their sensei.

They were dressed in a long, grey top which gathered just at the waist to give a sash-like appearance, with matching-colored bottoms. Over this they wore white, one-strapped flak jackets and arm guards as well as shin guards. They all also had katanas strapped to their back.

The boys own physical appearance was more intriguing to Namiko. He had short, spiky white hair and light brown eyes, he was also of average height, so she assumed that maybe he was a year or two older than her and her peers. But the most peculiar part to her, was his skin, as he had a much darker skin tone than herself. She had never seen anyone with that complexion before, and to be quite frank…

"I like it." She thought to herself.

And, for some reason, her eyes subconsciously drifted to another brown eyed boy she knew. He was over to the side, standing with his teammates, the usual bored look on his face. As she looked at him for a few more seconds, a light blush appeared on her face, though she didn't know why.

She was suddenly brought out of her musings when Hayate, the third proctor, called for the match between Shino and Tomimoto to begin.

Neither shinobi moved for a few seconds, then Tomimoto reached into his kunai pouched and withdrew…gum?

Opposite him, Shino sweat dropped as his opponent popped a stick of gum into his mouth and began chewing. He paused chewing for a second and held out the gum towards Shino.

"Where are my manners…want some?" He asked, earning both facepalms and sweat drops around the battle stage.

"You're seriously chewing gum…right now?" Shino asked, somewhat out of character, but he was quite shocked to be fair.

Tomimoto shrugged. "What? I like gum." He pocketed the gum and stretched, reaching forward as he cracked his knuckles. "Very well then."

In seemingly no time Tomimoto unsheathed his katana and lunged at Shino. The Aburama clan heir was quick on his feet however and quite easily side stepped the attack, then swung a fist at the cloud ninja who smirked and spun out of the way.

Tomimoto didn't waste time and was quick to pounce on Shino again, this time increasing the ferocity of his slashes. Shino was able to dodge most attacks but also had to counter a few times. This continued for a minute or so before Shino jumped back a dozen or so feet.

"Not playing the offensive, are we?" Tomimoto asked to no one in particular and was about to carry on his outlash at Shino but suddenly dropped to a knee, earning a few gasps from the spectators above, most notably his teammates.

In front of him Shino held out his arms and dozens of insects flew out of his sleeves and towards the Kumo nin, landing on him and seemingly doing something as he could be seen losing his strength with each passing second.

"What the…bugs?" Namiko asked.

"Hai, Namiko-san, Shino's clan specializes in the utilization of a variety of special species of bugs to attack." The sensei of Team Eight, Kurenai, explained to those that were paying attention.

Namiko paled and suddenly hid behind Sakura.

"I don't like bugs…" She muttered from behind the pink haired kunoichi.

At this behavior, Kakashi started to twitch slightly. "A giant fox with nine tails is in her belly, but bugs are where she draws the line…?"

"Ano, where exactly are the bugs?" Sakura asked, albeit skeptically.

"Inside his body." Kurenai responded.

"NANI?" Namiko screeched and somehow got smaller behind Sakura.

Back down on the arena floor, Tomimoto was starting to look worse for the wear.

"I advise you to forfeit, my kikaichu bugs will continue to drain your chakra until you have none left."

"Heh heh…" Tomimoto chuckled as he slowly got back up to both feet, an act that somewhat surprised Shino. "Very interesting technique, you Konoha ninja have, but I don't think it would best be used against me."

Tomimoto then clasped his hands together.

"Raiton: Obadoraibu! (Lightning Style: Overdrive!)"

Lightning began emitting from the Kumo nin, effectively getting rid of all Shino's insects that were on him. While they fed on chakra, an overload of chakra wasn't good for anyone or anything. Tomimoto smirked and disappeared, suddenly reappearing right in front of Shino and delivered a few punches in quick succession to Shino's body, sending him flying back.

He then disappeared again and repapered in the path of wear Shino was flying and spun in the air and dealt a kick to Shino's back which in turn sent him flying back the way he came and into the wall of the arena.

Tomimoto dropped his jutsu and blew a bubble with his gum. He looked up at his teammates as the bubble popped. "Too much?" He asked, rather cockily.

Hayate checked on Shino then held a hand towards Tomimoto.

"Winner of the second match, Tomimoto Raikurai."

With that announcement, Team Eight plus their sensei rushed down to the floor to check on their other member.

Namiko – having stopped hiding behind Sakura to get a good look at the fight – leaned over the railing and eyed the Kumo nin. He turned to look at her and their eyes met. He offered her a smirk and a wink before making his way back to his teammates and sensei, who congratulated him with high fives.

She observed his teammates, another guy and the last member was a girl. From the beginning when she found out that a Kumo team – as well as an Iwa team – were participating, she held them in skepticism, not knowing if they were generally here for the exams or if the two villages that hated Konoha the most were plotting something.

"Um…Namiko."

Namiko's thoughts were cut short as Sakura tapped her shoulder. While she had been deliberating with herself, the screen had flashed through names again. Sakura pointed towards the screen and Namiko's eyes followed her finger, and she smirked.

"Alright!" She thought to herself as she read what the screen portrayed.

Namiko Uzumaki v Rock Lee

Hello all and thanks for reading chapter 12 of my fic. Let me know how I'm doing with the exams so far, personally I'm kinda proud and I like the mental picture of how MY chunin exams are gonna turn out, lol.

As always, thanks for reading and let me know what you think. I'll see you guys' next time.

Peace!