Back in the stands and nowhere to sit while with Tsunade and Shizune, Naruto sat in a place that he typically did when the group at lunch, Tsunade's lap. While there, he received congratulations from the three, getting a standing ovation from Tonton, and head pats from the two women where he smiled happily at the affection.

Down below in the arena, Genma was preparing for the next match, Sasuke Uchiha vs Gaara. "YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE! WE WILL BE BEGINNING THE SECOND MATCH OF THE FIRST ROUND! WILL SASUKE UCHIHA AND GAARA OF SUNA PLEASE COME DOWN TO THE ARENA!"

Gaara is a fair skinned boy with green eyes surrounded by thick black rings, which many believe to be a symptom of insomnia. He has spikey, short auburn hair that is parted to the right with a tattoo for the kanji of "love" on the left side of his forehead. He was wearing a black body suit with a low-cut neckline, and short sleeves and full-length legs. He has wrappings around his ankles and lower shins. From his sleeves appear to be mesh sleeves that extend almost to his elbows. He wore a white cloth over his right shoulder to the left side of his hips accompanied by a wide leather band from his left shoulder to his right hip which he uses to carry his sand gourd and around. He has his hitai-ate wrapped around the lower side of the leather band and black shinobi sandals with a piece that goes between his big and index toes, a staple of Suna shinobi.

Once the announcement was over Naruto had to ask, "Ne 'Mito-chan', 'Kato-chan' did you enjoy my match" asked an excited Naruto. Before Tsunade could answer, Shizune answered first. "We sure did Naru-chan. In fact, 'Mito-chan' here made quite the sizable amount of money from your win" giggled Shizune. Naruto attempted to turn around and face Tsunade, however he was unable to as she buried herself in his hair to hide her embarrassment. "'Mito-chan' you bet on me!" asked a surprised Naruto. Tsunade chose not to answer, instead nodding her head in his hair. Naruto was happy and showed it by hugging Tsunade's arms. "Thanks 'Mito-chan'! I am happy that you have so much confidence in me!"

That sentence caused Tsunade to snap her head up. "Of course I have confidence in you! Remember what I told you when I gave you that necklace?" Naruto thought back to words Tsunade told him when he got the Shodai's necklace. "Remember this Naruto, I am trusting you with this. I believe in you. You are a fine man. I'm sure you will be a great Hokage too!" With those words, Naruto leaned back into Tsunade, who took a quick swig of sake before resting her chin on Naruto's head to watch the remaining matches.

The rookies all were looking for Naruto. They were unsure where he was sitting after he left the arena with that red headed woman. Neji had also joined the Genin. After his loss against Naruto, he was seething. He couldn't understand how he had lost to a "nobody" like Naruto so everyone decided to give him space to cool down.

Sakura's attention was pulled in two different directions. She was looking around the stadium, from her seat, for Naruto and looking down to the arena for Sasuke's arrival. As the seconds ticked by, her nervousness grew while the audience was going from exited to see the next match to getting annoyed with the delay. It wasn't long before the crowd started voicing this opinion of the delay, rather heatedly.

Hiruzen let out a sigh. It would seem he would need to disqualify Sasuke for his tardiness and reprimand Kakashi for allowing him to be late for such an event.

"Ho ho the crowd is astir" commented the Kazekage.

"Yes, the previous match had an interesting outcome" replied the Hokage.

Here the Kazekage rebuked the Professors claim. "No. I believe their excitement more for anticipation of the next match. For all of the curious shinobi, daimyo and wealthy individuals no other match today has more eagerness for it. A majority of the shinobi, daimyo, and wealthy individuals here, including myself, have come here almost solely to observe this match."

Hiruzen gave the Kazekage's words some thought. On one hand he was correct. Many people including high ranking individuals had appeared to watch "The Last Uchiha" fight in this tournament. On the other hand, it would also send a message that one was allowed special treatment if their name was big enough. It could also reflect poorly for all his shinobi, as the saying goes "It only takes one to ruin it for everyone."

Needing an answer to tell Genma on how to proceed, the Hokage's guard leaned into Hiruzen's ear to ask. "Hokage-sama, what should we do? Do I tell Genma to disqualify the Uchiha?" Letting out a sigh, Hiruzen caved to the Kazekage's hidden suggestion. "Postpone Sasuke's match. Have his match be the final one of the round." Accepting the decision, though with disdain for the favoritism of the Uchiha, the Hokage's guard shunshined into the arena to let Genma know of the Hokage's decision.

"EVERYONE! DUE TO ONE OF THE CONTENDERS OF THIS MATCH HAVING NOT ARRIVED YET, THIS MATCH WILL BE POSTPONED AND WE WILL PROCEED WITH THE NEXT SCHEDULED MATCH!" proclaimed Genma.

In the stands, Tsunade frowned at the decision. It was disgraceful for a shinobi to be late when they are on a time sensitive mission unless they are held up for valid reasons. This is not an instance where that excuse should fly. 'The boy had over a month to be ready for this event and he is late? He even had the time of Naruto-kun's match to arrive and he still is not here?' Tsunade's temper began to flare. If any other participant was late, what would be the odds that their match would be pushed back to allow them to participate.

Naruto felt a pressure build-up in his abdominal region. It was soon followed by the feeling of Tsunade's jaw tightening, which he felt on the top of his head. Nervously, Naruto tried to get Tsunade's attention. "Um 'Mito-chan', I think you are squeezing a little tight." This snapped Tsunade back to the arena, where she loosened her hold on Naruto. "Sorry about that Naruto-kun."
"It's okay 'Mito-chan'. Um if you don't mind, can I ask what made you do that?"

Tsunade let out a sigh. "I was just upset about the Hokage's decision. Normally a participant wouldn't get their match postponed like the Uchiha did. So to see the special treatment he is getting just for his name upset me."

Naruto nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I know what you mean" he said with a huff and crossing his arms. "It's totally unfair that Sasuke gets his match moved back while everyone else has to be here on time. Honestly it reminds me of how Kakashi-sensei always shows up late, even when he sets the time!"

Shizune and Tonton agreed with the two, with Tonton giving an oink at Naruto's statement. As Gaara made his way from the arena to the competitors' box, Shizue spoke. "'Mito-san' I think Naruto should get back to the competitors' box. We wouldn't want him to get in trouble if they have added such a rule, right." With a nod from both parties, Tsunade let Naruto off of her lap. Getting a Hug from Tsunade, a high-five from Shizune, and a fist bump from Tonton, Naruto raced off to the competitors' box via the quickest route, across the arena wall while no match was underway.

Naruto made it to the competitor's box just in time as Genma called for the next participants. "WILL KANKURO OF SUNA AND SHINO ABURAME PLEASE COME DOWN!"

Shino is a tall boy who is fair skinned with dark, bushy hair. He wears rounded sunglasses, like the rest of his clan, a high collar sea green jacket that covers the lower half of his face. He wears brown pants that stop halfway down his shins where his shuriken holster can be seen on his right leg while his utility pouch is in center of his hip. He wears blue shinobi sandals while his hitai-ate is secured on his forehead.

Meanwhile, Kankuro was fair skinned boy about the same height as Shino. He wore a Bunraku, all black puppeteer costume that was designed to be baggy rather than skintight like the outfit is traditionally. His suit has a circle divided in half by an almost purple like red and yellow. His hitai-ate is secured as part of his cowl that had two protrusions that look like cat ears. He has purple face paint drawn with triangular shapes in mind as well as a wrapped bundle as tall as he is that hold his puppet Karasu.

Kankuro appeared to be nervous about something. As Shino was about to descend into the arena, something unexpected happened. "PROCTOR! I WITHDRAW!" The announcement was met with surprise and boos from the audience. Of the three matches that were supposed to have taken place by this point, only one has had both combatants willing to fight. Shino was shocked as well, 'What?' were his thoughts at his opponent's announcement.

"Hey you mean my match has been moved up?!" shouted a panicking Shikamaru.

Not seeing anything else to be done, Genma let out a sigh before preparing to call for the next set of combatants, Shikamaru Nara and Temari of Suna.

Shikamaru is a lightly tanned boy, having narrow brown eyes with an expression that suggests he is constantly bored. His shoulder-length black hair was tied into a spiked-up ponytail. He was wearing a grey, short-sleeved, mid-riff jacket with green-edged sleeves and the Nara clan symbol on the back. He was also wearing a green-lined mesh armor short sleeved shirt, brown pants that falls mid-way down his shins while he wears a shuriken holster on his right leg and a utility pouch on his back right hip. He has small, silver hoop earrings and blue shinobi sandals.

Temari a growing beauty from Sunagakure who has teal eyes, like her otouto Gaara, and sandy blonde hair gathered into four pigtails. She was wearing an off shoulder, light purple one piece dress with long sleeves that are rolled up at her forearms while the skirt falls to just above her knees. She wore a scarlet red sash around her waist with the ends falling to the bottom of her dress. She also had a fishnet top, with fishnets around her right calf and left thigh and black Suna shinobi sandals. Instead of the usual shinobi tools, Temari carries a large war fan that is as tall as she is. The paper of the fan is tan on the top half with three purple moons evenly spaced along the paper while bottom half being black. He wears black, Suna styled shinobi sandals while having a shuriken holster on his right leg.

Temari, with a sneer on her face, grabbed her fan. Unfurling it, she created a large draft of wind. She jumped atop her battle fan and road the wind currents to the arena floor.

"Well at least you seem willing to fight. HEY! FINAL CANDIDATE, GET DOWN HERE!" commented Genma.

'Hey! Hey! What's the rush?! Hold horses why am I always getting shafted in the math schedule huh? Darn it! I should just withdraw too.'

So lost in his dilemma Shikamaru missed Naruto coming up behind him. "ALL RIGHT GO GET 'EM SHIKAMARU!" Naruto shouted as he pushed Shikamaru into the arena.

Temari watched Shikamaru land unceremoniously with a wince and a glare. As the dust settled, Shikamaru gave no hint that he planned on moving from his current position, his back on the ground and his feet in the air. Getting tired of just watching him lay on the ground, Temari rushed forward to bash his head in with her large fan.

"Hey! Wait! I haven't started the match!"
"I don't care!" With a war cry, Temari brought her fan down on top of the lazy Nara, kicking up a cloud of smoke. When the dust cleared, it showed Shikamaru had moved to somewhere in the arena.

As Temari let loose a whirlwind of wind blades throughout the arena. Shikamaru was forced to brace himself behind the tree he hid behind. 'Dammit! She's a stronger long-range fighter! I have to distract her somehow to stop her assault.' As the wind from her first strike died down, Shikamaru took a chance and peaked out to see what she was doing. This turned out to be a bad idea, as the moment she caught a glimpse of him she let loose another storm of wind. There was a problem however. As she knew where to concentrate her blast, the more focused windstorm tore apart Shikamaru's only cover. The remaining wind blades tore into the young Nara, causing scratches and lacerations before a follow up strike lifted him into the air to face a repeat performance of what Neji's teammate, Tenten, faced when she fought against Temari. Shikamaru fell to the ground unceremoniously and in a lot of pain. He was not driven into unconsciousness, but he was not inclined to move anytime soon.

Temari gave a cocky smirk as she beat the boy she believed wasn't taking the match seriously. "Hmph! Maybe next time you will take your match seriously" she scolded. Genma returned to the center of the arena. "WINNER OF THE FOURTH MATCH! TEMARI OF SUNA!" Genma declared. Many of the civilians applauded the match. They were greatly impressed by the display of jutsu thrown around by the young woman from Suna. The shinobi on the other hand were disappointed. The young Nara barely put up a fight while the girl from Suna appeared to be a one trick pony. While an effective trick in a controlled environment such as this, out in the field it could be fail if matched against someone with an effective counter.

Ino looked saddened for her teammate's loss. "Aw man! I can't believe Shikamaru lost!" Her other teammate, Choji Akamichi, was eating chips with a solemn look on his face. Choji is rotund boy with swirl marks on his cheeks. He has spiky, light brown hair. He was wearing a light green shirt with the kanji for "food" on it. Over this was a green, short-sleeved haori while a long white scarf was tied around his neck having the excess fall over his stomach. He was wearing the same hooped earrings as Shikamaru, dark brown pants, while having his hands, forearms, and shins wrapped in bandages with blue shinobi sandals.

"Yeah. That looked rather brutal. We shouldn't be surprised by that though. I mean, you remember what she did to that Tenten girl?" asked Choji. Ino thought back to Temari's preliminary match and how she seemed to take pleasure in giving Tenten the run around of her abilities before quickly ending the match.

The sensei's of team 10 and 8, Asuma Sarutobi and Kurenai Yuhi, had their own thoughts on the match.

Asuma is a tall man, with olive skin, brown eyes, and short spikey hair that was connected to his chin strap beard. He wore the standard Konoha Jonin and Chunin uniform with his sleeves rolled part way up his forearms complimenting the wrappings wrapped his biceps. On his each of his wrists was a black, loose-fitting wristband. He wore his shuriken holster on his left leg with his utility pouch on the back of his right hip while his hitai-ate was wrapped around his forehead. He also has a unique sash that has the kanji for "fire" on it.

Kurenai was a beautiful, fair-skinned woman with a slender build. She has long, untamed black hair with red eyes that have a ring in them. She wears red lipstick and purple eyeshadow. She wears her hitai-ate around her forehead and black shinobi sandals. Her usual outfit is made up of broad material, resembling bandages with a pattern similar to rose thorns running along it. She has a long, loose fitting right sleeve while her left was bare. She has a mesh armor shirt underneath while wearing bandages that cover her hands and forearms as well as using them as shorts.

"I should have pushed him more instead of letting him dictate his own schedule" relented Asuma while taking a long drag on his cigarette. Kurenai turned her attention to her comrade. "You wanted him to take responsibility for his own training like a Chunin would." Asuma let out a long sigh, "Yes but it seems the Nara laziness is strong with him. I guess I need to be more proactive in pushing him if I want him to survive the shinobi life beyond this point. If this was out in the field, he would have either succeeded or been brought down because he has no other means of combating an opponent aside from the basics and the Kagamane no Jutsu."

Kurenai thought back to her own team with that statement. She too gave her team no other means of combating foes aside from what they learn from their Clans. While they were good trackers, they all had ways to go as fighters and information gathers. "We all seem to have things to work on with our students. Some of us however, have to work on our own habits." Her remark was aimed towards Kakashi missing one of his student's matches and having his other be tardy for his match.

Back in the contestant's box, Kankuro had some comments of his own. "Tch, how weak are you Konoha shinobi. I mean a Konoha shinobi has lost almost every round" he said with a smirk. Naruto turned quickly towards the Suna shinobi. "Hey! Watch your mouth. You surrendered the first chance you got! So I don't want to hear anything out of you!"

"Hmph" was Kankuro's retort as he crossed his arms. "That doesn't mean anything. I would have I won if I'd have fought." At this comment, Shino decided to speak up.

"That is a bold claim. Why? You seem to be overconfident in your puppet's abilities. Your otouto and ane may be strong, but you seem to be the most limited in terms of tricks and combative prowess. Your ane seems to capable of using her fan in taijutsu, while you seem to be unable to say the same."

Before their argument could get any more heated, Genma's announcement rang out.

Genma let out a sigh. It seems that these matches are going to be rather short for such an event. He let five more minutes pass to allow people to collect their winnings before calling the next match. "WILL SASUKE UCHIHA AND GAARA OF SUNA PLEASE COME DOWN!"

The crowd's excitement for the match of the "Last Uchiha" now rang throughout the stadium. Many a gambler placed large bets on this match with some changing their bets due to the Uchiha's no show when he was originally set to fight. As the crowd's anticipation grew so too did their impatience. Most of the fights they have seen have been very one sided so they were hoping that this one would be different. However that was predicated on Sasuke arriving, which he has still yet to do.

The Hokage's guard bent down to whisper into his ear "Hokage-sama, Sasuke Uchiha has yet to arrive. What should we do?" Hiruzen let out a sigh. "Hmm. It seems to be unavoidable. We cannot make our guests wait any longer." At this, the Kazekage chose to speak up. "Ten more minutes. We should give Sasuke Uchiha another ten minutes. We have waited this long, surly we can wait a couple more?"

Hiruzen would like to see Sasuke fight as well, however his response was one a competent leader would give. "We cannot allow such behavior to be rewarded. We have already given the boy a concession of pushing his match to the end of the round and he still has not arrived. It is not fair to our audience and the other competitors that such accommodations were made in the first place. To grant anymore would show a level of favoritism that no Kage should show no matter their name. No Sasuke Uchiha is to be disqualified."

With a nod of his head, the Hokage's guard shunshined down to the arena to let Genma know of the Hokage's decision. Upon receiving his order, Genma made the announcement. "DUE TO FAILING TO ARRIVE! SASUKE UCHIHA IS DISQUALIFIED!"

The announcement was met with boos and jeers from many of the crowd. Sakura and Ino were downcast. They were greatly saddened by Sasuke's disqualification, though Sakura had to admit she was somewhat happy that Sasuke would be safe from Gaara but now Naruto was in the firing line. "Aww man I can't believe that Sasuke-kun got disqualified!" whined Ino. A storm cloud had formed over Sakura as she held her knees close to her chest.

This exam has been a roller-coaster. First Naruto meets some red headed woman and now Sasuke has been disqualified. The Jonin on the other hand let out a collective sigh, "I can't believe Kakashi got one of his students disqualified" stated Asuma. "It appears that Kakashi's past has affected him more than I thought" whispered Guy.

Gaara was greatly disappointed. He was looking forward to taking Sasuke's blood and giving to his "mother". Anger marred his features as he was not allowed to collect "worthy blood".

Genma raised his hand to begin the preparations for the second round. "EVERYONE! THE SECOND ROUND OF THE CHUNIN SELECTION EXAMS IS ABOUT TO BEGIN! FOR THE FIRST ROUND WILL NARUTO UZUMAKI AND GAARA OF SUNA PLEASE COME DOWN!"

As the fighters made their way down, Naruto over the side and Gaara by stairs, people scrambled to place their bets. One red headed woman had an easier time placing her bet. She seemed to be able to move fully grown adults with ease to the point where she got to the front of the line in seconds. She slammed her money down on the counter, "Fifty million Ryo on Naruto!" The man at the counter was surprised by her bet, but then again, she made a similar bet for the boy's first match and won back almost triple her money. Maybe she would get lucky again. With a nod of his head, he left to print her ticket.

While he was gone, some people were talking poorly about the blonde. "Com' on, that much on that boy. He probably just got lucky during his fight with the Hyuga." The red head turned on those speaking with a fire in her eyes. "Luck had nothing to do with it. That boy is strong, that is why all those Jonin were forced to interfere. You'll see it again in this round!" she stated confidently. Before the men could retort, she was presented her ticket. As she made her way back to her seat, she gave the men a light shove resulting in them being rocketed into the wall. People immediately got out of the way of the scary woman as she walked past. She arrived back to her seat as Gaara took his place across from Naruto.

In the arena Naruto was remembering his lessons from Shizune-san and Tsu-chan. "Remember Naruto, in a fight against an opponent of equal or greater strength, it is important to end the fight quickly. Especially if you have a skill that is a direct counter to theirs."
"Why?"
"Most times if someone is stronger than their opponent, they will underestimate them and not take them seriously. Use that to your advantage and end it fast before they realize how much of a threat you are. This plays into your medical training." Here Naruto seemed to think. "It's because as a medic, I will need to attend to the squad as quickly as possible when the danger is either being taken care of or has passed?"

Tsunade gave a nod of approval. "Yes. As a medic your first duty is to your personal safety to make sure that your squad can be cared for and in the event a member of your team is injured it is your job to make sure they are not in danger from their wounds." Naruto nodded in understanding as their taijutsu lessons resumed.

'From the rings around his eyes and the control over sand he must be the container for Shukaku' thought Naruto. Here, his lessons with Shizune came to the forefront when she talked about the biju. "Now Naruto-kun we will be talking about the biju, like the Kyuubi.' Here one of the Naruto bunshins raised their hand. "Shizune-san are you saying there are more than the Kyuubi?" Shizune answered his question with a smile and a nod. "Umhm. There are in-fact nine, and their hosts, like you …"here she pointed at each of the bunshins "and they are called jinchuriki." Some of the bunshins gestured to where their seal was. "Each of these creatures are known as biju and they all reside in the major villages while one is in a minor village. Now Sunagakure holds the Ichibi no Shukaku. Its abilities revolve around the manipulation of sand to such a degree that even individual grains can be manipulated to act as weapons. Its hosts are often known to have dark rings that encircle their eyes. It is speculated that this is either a trait of being its host, as the biju are known to provide their hosts with attributes of the animals they are, or due to a lack of sleep as Sunagakure has very few who are knowledgeable in fuinjutsu. This has led to the hosts being unable to sleep as their relaxed will allows the biju to manifest itself and go on a rampage."

'Gaara has the signs that Shizune-san had gone over… does … that mean he is like me?' questioned Naruto. His mood seemed to be telegraphed on his face as Gaara had asked, "What troubles you Uzumaki? Don't let that hold you back. Your blood will be used to make up for what I could not get from Sasuke Uchiha. If he arrives, I will feed his blood to 'mother'." Genma immediately went on guard from what the boy just said as well as the crazed look that took over in the boy's eyes. Naruto scowled at this, "Oh yeah? Well bring it on!" replied Naruto. "I won't let you hurt my friends! And if you think you can, I'll pound you into the dirt!"

'Even if we are the same… I won't let you hurt those precious to me!' thought Naruto.

As the banter died down, Genma looked at the two Genin to make sure the prefight banter has concluded. Seeing that it was he raised his hand, "THE BATTLE BETWEEN NARUTO UZUMAKI AND GAARA OF SUNA WILL NOW … BEGIN!" he shouted as he brought his hand down and jumping back.

The match started really slow, with the only thing of note happening was Gaara slowly letting his sand out of his gourd and onto the arena floor. What many didn't notice aside from the Jonin and Kage, was what Naruto was doing. From what they were seeing, some kind of chains were going into the ground, however with no damage to the ground where they entered it was difficult to say if what they were seeing was a genjutsu.

"Is that a genjutsu?" questioned Kurenai. Asuma shrugged, "I'm not sure. His file never mentioned any proficiency with the art however things can change depending on how he was trained." Kurenai seemed to agree with this as it wasn't unheard of shinobi to learn skills they never showed talent in previously like Lee and Guy. Both weren't the greatest in taijutsu when they started the academy but with the hard work they put into their training, they grew to being some of the strongest in the field. "But the question becomes who would have trained him?" To both Jonin that was indeed the question.

In the Kage box, both were surprised. 'When did he manifest those chains?!' questioned the Sandaime. 'The boy has those cursed chains?! If they make contact with the Ichibi container my plans will be in ruin!' panicked the Kazekage.

Gaara and the rest of the audience were getting impatient. Gaara was often the one who was attacked first and was not used to waiting. Normally his foe would have struck out at him by this point so why wasn't Uzumaki? Was he scared of him. Was Gaara intimidating to the blonde. No matter the reason, Gaara's, and by extension Shukaku's, patience was waning. "Well, Uzumaki… are you scared? Fight me! Make me feel alive!" raged an ever growing psychotic Gaara. "Oy! Shut up! I'll beat you, you'll see!" shouted the blonde as he pointed at the psychotic red head. At this Gaara grew a manic grin, "Does that mean you are done stalling?"

Here Naruto smiled confidently, "I wasn't stalling." Gaara was lost. If Uzumaki wasn't stalling, what was he doing? Suddenly, six gold glowing chains with spear tips as the leading link sprang from the ground around Gaara and rocketed toward him. Gaara's sand attempted to intercept them, however as soon as the sand made contact it fell lifelessly to the ground. To stunned to move, the chains wrapped themselves around Gaara causing all of his sand to become inert.

Most were left stunned to silence save two and a piglet. Once again 'Mito' and 'Kato' were cheering loudly for the blonde in the arena. The Jonin sensei and the rookies that all went to the academy with Naruto were shocked to silence as were Lee and his teammates. Lee was hurt by the display as feelings of inadequacy plagued his mind as he watched the foe he struggled to defeat wrapped up and subdued to easily.

Sensing his student's plight, Guy put a reassuring hand on Lee's shoulder. When Lee turned back to Guy, he met a bright shining smile, "Don't worry Lee, as soon as your healed we will work four no five times as hard so you can take on Gaara again and beat him. All you have seen here today was just another way someone could achieve the same goal. Don't let this get you down!" cheered Guy. While tears brimmed at the corners of Lee's eyes, he nodded in agreement of his sensei's words.

Asuma and Kurenai had no words. Here was the worst student of their Genin's graduating class defeating two individuals that were thought to be the favored of the tournament. The rookies were no better, "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!" questioned Ino. No one had an answer. "SCRATCH THAT WHEN DID NARUTO GET SOMETHING LIKE THAT?!" she continued on. Again, no answer. None of her peers had an answer and the Jonin seemed to be shocked by the outcome of the fight to comment.

Everyone was snapped out of their shock when they heard the red head from earlier cheering. "WOHOO! GOOD JOB NARU-CHAN! SEE?! I TOLD YOU HE COULD DO IT!" she shouted to a stunned stadium.

In the arena, Gaara was going nuts while being bound. He was struggling against his bindings while calling out for his "mother". "Mother! Mother! Mother! Where are you? Why can't I hear her? Uzumaki! What have you done?" questioned the raving Gaara. His mad ravings immediately got the attention of the Jonin and Hokage. The Jonin were curious what the abilities of the chains were if they caused Gaara to go mad while Hiruzen immediately went on guard as this boy was exhibiting traits of a person with psychosis. These were not traits any Kage would want in a shinobi unless they were powerful … like a jinchuriki.

Genma was also extremely on guard. Where a normal individual would either submit to the bindings if they can't escape or wait patiently for them to be dropped, this boy was thrashing about as if his mind was in jeopardy.

Temari and Kankuro were scared. They knew from his ravings that Gaara was cut off from the Ichibi as they learned that he often referred to the beast as "mother" when he slew people back in Suna.

As Gaara's ravings continued a swirl of leaves began to appear in the arena. When it died down, it revealed Kakashi and Sasuke.

Kakashi is a lean man of average height with spikey silver hair that leans to his left side. He has a single visible black eye while taking a relaxed or lazy posture. His left eye was covered by his hitai-ate while the bottom of his face was covered by mask that seemed to be part of his attire. He was wearing the standard Konoha Jonin attire in addition to fingerless gloves with metal plates on the back of the hands as well as blue shinobi sandals. He wore his shuriken holster on his right leg while his utility pouch was carried on the back of his right hip.

Sauske is the final Genin on Sakura's team. He was a fair skinned boy with flat, spiky hair black hair with two chin length bangs. He wore a high collar black bodysuit that had short sleeves and pant legs. He had an elbow pad on each arm while he had his shins, ankles and left arm wrapped with many small belts over the bandages. He had his hitai-ate wrapped around his forehead while his shuriken holster attached around his right leg while his utility pouch on the back of the left side of his hip, as well as black shinobi sandals.

"Sorry you wouldn't believe…." Kakashi was cut off by Gaara's ravings. Kakashi and Sasuke were greatly confused to see a wrapped up Gaara going mad as he struggled against his bindings while standing across from …Naruto. Needlessly to say, the two were surprised. 'Naruto beat Neji?!' questioned Kakashi. 'Just what did Ebisu teach him?' Sasuke on the other hand was more surprised to find Naruto facing off against Gaara. That was his match, so how was he not fighting him.

"Sooo … what did we miss?" asked Kakashi. Genma looked to Kakashi with a blank look, doing his best to tune out the now whimpering Gaara. "Well, you missed your student hear beating Neji by technical knockout. The puppeteer forfeited, the wind user won, and due to your tardiness, Sasuke's match was pushed to the end of the round then he was forced to concede because, again you were tardy" replied Genma.

Sasuke and Kakashi were shocked. How fast were the matches if he was so late that they didn't even make the reschedule? Then there were the chains. Did Naruto have the same kekkei genkai as Kushina-sama? If he did, how did no one know?

Sasuke on the other hand was seething. But he wasn't mad at Naruto. How could he be? Naruto was following the rules put forth by the exams. No, he was mad at Kakashi. His Jonin sensei wanted him to make some kind of big entrance by arriving in a shunshin to impress the audience but no. He lost his right to fight all because his sensei wanted to show off.

As his anger grew a voice made itself known in his mind. "Is this really the measure of your sensei? A man that won't allow you to use the skills he trains you in? Is he truly training you to help you or just is he holding back?" whispered the Curse Seal on his shoulder.

Before more could be discussed, feathers began to fall around the stadium with many falling asleep. Naruto easily dispelled the genjutsu before it took a hold. Suddenly an explosion went off in the Kage box and someone threw multiple kunai at Naruto, though Naruto dodged them all, repositioning himself to stand by Kakashi and Sasuke, allowing the two to see the chains coming from his back that bound Gaara.

Standing before them were three Oto shinobi as well as Gaara's sensei and his siblings, Temari and Kankuro, all of whom appeared ready for a fight.