A tremendous pain began to spread through my body. As if thousands of shuriken were being sunk into my stomach, it began to writhe in convulsions. I clenched my teeth and suppressed a scream. Every single muscle began to tremble, the legs no longer wanted to hold the body and gave way.

With the last of my strength, I rolled so that my head did not hit the ground. Breathing heavily, I lay on the ground, listening to Naruto's shout, which only partially reached me, and surrendered to fainting.

Naruto:

Like in slow motion, Tora fell over in front of my eyes. Even before that, she hadn't looked good at all. The fight had taken a lot out of my friend. Immobile she lay there on the cold floor of the hall. There was now no holding back for me. Ignoring Sensei Kakashi's warning, I swung myself over the railing and ran toward the brown-haired girl.

„TORA!"

Skidding to a halt beside her, I ignored Sensei Hayates instruction to leave the hall as the next fight was about to take place. I didn't care. Too many thoughts were buzzing in my head. Had she been right, and Kabuto just wanted to set us against each other? Had I been wrong about him? But that couldn't be, after all we had been through together.

As I lifted her body and rested the brown-haired mop of hair on my shoulder, I felt something moist on my hand. Holding her limp body with one arm, I held my hand up to the light. It glowed a dark red. She had to go to the hospital immediately because the wound continued to bleed incessantly.

„Naruto! Get off the court right now. You don't want to get banned, do you?"

Sensei Kakashi's tone was unusually sharp and quite angry.

However, I was not going to let it get me down. My best friend was badly injured, so I didn't care about any fight. They should kick me out. He grabbed me hard by the arm and forced me to let go of Tora. He immediately grabbed the unconscious girl and lifted her up.

„Hey! What are you doing sensei?", I asked angrily, but fell silent when I noticed his gaze.

Concern was in it as he looked at Tora's slumped figure.

„Naruto come back here. Why do you always have to make such a fuss, though? If you keep it up, they'll kick you out."

I screwed up my face. For once, Sakura was really getting on my nerves. I definitely wouldn't listen to her, but-.

„Uh Naruto I would listen to Sakura, because you certainly don't want to miss the next fight and Sakura certainly doesn't," Sensei Kakashi interfered.

„Hmm," I asked, turning to the board.

Sakura Haruno vs. Ino Yamanaka

Tora:

A throbbing headache and a strange sound woke me up. A soft, yet drawn-out squeak that intensified the unpleasant twinge, and I squinted my eyes. When I opened them again, a tall figure stood before me. The darkness outside intensified the threatening sight many times over.

Slowly I slid backwards until I bumped into an obstacle and noticed the blade flashing in the rising moonlight. Ignoring my pain, I straightened my body and defiantly faced the attacker. Without taking my eyes off him directly, I analysed the infirmary for possible evasion or hiding places.

Shakily, I clenched my hands into fists and tensed my body, whereupon my stomach began to protest again. I was still feeling the after-effects of the fight. Annoyed, I clenched my teeth. As before in the fight, I could not show any weakness now.

The thin shirt and the dark leggings would not be able to protect me from anything. Especially since I also had no weapons here. Merely things for defence.

Suddenly the attacker shot forward and two shuriken drilled into the bed sheet. Exactly at the place, where just my body had been. In a flash I had exchanged it with a flower vase and was now sitting on the open windowsill. If he wanted me, he would have to come and get me. And I would not make that easy for him. Even if I was still battered from the previous fight.

Since the attacker was still in the shadows, I couldn't see his face. When I saw two small kunai flying towards me, I pushed myself off the windowsill with my feet, spun in the air and landed nimbly on a nearby roof. Challengingly, I turned around, but the ninja was nowhere to be seen. A breeze behind me made me react in a flash. Before my opponent knew it, I had fished the approaching kunai out of the air and charged at him.

Our weapons clashed with each other. Now I also felt increasingly safe with the sharp metal in my hand. When I felt my strength in my hand threatening to give way more and more, I took a step to the side unnoticed and let him stumble past me. On my heel, I pushed myself off the ground as hard as I could and jumped towards him. With my leg outstretched. There was a clang as his mask broke and fell to the ground in a thousand shards.

But wait. Something else had clanked. It was a sound like glass breaking under the mask. I had a bad feeling when I looked into the face of the other ninja with a shudder on my back.

Cold eyes flashed at me. The glasses lay broken at his feet. Individual cuts adorned his face, they had apparently arisen when I had destroyed the mask and thus crushed the glasses. As if frozen, he stood there and stared at the remains of the visual aid. Hands clenched into fists and with an almost murderous glint in his eyes he looked at me.

It seemed as if the glasses meant a lot to him, but actually this was unimportant now.

„What is this Kabuto?" I asked angrily, and my counterpart lifted the corners of his mouth into a sneer.

„What did it look like to you little Tora?"

A shiver ran down my spine, yes actually I already knew the answer, but still I found it hard to believe it. Even though I didn't like Kabuto and distrusted him, I still didn't expect something like this.

Ominously fast he raced towards me. His hand glowed and I guessed what he was about to do. But I could not avoid it, I was paralyzed.

Then he stopped in mid-motion and stared at something behind me. Unable to move, I remained in place, my eyes still firmly fixed on Kabuto. Something, strange, that I had never seen before in him, glowed in it.

And then a glowing fireball shot past me. So close that I could feel its heat and jumped aside, startled. Through the flickering red, I saw Kabuto's figure disappear. The red element also fizzled out, leaving an uncomfortable silence. Expecting to see Kakashi behind me, I turned around. But there was no one behind me. With narrowed eyes I turned several times around my own axis. Hadn't I heard another chakra earlier, or had I just imagined it?

„Are you looking for me?"

I froze. The voice. I knew it. Too well.

Slowly, I turned and in the shadows of a nearby fireplace, I recognized a dark figure leaning against it, pushing off and finally stepping into the moonlight.

Sasuke Uchiha.

„Kabuto seems like a pretty sore loser, attacking you in the middle of the night."

I gritted my teeth. The Uchiha didn't seem to understand the whole situation.

„It looked more like an attempted assassination to me," a new voice interjected, and we whirled around.

Behind us, sitting on a mantelpiece, was none other than Sensei Kakashi. His gaze was earnestly fixed on both of us. Only now did I notice that Sasuke was also wearing only normal clothes. Apparently, he had also still been in the hospital.

„This is the second time he has tried to harm one of my students."

Kakashi's voice became dangerously quiet, and his eyes took on a strange gleam. He clenched his hands into fists slightly before loosening them again. Seemed to be fighting an internal battle.

„Take care of yourselves. I'm not saying this in jest. That guy is capable of far more than he showed you in your fight Tora. If he had given it his all...I don't want to know how it would have looked for you in the end," he fell silent and looked me in the eye.

I didn't know what scared me more. That Kabuto was possibly a Nuke-Nin or could have defeated me in battle with ease if he had wanted to.

With a weary sigh, my former sensei landed before us, folded his arms in front of his chest, and looked down at us scrutinizingly. His visible eye narrowed, he seemed to be considering.

„Actually, I wasn't going to pay you two a visit until tomorrow, to explain what you're going to do to prepare for the final round..."

„Wait a minute Sensei... SHE'S in the final round?", Sasuke interrupted him, aghast, looking in my direction. "Didn't you just say Kabuto was a lot stronger than Tora?"

Kakashi nodded.

„Yes, I did, but he didn't show all his skills in his fight against her and so she won the fight. I'm not sure what his goal is yet, but I'll find out." The grey-haired man's voice had taken on a strange tone as he fixed his gaze on Sasuke.

Something wasn't right there. Kakashi knew something, but he didn't want to tell us, and it had to do with Sasuke. The Uchiha seemed to notice nothing of it, however, his black eyes still had fixed on me. Did it bother him that I was in the finals? I shook my head slightly. Bullshit.

„Tora. Initially, I had planned to train you both for the finals. But since Sasuke has a very difficult opponent, I have to concentrate fully on his training. I'm sure Genma will be able to help you in all aspects. You've even started a new jutsu if I'm not mistaken?"

I nodded slowly. I wondered what kind of opponent Sasuke would have. On top of that, I didn't even know how the fights had turned out.

„Who is my opponent?" I asked hesitantly, and Kakashi's look became serious.

I suspected something bad. No, please don't.

„It's not Gaara, is it? I don't want to fight him again," I groaned out, startled, with a clear memory of the past fight.

„No. He's mine," Sasuke said haughtily.

I swallowed. While Sasuke was a very good ninja, I still doubted he could put a stop to Gaara's inhuman strength. He should not underestimate the Suna-Nin in any case. He was simply unpredictable.

„Your opponent Tora...," Kakashi began slowly.

„…will be Dosu Kinuta."