Kakashi:

Hidden well, we watched the three groups facing each other in a fighting stance.

Naruto's team looked tense and slightly nervous. No wonder, they were facing two teams at once. No one was moving yet, they seemed to be trying to size each other up. But someone always had to make the first move.

And so it happened that, unnoticed by the others, Shikamaru's shadow slowly moved in Tora's direction. She didn't really seem to notice. The girl's gaze remained fixed on her opponents.

The shadow moved faster and faster in her direction. It was not a bad idea of the boy to immobilise Tora. She was the fastest in the team and on top of that she possessed the collected tapes. A smart move of him to use the favour of the shock. What was she doing?

Neji turned his head. His eyes widened and he gave a warning shout. Naruto jumped to the side and Tora tried to move, but the shadow had been quicker and pinned the young girl in place.

Beads of sweat ran down her face as she tried to fight the invisible force. But in vain. No one could escape Shikamaru's shadow.

"I thought the girl was smarter," Tsunade muttered with a slightly disappointed expression.

I couldn't blame her. After all, Tora had already shown what she was made of in many fights. And to fail like that because of such a trick disappointed me deeply as a sensei. Genma tensed next to me and shifted his senbon from his right cheek to his left. Fingers closed into fists. He really lived this fight.

Shikamaru narrowed the distance to Tora a little. Naruto let out a battle cry and rushed towards the Nara, but Sasuke and Kiba blocked his way. The same happened to Neji. The two nodded to each other. Determination flared in their eyes before they went on the attack.

With trembling fingers, Tora reached into her pocket and pulled out the coloured ribbons. Then the Nara took another step forward and reached for them. But before his fingers could close around it, the girl's figure fizzled out in front of his nose. Disbelief and surprise were written all over the Nara's face.

From one second to the next, he was knocked over by something invisible. She pushed him through the bushes and disappeared from my sight. Curious, I followed the two and left the others behind, who were watching the other fight unfold. I didn't want to miss this scene.

Tora:

I pushed Shikamaru into a shady clearing. And that was also my goal. He should not get the chance to use his shadow possession at all. Breathing heavily, he eyed me. The jutsu had cost him a lot of strength and it seemed that this was not his first use of it that day.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw a dark shadow in the tree above us and the familiar chakra of Kakashi. But I couldn't let that distract me now, because what mattered was this fight right before my eyes and I wanted to show that I too had what it took to be a chunin, even if I might have to wait until the next test.

This inner urge to prove my abilities made me rush towards the Nara, who had drawn a kunai and more or less dodged my attacks. Raiton chakra briefly flowed through my legs and I used it to strike him in the solar plexus. Not as hard as Kabuto's, of course, but still strong enough to throw him backwards. He remained motionless.

Slowly I approached the motionless Nara, pulled a rope from my pocket and began to tie him to a tree before searching his pockets for the tape. But it was nowhere to be found. Only one option remained...

"I don't have the tape... you''ll have to search a bit more,Tora," the Nara said, giving me an unmotivated look.

I nodded slightly, turned and ran back to the main fight. Kakashi's wandering chakra was evidence of the Kopierninja following me. Instantly I made my body invisible and suppressed the chakra, although it was now more difficult to jump through the trees than before.

Sakura stood with her back to me and did not see me coming. Together with Sasuke, the pink-haired girl attacked Naruto, who seemed to be holding back quite a bit with her. My hand struck the girl's temple and she collapsed. Before Sasuke could realise what had happened, I had channelled Raiton chakra into my feet, dissipated the invisibility and lunged at him.

Despite being caught off guard, the Uchiha managed to deftly dodge my attacks. I had really found a good opponent. But Naruto joined in, his gaze fixed on the black-haired one, although the words were directed at me.

"Sasuke is my opponent. And not yours. Understood?" he said in a dangerously low voice. I flinched. I had never heard him talk like that before. But now I also noticed the tension that existed between the two of them. Invisible lightning bolts shot out of their eyes, along with an immense determination.

It was no longer a secret that the two of them saw each other as competitors, but I hadn't really expected it to be so extreme.

A hard blow hit me in the side and I was thrown back. With a distorted face I looked at my hip. The clothes had been torn open and four bloody claw marks were visible on them. My lips twisted into a tortured smile. Of course. He wanted to challenge me, so the thing in the schoolyard was still hanging over him.

"You said to me some time ago that if we met again in battle we would both have grown stronger," Kiba said. "And that time is now."

Then he jumped towards me.

Damn, he was fast. I had often watched him practise, but when you were the target, it was a completely different situation. And not such a good one. He was fast, there was no doubt about that.

Unable to identify Kiba or Akamaru in the whirl of claws and teeth, I kept diving to the side. The two of them wouldn't be able to stand it forever. Indeed, Kiba began to release the jutsu and stormed towards me at full speed. At the last second, I channelled Raiton chakra into my feet and dodged the blow that should have hit my face.

My hand shot forward, grabbed him by the hood and pulled him backwards with a jerk. The Inuzuka gasped. The jacket cut off his airway and he lost his grip. In a flash I was sitting on his stomach, arms and feet pinned to the floor. But he grinned... Just before the pain, caused by sharp teeth, hit my left ankle, I understood why. I had completely disregarded Akamaru.

Stupid.

That had been really stupid. I gritted my teeth but didn't dare step off the Inuzuka, but the more my kunai came at his neck, the deeper Akamaru's teeth sank into my leg. A hiss escaped me, then my body was pushed off Kiba.

Again my shoulder began to ache. But this time it was different. My chakra... I couldn't gather it there anymore. With a strained gasp, I straightened up, trying to put as little weight on my left leg as possible, and looked directly ... into Hinata's byakugan.

Not good.

Her eyes sparkled aggressively as she blocked my way to Kiba. He had straightened up in the meantime and grinned triumphantly at me. A bead of sweat ran down my forehead. If it had been Shino, I would have had no problem fighting him ... but Hinata was something like my first friend. It was incredibly difficult for me to take up the defensive position now, ignoring the aching foot that caused a hell of a pain just by stepping on it.

It was like a dance between the two of us. The will that flamed in her eyes made me happy despite the seriousness of the situation. Hinata wanted to become better and stronger, a life goal I also had and therefore felt connected to her.

Then we had to find out how this fight would turn out. Again and again I managed to dodge the fiery blows. Sweat ran down both our cheeks in torrents. The air was filled with belligerent battle cries and the sound of clashing weapons. Out of the corner of my eye I recognised Neji, who had lunged at Kiba. I nodded gratefully to the Hyjuga for taking this opponent off my hands.

In any case, the teamwork worked better than before. Hinata took advantage of the brief moment and thrust her hand against my hip with lightning speed. My injured one, of all things. I hissed as she touched the wound and at the same time a pain flashed through my core. My body lurched, the injured leg buckled and I slumped backwards.

Immediately she was above me and was about to touch my chest when I wrapped my healthy leg around her hips and dragged her to the ground. Startled, she cried out. But I did not let go and pressed the girl to the ground.

Again, pain flashed through my body as she found her hand on my belly. It felt as if an icy claw had drilled itself into it. My teeth dug into my lip so hard that it began to bleed. Pain coursed through my body in rollercoasters, begging it to give up. But like me, Hinata fought on. Neither of us thought of giving in. That one word none of us knew at the moment. An inner conflict began to arise in me. One side of me wanted to give up and let Hinata win, but the other vehemently refused. My own damned pride stood in my way.

A terrible bang shook the fight and we both stopped. Trees toppled and shadows flitted into the clearing. Sasuke and Naruto lay in the grass not far from each other. Frantically, their chests heaved. The air smelled burnt and only now I saw the scorched tree stumps, which were the last proof that two mighty trees had just stood here.

What the hell had they done?