I Love You, But I Can Never Tell You How I Feel [Naruto Fanfic] - KakashixOC

45. Chuunin Exam - Finals: Invasion Began

Normal P.O.V

Shikamaru's match started. The crowd was jeering as they were impatient to watch Sasuke's match. At the end of the match, however, Shikamaru was able to captivate the audiences' attention. He showcased what a good strategist he was.

"This boy's not bad either" Orochimaru said, grinning.

"Yes. As you had said, this years' participants are strong" Hikaru replied.

"Yes. He's brilliant. Now I'm impatient for the Uchiha's match. Is he any better than the other participants?" he asked with the wicked gleam of awe that Hikaru had grown to despise.

"Maybe. Who knows" she replied nonchalantly.

"How did he do for the preliminary round?" he asked.

"Not as note-worthy as Naruto's" Hikaru said with a smirk. Ha! Take that, Orochimaru! Orochimaru shuddered lightly at the mental image that popped up. He turned quiet as he waited for Sasuke's arrival.

The crowd was noisy. They were getting very impatient. They wanted Sasuke now. "Hey! If he's not going to turn up, I'm going home! Screw this shit!" a spectator yelled. Just then, Sasuke and Kakashi made a grand entrance to the arena. They used genjutsu to make it seem like they appeared out of thin air, surrounded by the leaves.

"Finally!" Genma said. "You really rub off your tardiness to your student" Genma scolded Kakashi lightly.

"Gomen.." Kakashi said sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his neck. "I hope that he's not already disqualified?" he asked rhetorically.

"No. The Kazekage was nice enough to push the previous battle forward" Genma said. "The Hokage had almost disqualified him though" he added.

"I see.. Now Sasuke, do your best!" Kakashi chirped as he moved to stand in the spectator arena with Gai.

"So you didn't run.." Gaara said to Sasuke.

"Why should I?" he retorted with a smirk. Gaara stared at him emotionlessly. Genma looked at the boys. When he was sure that they had finished their exchange, he gave the signal to start.

"Ready, Fight!" Genma commanded. The two boys jumped away from each other immediately. Sasuke began to rain Gaara with punches and kicks, only to be blocked by Gaara's sand. As he increased his speed, he managed to hit Gaara a few times, leaving gaps in his sand shield.

"Not bad. To be able to break the defense of suna no tate.." Orochimaru commented.

"He's exceptional" Hikaru replied with a smile. As she looked back at the arena, Sasuke had changed his fighting stance into that of Rock Lee's. He quickened his pace in raining his blows on Gaara, leaving holes in Gaara's sand armour.

"Heh, is that all your suna no yoroi can do? And for everyone to think that it is a very good technique.. It's so overrated" Sasuke taunted. Hikaru had told Sasuke to fight Gaara in order to cause shukaku to take over Gaara partially. She had also warned him that taunting Gaara too much may cause the shukaku to take over completely, which is very dangerous. But Sasuke paid no heed. He wanted shukaku to come out. He wanted to fight it. He wanted to prove that Uchihas can beat bijuus without any external help. He wanted to prove his worth. Gaara is just another stepping stone to get into Itachi. If he can beat Gaara, he can reach Itachi. He refused to recognize that someone who is as young as him could possess greater power than he do. He is an Uchiha! The most powerful clan of all. And for Itachi to let him live, he knew that he was somewhat more special than the rest of the Uchihas. And Hikaru nee-san had also mentioned that he had much larger chakra reserve than his elder siblings. She also told him that he has a high potential, which means that he could someday surpass both siblings. Gaara shall be the start. He is the only one worth fighting with, other than Naruto.