Beautiful Silence

Chapter 12: Preliminaries Part 1

Riko started getting busy with healing the various contestants who had failed the exam that she didn't have any more time to go back and spend some time with Gaara. Even when she had a bit of free time, it was never long enough to go see him.

It was already the second day of the exam. Riko noticed that Naruto and his squad were still not there. She was starting to get a bit worried. Hinata's team had already made it from the first day, but Riko didn't really have that much time to go talk to her, especially that, even if she did have a bit of free time, she would've definitely used it to get to know Gaara more.

Finally, at the end of the second day, right before the end of the exam, Naruto's team made it back. The Hokage and Mitarashi Anko, the exam proctor, came to the tower at the end of the exam. The leader of the medical team gathered Riko and the others to tell them what the next step will be while Anko was explaining it to the shinobi that made it.

"Alright, so there was a sudden change to the exams. There will be a preliminary right now, since there are much more contestants that succeeded this exam than it was initially planned. Our job is to provide first aid to those who fail this preliminary."

The head of the medical team then kept explaining what the preliminaries were all about. Two random contestants will be pitted against each other until one of them either gives up or is incapable of fighting. Riko started to feel anxious about the possible incidents that might happen during these preliminaries. She looked at all the contestants who had also received the news and noticed that a lot of them were protesting against it. Most of them were exhausted from what they went through in the forest, which was understandable, but Anko didn't want to hear any of it.

"If you think you can't do it, then be my guest and forfeit."

When she said that, they all looked at each other, trying to see if anyone would actually do that. Against all expectations, one of the contestants, a man with silver hair tied in a ponytail and circular glasses raised his hand.

"I forfeit. I'm way too worn out to continue fighting."

He then dismissed himself. The first names were then immediately displayed. It was Sasuke against Akado Yoroi. The medical team and the rest of the contestants go up to the balconies to watch from a safe distance. Riko had never heard of Akado Yoroi, even though he was supposedly a Konoha Genin.

The match started and, right off the bat, Yoroi's hands glowed with the blue aura of chakra. He then immediately pinned Sasuke down, clutching his head. Riko gasped and brought her hands to her mouth. Sasuke was trying to resist, but he couldn't do anything. That was when Naruto started taunting him.

"Hey what happened to the great Uchiha clan? You're giving up already?"

Riko sensed that Naruto was saying all of this out of concern for Sasuke and to get him to find the strength to fight back. It seemed to work, since Sasuke was able to kick his opponent off of himself. He then charged at him and kicked him up in the air. He then jumped up after him and gave him a turning downward kick which sent Yoroi plummeting to the ground. With that decisive move, Sasuke was declared the winner. Riko and her team then took Yoroi away and started treating him on the side while the second match between Aburame Shino and Abumi Zaku began.

Yoroi's injury wasn't too bad. He was just knocked out. They applied a few bandages to his head and back, keeping their chakra for more serious cases. After they had taken care of him, the next injured contestant was brought in. It was Zaku who had lost against Shino. His arms were almost completely obliterated. It was full of holes and was bleeding profusely.

"Riko, want to take care of this one? His injuries are really serious and it would cost us a lot of chakra."

Riko nodded. Her healing powers didn't use up much of her energy. She also understood that the other medical ninja didn't want to waste their chakra on non-fatal wounds, especially this early on in the preliminaries. She looked at the display board and saw the names of the next contestants. It was a man named Tsurugi Misumi and Gaara's teammate Kankuro. She then shifted her attention to the whimpering Zaku. She held his hands in her own and closed her eyes, concentrating on her desire to heal him. His wounds started to close up and, in almost no time at all, his arms were completely healed, leaving only scars. Riko sighed in relief.

However, it was no time for the medical team to rest, since the next person who came in was Tsurugi Misumi who had been defeated by Kankuro. His case was a bit more serious. A lot of his bones were fractured and dislocated. Some of them were even completely broken. That required surgery, though. Riko was told to take care of the fractured bones while someone else placed the dislocated ones back into place. Half of the medical team then took Misumi away to the operation room. Riko stayed behind with the first aid team, waiting for the conclusion of the next fight that had already started.

It was Sakura and Ino. Riko didn't know who to root for, since she considered both of them to be her comrades. The conclusion didn't decide either, since the fight ended in a draw. None of them needed medical attention, since they were just exhausted from the fight.

The fifth match was Tenten against Temari, Gaara's other teammate. It was completely one-sided, with Tenten's weapons being fully countered by Temari's fan's wind attacks. Tenten, having lost her consciousness due to the intense attacks, fell straight down onto Temari's fan. Temari then cruelly laughed and tossed her away. Rock Lee, who Riko had seen around the village a few times, jumped down as fast as he could to catch Tenten's body. Riko went ahead of the medical team, not bearing to stand and watch any longer and went up to Tenten's body. Everyone's attention shifted to Riko, while the medical team started following her. Riko held Tenten's hand and saw that her spine was fractured from the fall. There were also a lot of cuts and wounds from the wind attacks and weapons. Riko closed her eyes and started her healing process. Rock Lee gasped at what he was seeing. Tenten's wounds were closing up, and fast. Temari was also awed at what was happening, but she didn't show it. Gaara, up on the balcony was also observing what Riko was doing. He knew that she wasn't normal. He was even more curious now about her. Tenten then regained consciousness and was brought away.