Escape [Sasuke Uchiha]

Chapter 24: Match Ups

When I was one meter away from him, Naruto finally took notice of me and asked me with an arched brow, "Huh? What's up, Ayuda?"

"Nothing," I replied with a sincere smile and inched closer till I was literally next to him, "I just want to stand here."

"Why?" Naruto blinked his blue eyes at me in confusion and mild curiosity.

I continued, "Well... I find you to be quite an interesting boy. And I admire your bravery when you challenged the strongest Konoha genin just now."

"Hmph!" Naruto stuck his nose up to the air, "Someone should teach him a lesson! And I will! Then I will show him that he is wrong about that destiny, this destiny! I will win!"

My lips formed a smooth curve, smiling at the frisky boy before me. Before I could say anything, a familiar voice penetrated our ears, "Oi!"

Naruto and I turned our heads to the stairs. The voice was unmistakably coming from there. To my surprise and confusion, I caught sight of Kankuro of the Sand Village heading up the stairs and sauntered toward us. He wore a smile which looked slightly unpleasant to me. He asked, "What are you two doing here? Shouldn't you be with your teammates?"

The whiskered boy next to me averted his gaze and stuttered, "I-it doesn't matter to you."

"More importantly, what are you doing here?" I queried as I crossed my arms over my chest. My right eyebrow raised in suspicion.

The smile that curved Kankuro's lips did not falter as he cast his gaze to me and replied, "I have a few questions actually," he paused to look at something over my shoulder. He then looked back to me and asked, "His name's Neji Hyuuga, right? From the looks of that match, it seems that he hasn't used all of his powers. So what kind of guy is he?"

"Grrrrrrr!!" Naruto growled loudly and he punched the air with his right fist, exclaiming, "I'll beat him!"

Kankuro and I sweatdropped at his sudden outburst. The former said in response, "No... I didn't ask that."

I watched as the same fake smile returned to Kankuro's face and he spoke to Naruto, "You're an interesting guy. I like you."

Huh? Where did that come from? With that fake smile and those nice words, it looked like he came here to try to get his hands on something.

Naruto bluntly retorted, "You're not interesting. I don't like you –ttebayo!"

I snickered upon hearing the yellow-haired boy's response. But then I let out a giggle when I noticed the priceless look on Kankuro's face. His eye twitched in anger; he was obviously offended.

"We will now resume the matches," the judge, Hayate Gekkou finally announced.

With that said, I brought my eyes to the black screen that instantly lit up once more and it began choosing two names. I was waiting for Kaito's, Kazuki's, Rock Lee's, and Gaara's matches. They haven't had their turns yet. And then it occurred to me – what if Gaara is paired up with Kaito or Kazuki?

From the corner of my eye, I saw some pale yellowish thing winged its way towards the center of the arena. I shot a glance at it, only to witness grains of sand gathering into one spot. The sand then dispersed, revealing the cutie redhead of the Sand Village. I was bewildered, though. What is he doing there? Is it his match now? How does he know?

"Uuuuoooohh!!!" a loud roar escaped from Chouji's lips and that had totally startled me as I quickly directed my wide eyes to him. What is it now?! Is he fighting with Gaara?! One word that I did not expect him to scream was, "Seifu (Safe)!"