Beyond The Stars (Naruto Fanfiction)

Chapter 31~ Preliminaries?

"According to the chunin rules, if too many teams pass for the finals, a preliminary round can be held. Which is unfortunately what we have to do here today." A man with a nasty cough explained, wheezing in between his rasp words.

An uproar of side conversations and yelling erupted prohibiting the man from saying much more. Now you may be asking how the hell we are here, well shortly after the Iruka guy came, we were escorted here without an explanation. Lastly, you might be asking if I got my nap? Well, the answer to that is... No! I didn't get my fucking nap! To top it all off I still like hell on wheels and none of my injuries have been even looked at.

"We just got out of surviving five days in hell and you want us to fight each other!" Someone from behind us shouted. From the sound of their voice, it sounded like the puppet user of the sand siblings.

"Precisely, while it is not what we would have wanted it is necessary to cut down on the number of teams. That being said, anyone who feels unfit or unable to fight please back down now!" Everyone shut their traps and conversed with themselves. I saw Haruno whisper to Uchiha, assumingly on the matters about his neck. I should step in, and see what was going on.

"Sakura, I'm fine there's no need for me to drop out."

"But you're not fine!" I rushed over and slapped my hand over her mouth, not wanting to gain any unwanted attraction. "Keep your voice down, we don't want everyone to know of our mishap."

"Mmnmnnmn" I removed my hand from her mouth, and she gasped for air slightly. My grip wasn't that hard, was it? "Astara-San you said it yourself that you had known about the mark."

"I do know lots about it, but that is a story for another time." I clenched my teeth, remembering my days in hell with that man. "I am quite curious to see how the mark will affect you, Haruno if he wishes to participate let him. It shouldn't concern us of what he does. We are teammates nothing more."

My tone was quite harsh and cold, far more than it has been the past day or so. In all honesty, I was getting quite anxious about Karliah, she has been gone for over three hours. Searching for Akari, and Kyler shouldn't take that long. The only thing calming my nerves right now is the fact that I can still feel her within me. If she were to die, or is in danger I could sense it in away. Our bond is one some can only dream of.

Then there is this weird chakra signature, that has signs of Astara chakra, but it feels stronger in this arena and I am constantly checking over my shoulder for anything out of the ordinary, but nothing is ever wrong. I can feel someone watching me, but I can't quite pinpoint where exactly.

I was snapped out of my thoughts when Kabuto's hand shot up into the air. "I can't go on anymore."

"What!?" Naruto shouted, I rolled my eyes and looked in the opposite direction. Probably already did what Orochimaru wanted him to do, so he is free to go. He has always followed that snake blindly, never really thinking for himself. He spoke to Naruto before walking away, I swear if he threatened the boy I'll ki-, wait since when do I care? I must remind myself that love only ends in loss and loss ends in pain. Things I never want to go through again.

"If that is everybody, we will begin with the first round. If you could please look at the screens on the wall. Your name will pop up when it's your turn a-" He stopped midway, coughing up a storm. He sounds terrible, absolutely awful, someone needs to get him looked at. "Sorry, where was I... right if your name is one of the two you will report here. Now if you could please all make your way to the balcony and wait for the first fight it will be starting shortly."

As we all scrambled to the stairs, two names appeared on the screen in yellow writing. "Sasuke Uchiha, and Yoroi Akado will be the first match."

So he fights first, I hope he doesn't awaken the mark too soon. It can leave some permanent damage. What am I thinking, I can't get attached to these leaf ninja it will only end in me suffering. I slammed my good hand against the wall, quickly I recollected my thoughts and regained what was left of my composure.

Now the next question was how was I going to fight? My shoulder has a decent amount of movement, the gash could open up and start bleeding again if provoked. My hand was still shaky and didn't have a very sturdy grasp at the moment. I can always use my other hand when using my katana, but my movements will be slower thanks to my shoulder.

Next comes the chakra issue. My chakra reserve is recollecting itself, but it is quite low for what I would have liked it to be at. I joined the rest of my team, silent in my thoughts.

That's when I felt Karliah's chakra, and two tagalongs close to her. A ghost of a smile hinted at my face, which didn't go unnoticed by the copy cat ninja next to me.

I was quickly brought back to earth by the sound of the proctor's raspy voice telling the contenders to begin. "Go Sasuke! Show him who's boss!"

I sighed and leaned against the wall behind me. Let's see how this curse mark ideal will play out. They were going full throttle right from the beginning.

Uchiha however seemed to be more on the defensive side. Akado made contact with Uchiha's arm, worry immediately flashed across Uchiha's face. Akado is depleting Uchiha's chakra, I can't tell if he is absorbing or just discarding the leftover chakra. However, it is easy to say that he is an enemy that shouldn't be overlooked.