Naruto/Avatar the Last Airbender Worlds Collide Book 2: Earth

Chapter 10: The story of Naruto Uzumaki [Operation Destroy Hidden Leaf]

"Wait, wait, wait.... what kind of pandering was this? So what Sasuke has some kind of elite family, he should have been disqualified! I mean I'm all for breaking some rules and all, but not if it means some guy with a superiority complex gets everything he wants on a silver plater." Toph stated honestly.

"Regardless if we agree with the Hokage's decision to postpone the match or not, we can't change the fact that Sasuke got to fight in the finals... so what happened?" Katara pointed out, asking that last question to Naruto.

"Shikamaru and I started to head up the stairs back to where the finalist were watching the matches. While we were there.... we saw something terrible!" Naruto replied.

Flashback:
"Hey! C'mon, hurry up!" Naruto told Shikamaru as the two headed up the stairs, Naruto being a bit ahead of Shikamaru.

"No good ever comes from rushing, you know." Shikamaru responded as he continued to follow behind Naruto. Suddenly, Naruto stopped in his tracks.

"What's the matter..." Shikamaru was asking before what he saw next made his words disappear. In the hallway ahead, Gaara was making his way to the arena to face off against Sasuke. There, two Hidden Grass ninja were waiting for him.

"Halt!" One of them told Gaara. Gaara stopped due to some kind of sadistic curiosity on what would be said next.

"Low-level tournaments like this Chunin Exams are ideal for gambling, you know....there are a number of lords who have come just for that reason." The lead Grass ninja explained. Then his partner continued on.

"And so... this match.... we want you to lose it..." The second Grass ninja said. Then Gaara glared at them with a look of sadistic pleasure before the Grass ninja yelled in horror. All that was left of them after Gaara's quick onslaught was the blood they left all over the hallway... almost painting the whole hallway floor red in their blood. Gaara then started to walk away like nothing had happened. As he made his way to Naruto and Shikamaru, the Hidden Leaf duo could feel their heartbeats increase as they both stared on ahead at the scene of the slaughter. Gaara walked past them, not caring about the presence of either Naruto or Shikamaru, making the two sigh in relief when Gaara had went away.

"If it hadn't been for those two.... we probably would have been killed. I've never met anyone who killed so automatically.... even Sasuke better watch it... yikes." Shikamaru told Naruto, who realized in horror that Sasuke was going to have to face the killing machine next. At that very moment Sasuke and Gaara were staring each other down as Genma was speaking to the crowd.

"Now... at long last... Sasuke Uchiha vs Gaara of the Desert... Begin!!" Genma said.

Present day:
"So how did the fight begin? Who made the first strike?" Sokka asked. Naruto shrugged.

"I don't really know. The match began while Shikamaru and I were still catching our breath after almost running into Gaara. I remember being so scared of him... scared in a way that I wasn't acting like I normally would... somehow seeing Gaara and the crazy way he was able to beat Bushy Brow... and now he took out those Grass ninja without even moving a finger... I thought there was no way Shikamaru or I could ever hope to beat him. The only one who stood a ghost of a chance was Sasuke. At the time... I didn't know that Kakashi Sensei trained Sasuke to master the same style of taijutsu as Bushy Brow... or the fact that Sasuke had a new secret jutsu... so I thought Sasuke was doomed. I decided that Shikamaru and I were going to talk to Kakashi Sensei and get him to stop the fight before Sasuke gets killed." Naruto explained.