Naruto watched without too much interest as the match between Shikamaru and Kabuto drew to a close. While Kabuto seemed like he could have easily won, he just threw the match. Shikamaru seemed to have noticed this too because when Kabuto was 'knocked unconscious' Shikamaru gave him a very strange look. Kabuto was carried off by medics, and Shikamaru walked off to join Ino, still looking a little confused.
Truthfully, Kabuto confused Naruto as well. Why would he have gone through all the effort just to throw the match? It just didn't make sense unless he was working for someone. Naruto had a feeling that he didn't know about Hakumei, but then again, he had just been there to give Team Kekkei Genkai information about their opponents and kind of warn them to get out of the tournament. It seemed that Kabuto had done whatever it was that he had wanted to do, so he had gotten out of the whole thing quickly.
Naruto looked over at Neji, Hinata and Gaara. All three of them had to win, and they had to do it in a way that didn't get people to recognize them. The ones with the biggest problems were Gaara and Neji. Both of their techniques were recognizable. Gaara couldn't even turn off his power. No matter what he did, the sand would rise up to protect him.
Also, because of the fear that the villagers of Suna had had for him, Gaara would be easier to recognize than Naruto, who was basically just ignored, would be. Gaara had family here, and they would have had to have seen him at least a little. Gaara had once mentioned that he lived away from his real family with his uncle. Naruto had to admit he thought that that was one of the dumbest plans that he had heard of. It was kind of like begging Gaara to become a homicidal maniac. Then again, that might have been what Gaara's father had wanted anyways...
Hinata would have the easiest time of all of them. She could activate the Tenshi Byakugan beneath the genjutsu. That made her able to use it, but she still couldn't use the Juuken. The Hyuuga family technique was just too obvious. Hinata had her own tricks though, so she would probably be fine.
Neji might have some problems. The Byakugan couldn't be activated, and most of his techniques used it. They really hadn't planned for a situation like this. All of Naruto's dreams of invading Konoha had involved an attack and marching down the main street in full Hakumei uniform.
Although deception and stealth were some of the things drilled into them mercilessly, this wasn't something that anyone had anticipated. Naruto only hoped that that didn't come back to haunt him.
He kept up a bored face as he watched the computer sort through names of the remaining people. Naruto noticed as Haku began to back away and slip out. Apparently, he was going to do a little snooping. The least that he could do was pretend that he wasn't noticing.
Finally, the pinging sound reached Naruto's ears and he looked up to see the new fighters' names.
Haru vs. Tenten
Naruto blinked at the pairing and looked over at Neji, who was looking completely unconcerned. Neji slowly straightened himself from his position of leaning around the rail and sauntered downstairs into the area. Tenten stiffened when her name went up and a she walked down quickly, looking nervous. She was walking stiffly, looking over at Neji a few times and biting her lip. Naruto wondered just why she looked so nervous.
Both faced one another in the arena as Hayate looked between them. He coughed a little and began the usual pre-fight speech. Neji had his arms crossed and looked rather uninterested in the entire thing, but Tenten was looking like she wanted to just attack with everything that she had and to be done with the whole thing.
"Begin!" Hayate called.
Tenten wasted no time. She grabbed a large scroll, bit her finger and pressed it against the scroll. Immediately, a shower of different weapons soared towards Neji. He didn't look like he would have time to dodge, but as they started to land, they caused dust to rise, blocking everyone's vision. Naruto knew just what was going to happen. If there was a chance for Neji to take advantage of things, he would.
Tenten smirked, looking like she was sure of victory.
The smoke cleared, showing Neji standing untouched, surrounded by weapons.
"I assume you're just getting warmed up," he said, "Because if that's the best you can do, I'll win easily."
Tenten's eyes narrowed angrily, "I'll crush you, Kusa nin!"
"You continually mention my village," Neji commented, "I wonder if it's because you're not really a Konoha nin anyways."
With a scream of rage, Tenten took out two scrolls and preformed a series of seals.
"Soshoryuu!" she cried, jumping into the air and opening the scrolls.
An even greater shower of weapons began to fall, raining down towards Neji, Naruto was able to see him dodge the first two, and then the dust was too much for him to see anything, but Naruto knew that he had employed the Hakkesho Kaiten, Neji's all time favorite move. That also kicked up more dust, so it would be almost impossible to see what he was doing. It looked to Naruto like Neji was going to win this battle by psyching Tenten out or something.
Neji was always really good at that.
The dust cleared again, and Tenten hit the ground, this time, she looked like she was a little more prepared. Neji was surrounded by the weapons again, but he was unharmed. Tenten stretched out her hands and the weapons began to shudder a little. Neji didn't waste time. He dashed forwards, kunai in hand and attacked Tenten. She jumped back, narrowly avoiding the swipe of the kunai, but the weapons stopped moving.
"You..." Tenten whispered, "You figured out the wires after only seeing them twitch?"
"I figured that you were smart enough to know that there was a good chance that the second attack would fail like the first one; therefore, you would have taken an extra measure," Neji said dashing forwards again, "I'm not going to allow you to perform another attack like that."
"I won't lose to a foreign nin!" Tenten cried, a staff appearing in her hands.
She charged at Neji, who dodged easily, grabbed hold of the staff and managed to force it from her. Tenten wasn't the only one who had learned to use weapons. All of Hakumei knew how to use a weapon at least somewhat well.
"I wonder why you're so worried about the fact that I come from Kusa," Neji said conversationally as he whirled the staff towards her, "Could it be because you're not from Konoha?"
Tenten growled a little, "It's none of your business."
"It must have been difficult going to school after the Sandaime's assassination. People in Konoha don't seem to approve of taking in foreigners as much as they used to," Neji continued, "So you thought that by defeating me, a ninja from another village, you could prove that you were truly a Konoha nin."
"Shut up!" Tenten screamed, taking out a scroll and making a mace appear from it. She jumped to attack, hitting the staff that Neji had stolen as he blocked. Neji just looked slightly amused. He was calmly and systematically attacking her psychologically. This was how he was going to make up for not having the Byakugan to help him.
Neji had long ago noticed how Naruto would talk to people when he fought, usually it just distracted them, but every so often, he would hit a nerve. Like that time when Naruto had somehow managed to get Gaara to talk about his family while they were sparring. Neji had realized that this was a wonderful way to win a fight, and had started to use it himself. So far, it had been very effective. Naruto had to admit that Neji was very good at what he was doing, although it wasn't very nice.
Tenten was wearing down.
"It's funny, you're wearing the Konoha symbol on your head yet you don't feel like a Leaf nin," Neji said, "You know something else..."
At that point, Neji lunged forward, and struck with the staff, forcing Tenten back. For a moment they were close, and Neji whispered something that Naruto couldn't hear. Tenten froze and stared at Neji for a split second. Neji sent a kick that Tenten didn't seem to notice. The kick hit her straight on and she crashed against the wall, and didn't move.
"Tenten is unable to continue," Hayate said, "The winner is Haru."
Neji smirked up at the spectators and walked up the stairs, ignoring as the medics rushed Tenten off. Neji resumed his place, leaning against the wall and looking down into the arena.
"I feel so much better now," Neji smirked.
"What did you say to her?" Naruto asked.
"That's for me to know and you to wonder about," Neji smirked, "Maybe I'll tell you at some later time."
That meant that when they were alone, Neji would explain everything. Naruto was rather interested. Neji seemed to be trying to do something with Tenten, but Naruto couldn't really tell what it was. The plan, since it was Neji, was going to be intricate and detailed, and Naruto was kind of looking forward to seeing what happened. Well, all in good time.
The next pair was announced.
Rei vs. Ueda Matsuri
Hinata took a small breath and walked down the stairs.
"Good luck," Naruto hissed to her.
Hinata smiled at Naruto briefly.
"Thank you, Taiki," she smiled, "I might need some of that later."
"Hopefully not, but you never know," Naruto watched as she walked off.
"You're surprisingly smooth when you want to be," Sasuke remarked.
"What?" Naruto asked.
"Yet he never seems to notice," Sai added.
"It is weird, isn't it?" Sasuke said thoughtfully.
"Extremely," Neji sighed, "I've been watching this whole thing for a while; his obliviousness never ceases to amaze me. Well, it's not like it's obvious or anything."
"What are you talking about?" Naruto asked.
The three just snickered a little.
Meanwhile, Hinata anad Matsuri had met one another on the field and bowed to one another.
"It's very nice to meet you," Matsuri said.
"A pleasure," Hinata returned, "I hope that we leave all hostilities with us when we finish our fight. Do your best."
"...Thank you," Matsuri mumbled.
Hinata smiled a little back.
"This match is between Rei of Kusa and Ueda Matsuri, there is no time limit, and all previous rules apply. You may begin!" Hayate called.
Hinata moved first throwing a succession of kunai that forced Matsuri to run back to avoid them. Hinata dashed forwards, taking a deep breath and performing hand seals at the same time.
"Dokugiri!" Hinata cried, breathing out.
A stream of purple gas erupted from Hinata's mouth and turned into a cloud that diffused around the room. Hinata had been careful. While there was enough to cause trouble, there wasn't enough to be a true danger to the spectators. Even the opponent wouldn't be in any real danger if they were treated immediately.
Matsuri didn't jump away; she turned her back and ran from the smoke, almost getting killed by the kunai that flew after her.
"Why don't you fight back?" Hinata said softly.
"I'm trying!" Matsuri almost sobbed.
"No, you're not," Hinata shook her head, "You're holding back. If you continue to do this, I'll not only defeat you, I'll kill you."
"Why would you care?" Matsuri asked bitterly.
"Because I used to be just like you, and because I want to fight an opponent who is strong," Hinata said, dashing forward an in a fluid motion, kicking Matsuri backwards.
"It's impossible," Matsuri said, stumbling back.
"Silly," Hinata said, performing a round house kick that was blocked, badly, "It's possible to change. No one was born strong or brave or good. We were all weak and frightened and driven only by selfishness. Everything else is something you learn. If you're weak, grow stronger, if you're frightened, focus that fear until it's your strength."
It was only then that Naruto noticed that the cloud of poison that Hinata had spat out was close and that Matsuri was a little weaker. She coughed a little and looked at Hinata.
"You herded me into it," she said.
"Yes," Hinata nodded, "I do have to win, even if I have nothing against you. I have someone I have to keep up with. If he grows too far ahead of me...then I won't be worthy of him. I hope the next time that we fight, you will have something to defeat me with. I hope that you change for the better."
Matsuri collapsed and Hinata looked over at Hayate with a calm smile.
"Ueda Matsuri is unable to continue. The winner is Rei."
Naruto looked over at Danzou, who was looking at Hinata. It was impossible to tell just what he was thinking. Yes, that technique was one that Shizune used, but Shizune wasn't really much of a fighter, and also, that wasn't a distinctive style. Anyone who was good with poisons would be able to use that technique. At least, Naruto hoped so.
Haku wasn't sure just what he was going to find or even what he was looking for, but he knew that this was the time to go looking around for anything. Danzou was busy watching everyone, and most of the Jonin were there too. If someone found him, Haku would just say that he was looking for the bathroom or something. If all else failed he had a drug with him that would make anyone gullible enough to believe anything he said by just smelling it.
Haku liked drugs and herbs. He was a medic, but his abilities were much more in the realm of plants than medical jutsu, and he was just fine with that. Tsunade had shown him what she could, but Haku just hadn't had the gift for medical jutsu. However, he had had an almost scary ability with herbs and medicines, and, after all, they were on the same team. It wasn't a good idea to have people with the same abilities like that. There were things that he could do that Sakura and Hinata couldn't and things that they could do that he couldn't.
The hallways were all uniform yet the place was unexpectedly large. It was strange that they would have a place like this in the center of the Forest of Death, particularly if they only used it when the Chuunin Exams were in Konoha. What, then, was the purpose of having this kind of place there? It looked older; perhaps it had been used as an emergency meeting place for the Hokage and the Jonin during war or something.
At least Haku was able to use his actual skill. Up until now, he hadn't known just how irritating it was to constantly be holding back. He was sure that the others were thinking the same thing. They weren't Genin, and none of them had been at that level for years. It was tiring to have to pretend that they were just simple Genin. It was even more annoying to have to watch these children, arrogant and mostly weak talk down to the rest of Hakumei.
Haku wouldn't have minded if it was just him. He wasn't that unaccustomed to being looked down on, but he couldn't forgive Yumi or even Kiba for their arrogance. While Haku wouldn't touch Yumi, she was Sakura and Sasuke prey now, he would be more than happy to bring her to them. In order for the pair of them to teach her a lesson.
Haku waited a moment before turning a corner, pausing to see if any guards were on duty. Right now, it seemed like any reasonably intelligent five year old armed with his grandmother's hair pins would be able to get through the security in this place. There weren't even many security cameras in the building. Was it that there was nothing to hide or that all security was concentrated somewhere else?
There was a sound almost like footsteps and Haku jumped into the air and balanced himself into the wall's corner, performing a quick henge over himself to hide him. If anyone looked, they might notice that there was what seemed to be a metal shelf on the wall. There were a few of them in the hallways, so Haku hoped that it wouldn't be noticed.
Two people walked under him, both were Uchiha. They were roughly in their twenties, and both of them looked like they were on some kind of break.
"Yumi's doing a good job," one of them remarked, "I can't believe that that little girl thought she could win against her."
"She's a foreign nin. What did you expect?" the other rolled his eyes, "Hiro, you're naive sometimes. How would that girl have a clue who Yumi was?"
Hiro grunted.
"Besides, not many people are up to Yumi's level," the unnamed Uchiha shrugged.
"Well for one thing, she's not-" Hiro grumbled and Haku leaned forwards, trying to hear.
"Have you ever heard the saying 'walls have ears?'" the other one said angrily. "If you say things like that, someone will eventually hear you, you idiot."
"I don't care; maybe the foreign nin will leave if they figure it out, and then we wouldn't have to go through with all these stupid preparations. Treating foreigners is such a pain," Hiro grumbled. "I don't see why we have to do this..."
"How does Aiko put up with you?"
"She's a very lucky girl, and she knows it!"
"You're such an unbelievable idiot."
The two walked on and Haku waited until the sound of footsteps had died away completely. He jumped to the ground and looked at where the two had gone. So, Konoha had some kind of thing that it had to do because of the foreign nin. Haku would have to keep his eyes and ears open for this... and just what was so strange about Uchiha Yumi. She wasn't what?
Everyone seemed to be doing something...and all these plans were conflicting.
Haku walked softly down where the Uchiha pair had come from making sure his steps were quiet. There were still things he wanted to see.
After all, he was in a perfect position to spy under the statement that he wanted to go to his room and rest, which he had already sent a bunshin to do, and his precious people needed all the help that they could possibly get.
Shino's battle with the rather strange Ren had been interesting, but also one sided. Shino had defeated Ren with his bugs easily, but Ren hadn't seemed to have put up all that much of a fight against it. Once again, Naruto was watching the whole battle, feeling like there were too many sides to this exam.
It seemed to Naruto that Ren was deliberately throwing the match the way that Naruto had had three people who he had wanted to lose. Not only to make them seem weaker but because it was good to have allies all over the place when you were about to attack something. Maybe it was just paranoia because they were less than legitimate, but Naruto was suspicious of everyone that seemed strange to him, and from what Team Kekkei Genkai had said, there was something wrong with the other team from Kusa.
Naruto bit his lip and hoped that his not looking too hard into that team wouldn't come back and bite him at the most inopportune moment.
Ren walked off to the hospital to be treated and Shino returned to his place and stood next to Kakashi.
It was interesting how although Shino's insects actually ate his Chakra to live, Shino was probably one of the few Konoha Genin who were truly dangerous. Yumi was the only other one who Naruto had seen who might be a threat to them. Naruto might have to think of something to keep Shino's family from reacting too fast. Their logical way of thinking was actually very dangerous. They would react quickly and not be flustered easily.
He would have to talk to Neji and Sasuke and Kimimaro about that.
There was another ping and two more names appeared on the board
Sora vs. Dosu
Naruto blinked. For some reason he had expected himself or maybe Gaara to face Dosu. He wasn't sure why, just that was how he had envisioned things. Now that Sora guy was going to face him. Dosu walked back to Naruto as he headed for the stairs and didn't look at him. Naruto wondered just what was going to happen to him now. Sora seemed like he was completely unstable.
Sora smirked and punched the air with one fist.
"Finally, some action!" he yelled.
Sora jumped down from the landing he was on and started to crack his knuckles. He was staring at Dosu and grinning darkly.
"I'm gonna tear you limb from limb," he promised.
"We'll see," Dosu said. It was impossible to tell just what he was thinking, due to the bandages over his face. His eye was glaring out at him but he seemed to be thinking something. If Kimimaro's report was right, he had better be thinking of some way to get away from this battle. Naruto didn't care how good Dosu's Melody Arm was. It couldn't match up to him when he was under the influence of the Kyuubi, and it probably wouldn't help him against whatever jutsu that Sora used to go berserk. Naruto would have never considered Sora to be a berserker.
He seemed a lot like Kiba. Only more arrogant and with less family to back him up.
"This battle is between Kinuta Dosu of Oto and Sora from Konoha. All previous rules apply. You may begin," Hayate said, swinging one hand in the air.
Dosu had taken Sora's threat seriously. He performed a full sweep with his Melody Arm, not bothering to care about whether or not he hit Hayate (who had jumped to safety). Sora moved fast, running with the blast and trying to move closer.
"I won't let you!" Dosu snarled, sweeping faster.
"Looks like I'm going to have to show off," Sora had almost unholy glee in his face as he took out his pantra claws and slashed the air, "Futon: Juuha Sho!"
The wind attack forced Dosu to jump back, barely managing to dodge the attack, and Sora dashed closer.
"I told you I won't let you!" Dosu was sounding a little worried. Almost as if he could sense something.
Come to think of it, Naruto was starting to feel something coming from Sora. It was somehow...unnatural...and sick.
"What...is that?" Naruto hissed.
"It feels familiar," Gaara said, looking a little sick, "Sandy Wandy's...trying to take over..."
"This feels kind of like what you felt like in the Forest," Sasuke hissed.
Naruto tensed up, but that was impossible. All of the Bijuu were in known locations or their Jinchuuriki were present and accounted for. There had only been one Jinchuuriki made in Konoha anyways. It wasn't like the Bijuu usually attacked in groups. Naruto got the feeling that they didn't like one another much more than they liked anyone else. Even Jiraiya had never actually heard of an incident where more than one of the Bijuu had been present in one place at the same time. The Bijuu seemed to be solitary creatures.
Unless he had been made into a Jinchuuriki to contain a tenth Bijuu later, then it was completely impossible.
Naruto could almost see the Chakra around Sora. The boy was moving faster than even Sasuke or Haku could hope to, and slashed Dosu's bandages. There was a scream and the bandages started to fall down. Naruto was hit with both pity and horror at the boy's face. In addition to the new scratch wounds, the right side of his face was completely burned to the point where you could almost see the muscles. The right eye had been burned shut and his mouth was upturned into a permanent sneer. The burn scars seemed to stretch down his face to his neck, but the rest was hidden by the bandages.
"Dang, you're ugly!" Sora said with a sneer attacking again, this time attacking his chest. Dosu coughed and a large amount of blood started to come out.
Dosu's good eye darted around and rested on Hayate. He didn't say a word, but there was a kind of proud desperation in his eyes. He needed help, but he was either too proud or too scared to admit it. Hayate caught the message.
"Dosu is unable to continue. The match goes to Sora," he said.
"Too bad!" Sora yelled, "I'm having fun!"
He dashed towards Dosu, his claw outstretched and looking like he had every intention of killing the Oto nin. There was a clang and Sora looked with surprise at the blade of a katana that was blocking his path. Hayate didn't look quite so sick anymore as he gazed sternly down at Sora.
"I believe that I said that the match was over," he said calmly. "Withdraw or you will be disqualified, and if you resist, I will attack."
Naruto felt a spike of killing intent from the man.
"You know, I think that he's kind of dangerous," Sai said, "I don't want to cross him."
"Wasn't he an ANBU?" Hinata asked.
"I see why they were called 'the elite of the elite'," Sasuke said, his eyes glued to him. Naruto had a pretty good idea why he was so interested. Itachi had been in ANBU, and since Sasuke had been so young, it was hard for him to really understand just what that meant. Now that Sasuke was older, he was starting to truly understand what that really meant. ANBU wasn't just a profession. It was a philosophy.
Sora snarled at Hayate, but he hesitated. There was a slight battle of wills going on. For one thing, Hayate looked sickly and like he wouldn't be all that hard to kill, he had moved surprisingly fast, and he didn't look sick all of a sudden. Naruto made a mental note to check on his past and see if that was a real sickness or just some kind of false one that he made so that people would underestimate him. It sounded like something that a ninja might do.
"This battle is over," Hayate repeated, and looked like he was about to attack just for good measure when Sora finally spoke.
"Alright, alight, jeez!" Sora was suddenly an image of wounded pride, "I was just playing with him. Can't you take a joke?"
Hayate said nothing, but motioned for the medics to take Dosu away and for Sora to leave the arena. Sora stalked off, and Hayate resumed his position.
The computer began to whirl again and Naruto looked around, there was only one of Kabuto's teammates left along with Kiyoko and Aoi from Kusa and, of course, Gaara. There wasn't much of anyone left. A feeling of relief hit him. Gaara's victory was guaranteed. Hopefully, their cover was fine as well.
The ping sounded and Naruto looked up to see the names.
Akado Yoroi vs Shinta
"Good luck," Hinata said softly, "Even though I know you don't need it."
Gaara smiled, "I'll be done shortly."
Gaara did nothing at all conspicuous. While he couldn't have moved around through the sand, Gaara didn't seem to want to tempt fate too much. There was always a very dangerous chance that he would be caught or remembered. Best not to make his power too obvious.
Yoroi shrugged, seeming completely indifferent to who his opponent was, and jumped from the balcony. The two faced one another and bowed slightly, but their eyes never left one another.
"This match is between Akado Yoroi of Konoha and Shinta of Kusa. All previous rules apply. You may begin."
At the word 'begin' the cork on Gaara's gourd had popped out and a small stream of sand was drifting around him. Yoroi seemed to be a little smarter than most people, and didn't rush in; he sent two kunai with explosive tags flying at Gaara, who didn't bother to move.
While Gaara was actually pretty fast when he wanted to be, he usually didn't bother to block attacks like that. His sand had plenty of time to react to something like that. As the smoke cleared, it showed Gaara, standing with his arms crossed and a shield of sand surrounding him. Yoroi hadn't waited to see what was going to happen. He had run up behind him and grabbed for him, in some kind of parody of a hug.
"Chakra Kyuin Jutsu," he hissed.
Thankfully, the sand was out already so no one was all that surprised when the sand reacted by exploding out and sending Yoroi into a wall.
Gaara whispered something that could have been taken for a jutsu name but was more likely Gaara muttering to himself about how much force to use and how people were fragile. Gaara had to be careful not to use his sand the way he usually did, which would result in death if you weren't paying attention. Naruto knew that for a fact.
Naruto looked over to see what Gaara's siblings were doing. Temari was leaning forwards with a bored look on her face, and Kankuro was doing something with what looked suspiciously like an arm of some kind of puppet. Temari sensed Naruto's gaze and looked over at him, rolling her eyes, and Naruto looked away. They didn't look like they had noticed anything. Actually, in this case, he was more worried about them than Danzou.
Yoroi didn't seem to be moving and Hayate made a motion to examine him. It looked like he had been hit hard on the head and was out cold already.
Naruto felt a spike of killing intent from somewhere. His eyes darted around but he didn't see anywhere that it should have come from. It wasn't directed at him or any one of Hakumei that much Naruto could tell, but the feeling was putting him on edge.
"How weak," Naruto heard Yumi sneer, "And to think that that was a Konoha nin."
"Shinta-kun is very surprising," Shino said calmly.
For a moment, Shino's sunglasses seemed to move so that he was looking at Naruto, but Naruto couldn't be sure.
"Do you think we should shut him up," Sasuke said in something that was barely a whisper.
"Later," Naruto said, meaning that he wanted to talk later.
"Akado Yoroi is unable to continue," Hayate said calmly, "The winner of his match is Shinta from Kusa."
Temari wasn't all that interested in the next match between a particularly foul mouthed Oto nin and her teammate. She was fairly more interested in the match that had just ended. She continued leaning against the rail, without any real interest on her face, but her mind was racing.
Was it possible?
Temari didn't remember all that much about her youngest brother. What she did was mostly tainted by the fear that her village had had of the young Jinchuuriki. She hadn't even been allowed to live in the same house as him. When she was younger, Temari had thought little to nothing of it, but as she grew, she had wondered.
When Gaara had disappeared, she had only had a vague feeling of sadness but mostly of relief. Gaara had mostly been a face that she was taught to fear. She was only slightly away of Gaara's existence as a person, and that was only because of the one incident where she had actually been with him without her father or the elders of Suna watching over them.
It had been when her pet cat had died. Nyanko-chan had been old and she had finally died in her sleep. Nonetheless the nine year old Temari had been devastated. She had wandered off alone to one of the many deserted and sandy places to bury her old friend, and she had been sitting with her face buried in her knees sobbing when she had felt the presence of another person. Temari had looked up, thinking that it was her father, who would have reprimanded her for showing any kind of weakness, particularly for something so stupid as a dead cat. Instead, she had looked into the black-rimmed blue eyes of her youngest brother.
"Gaara," Temari had breathed, not sure whether to be afraid of him or not.
"...I liked Nyanko..." he said softly, "She wasn't afraid of me..."
Slowly, he held something out for her; Temari realized that it was a figurine made of sand. She knew she shouldn't take it. Temari knew that taking anything from Gaara was to invite the demon to take an interest in her. She knew that her little brother had been killed when he was born and the demonic tanuki had taken his body, but right then, Temari hadn't cared.
"I made this for Nyanko," Gaara had said, looking down.
Temari had reached for the figurine but had been interrupted by the sudden arrival of their father. The man had been furious that Temari had run off and angrier that Gaara had appeared. The figurine was smashed, and Temari had been grabbed and taken home by the elders. She had looked over her shoulder once at Gaara, who had watched her being taken away.
His eyes had been so haunted.
Temari now looked at the red haired boy who was talking to his friends. The blonde had an arm around his shoulders and the others were close, smiling and laughing with him. Shinta scowled a little at something that the boy with the long brown hair said, and smiled at something that the girl told him. He looked content and very attached to all of them in a way that told her that they had all experienced hardships together.
"Hey, Nee-chan," Kankuro said thoughtfully, "Isn't that Shinta guy kind of familiar?"
Temari looked at Kankuro and looked at Shinta.
For a moment, he glanced over at her and their eyes met.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Temari said.
"Aoi has forfieted the match, therefore the winner is Kiyoko," Hayate announced.
The battle had been very boring. Neither of them had used a single jutsu, they had just attempted to pound one another into submission. They hadn't even used any weapons. Seriously, the theme of this entire preliminary seemed to have been 'don't show anything about your techniques to anyone because I'm hiding my real abilities'. Well, at least this way they didn't look all that suspicious, only like they were keeping their real power hidden until the finals.
"Will the winners of all the matches please come down so that I can assign you your first opponents in the Exam," Hayate called.
Everyone slowly filed down into the center of the arena and stood single file, waiting to see what would happen. Someone had to go and summon Kimimaro from the infirmary, and he appeared quickly and took a place between Gaara and Hinata. Hayate walked along the line and handed each of them a piece of paper. When Naruto received his, he unfolded it to see the number three written on it. Naruto shrugged and waited.
"As I'm sure you're all wondering, the number that you've received is going to be matched up by random with another number. They will be your first match. The Final Exam will be held one month from today," Hayate explained.
The computer began to whirl and the numbers began to match together.
"Alright," Sora growled, "Who has three?"
Naruto raised his hand, "Excellent," he said.
"Couldn't agree more," Sora smirked.
"Who has ten?" Kiyoko called out.
Hinata stepped forwards and bowed a little, "I look forwards to our match, Kiyoko-san, may the best ninja win."
Kiyoko looked like she was trying to find an insult in her words, and couldn't believe that there wasn't one. No one could be that polite!
Sasuke and Yumi's eyes met and both of them held out their numbers. Seven and one. Nothing was said, but Naruto felt like the look that they were giving one another spoke volumes. Naruto could practically see the sparks flying between them.
"Until then," Sasuke said.
"It will be interesting to see how you plan to carry out your revenge," Yumi said in her perpetually calm voice.
Neither bowed, and neither turned away from the other one. They simply ceased to acknowledge one another's existence. Well, it was better than just trying to kill one another at any rate. There would be plenty of time for that later, in the meantime both of them would probably attempt to spy on one another.
Shikamaru didn't seem to want to bother with attempting to find out just who his opponent was going to be, but he soon found out when Temari calmly walked up, grabbed the paper out of his hand, and looked at it.
"You're my opponent," she said looking him over, "You better train yourself hard, loser. I hate weak men. I have a tendency to kill them."
"...troublesome woman," Shikamaru groaned.
"Why do I always get the weird ones?" Temari complained to her brother, "First it was mister personality and now it's a guy who might just fall asleep in the middle of the match."
Kankuro shrugged.
Neji looked over at Naruto.
"Hey, Taiki, it looks like you're going to have to fight twice," He said, looking at the chart of matches.
"I have to fight you?" Naruto asked.
Neji just smirked.
"Just great. Why couldn't you have had to fight someone else? I hate fighting you," Naruto grumbled.
Fighting Neji was no easy feat, even when he wasn't using the Byakugan. The guy was smart and he knew all of Naruto weaknesses. A long time ago, he had been overconfident, and Naruto had beaten him. Neji had never made that mistake again. He firmly believed that everyone was to be assumed to be at least as powerful as himself and to be fought as such, even if he didn't treat them that way.
Kimimaro and Shino, being the last ones there, both bowed to one another.
"I will look forwards to our match, Yuuma-san," Shino said, "I hope that we both learn a great deal from the experience."
Kimimaro nodded, "I hope there is no undue tension between us because we are from different villages. After all, while a ninja serves his village faithfully, that doesn't mean that he must hate the ninja of other places."
"I agree,"
That was likely to be an interesting match, if it even came about.
Gaara was simply looking at Kankuro who was biting his lip as he stared at him. From what Naruto could read off of his face, Gaara was upsetting the puppeteer.
"The lineup is as follows," Hayate said, "Yumi and Masaru will fight one another first, followed by Taiki and Sora, Shikamaru and Temari, Rei and Kiyoko, Kankuro and Shinta, Yuuma and Shino and finally the winner of the first match against Haru. You all have exactly one mouth to prepare for the Exam. It will be held in the stadium at eight sharp. If you are not present for your match, you will be disqualified. Name, rank, or reputation will not prevent this.
"The Exam itself, as you can see, is a series of battles. The winner progresses to another battle, but the matches are judged not by who wins or loses but by who shows the mentality of a Chuunin. In this way a person who lost his first match could become a Chuunin, and the winner of the Exams might not. Do you all understand?"
There were some nods, but most of them just stared at him. Hayate coughed a little and generally looked sick, but seemed to steady himself.
"All of you are free to leave. There is an underground route out of the complex that you will be using. Foreign nin, you will be staying at the same hotel. Train well, and good luck in the exams," Hayate bowed a little bit and turned away, towards the stand where Danzou watched. The man seemed rather uninterested with the entire ordeal. Slowly, the participants of the Exams, filed either to their rooms to get any supplies that they had left there the previous night, the door that led to the tunnel or to the medical ward.
Hakumei went to check up on Sakura, who they found sitting up in her bed, looking bored, and talking to Haku. He seemed to have come through another door. Sakura was twirling some hair between her fingers as she spoke about some idle nonsense. There were a few medics nearby and one of them was Tsunade. Naruto gave no indication that he had ever seen her before in his life, and passed her without a glance.
"Emi," Sasuke said, not quite looking at her, "How are you feeling?"
"Nothing too damaged other than my pride. The medics here are pretty good, they patched up my arm fast, but they said I need to wear a cast for about a week or two. Annoying," Sakura said, "Ryou told me all about what happened with Yumi."
"She was begging for it," Sasuke sneered, "And I promise you, she'll pay for what she did to you."
Sakura gave him a strange look. Naruto couldn't quiet place it, but the closest emotion would have been worry. She didn't bite her lip or look down, but just for a moment, her eyes had narrowed and her lips had lightened.
"...Don't...push yourself too hard and...If you're fighting her and you have to surrender, do it," Sakura whispered.
"Never," Sasuke said angrily, "I'm not going to hold back, Emi, but don't worry, I'll be careful."
Sakura sighed, "I'm not going to get anywhere with you am I?" she grumbled, "Just don't do something incredibly stupid like that one time with the robber, alright?"
"That memory is going to be one of those that is brought up when we're both old, and you have to shout it for me to hear it isn't it?"
"Probably,"
Tsunade broke up the meeting by walking up to them and giving Sakura a clean bill of health (other than the cast) and all but shooing them all out. She walked fine, but seemed a little on the tired side. Sakura kept looking over at Sasuke, but seemed to think better of saying anything. Nothing would dissuade him from his vengeance anyways.
"Well, I guess I know that he cares about me," Naruto heard Sakura sigh to him, "But there's something really wrong with that girl...and I'm kind of worried that he might have chosen someone he can't beat right now."
"Don't worry," Naruto said, "We have a month to train, and a month is a surprisingly long time."
Omake: Cooking
Jiraiya and Tsunade looked with no little doubt at the soup that had been set before them by nine grinning children. Maybe telling them that they all needed to cook once a month wasn't a good idea after all.
The soup was...black. Food was not supposed to be black, and there were those little bright green...things floating around in it.
"I saw it move. I swear I just saw it move," Jiraiya hissed, "I won't eat anything that moved!"
Tsunade looked at the faces of the children and stared at the food. They had all tried so hard on this, and they were looking at them with this hopeful look that made her want to do anything in her power not to disappoint them. She heard Jiraiya cursing under his breath and knew he had looked up at the kids too.
Curse them and their soft hearted stupidity.
"You don't like it," Haku sounded a little disappointed, "it's okay, we can make something else..."
"No!" Tsunade said, "This is fine."
Quickly, before she could think better of it, Tsunade took a bite along with Jiraiya.
"This is...the best tasting...disgusting looking thing I've ever eaten..." Jiraiya said.
Tsunade agreed.
The kids looked very happy with themselves and dashed off to get dessert. As they left, Shizune dashed in, holding Tonton.
"Tsunade-sama, someone's been raiding the bottom part of the pantry. I wouldn't have told you, but everything down there is at least a year expired!"
Tsunade looked over at Jiraiya, who looked over at her.
Without a word, she punched him.