Part 1/2
::
Gai took a few minutes to think to himself as he sat in the Jounin Standby Station, waiting for news that the first exam had begun. He snapped out of it when Asuma and Kurenai joined him, taking the seats opposite him.
"Good morning!" he greeted them. "Have you sent your youthful students off to the Academy building?"
"Yeah, and turns out they're really letting T&I loose on this exam. Kotetsu and Izumo asked to mess around with the candidates before the exams officially started and Hokage-sama agreed," Asuma sighed with the shake of his head. "A genjutsu masking the third floor and not letting the competitors pass? They're having real fun with it this year."
"It's only a D-rank genjutsu. Those who want to become Chuunin should be able to see and dispel it with little difficulty," Kurenai said. Gai brightened.
"Then perhaps it was done to show other nations our true youth!" he exclaimed, blinding his friends with the white brightness of his teeth.
"Put those away," someone droned. Kakashi walked up to them and sat beside his long time friend.
"Kakashi! You've just dropped off you genin too, I see!" Gai smiled as he picked up his water cup. "What are your thoughts on the exam?"
"Considering the first proctor, I'm not concerned. They'll pass," Kakashi replied simply. Asuma blew out a stream of smoke and laid back against the salmon colored seats.
"You think they'll be fine with that sadist?"
"Morino Ibiki isn't someone they haven't been exposed to before," he informed, much to the others' interest. "Our team had been over to his house many times."
Gai spit out all the water in his mouth.
"What!?"
"When you say it like that you make it sound like a bad thing," yet another new voice mused from above. Sakura dropped onto the plant fixture behind Kakashi's shoulders as she marked some things down on a clipboard. Gai tilted his head at her curiously. "What he means is that they come on my invitation and the old man just happens to be there sometimes."
Kurenai blinked several times.
"You live with him?"
"He's been my legal guardian for the past four years," she clarified.
"It explains a lot," Kakashi commented. His eye twitched when she kicked the back of his head and stepped onto the linoleum floor.
"Anyway, sorry for the interruption, I'm just doing a count of all the jounin sensei," Sakura explained. "For security and stuff. By the way Kakashi, I ran into Momochi on the way here and he told me to tell you to meet him at the tea house when the exam's over—to talk about diplomacy or something."
"Fine, tell him I'll be there."
"Sure. The exam starts in ten minutes and will last a little over an hour, so try to find something to do other than being an asshole," she said. She waved to the other jounin before opening a window and hopping out. It was quiet between the four of them for a few moments before Asuma decided to break it.
"... It does explain a lot actually. Is she always this... quirky?"
"No."
Kakashi's eyes darkened.
"She's worse."
Gai—for once in a very long time—didn't immediately comment on Kakashi's laughable unfortunate circumstances. He kept a quiet gaze at the window Sakura left out of with a crease in his brow before his face was wiped to its usual jovial nature.
"Ah, Kakashi," he chided. "Sakura-san is just expressing her youth! What's so wrong about that?"
::
Sakura lounged on the roof of the Academy building with two other Military Police and someone from the Medical Unit. A muffled shout rang out from the room below and sighed.
"That was probably Naruto."
The Uchiha with gray hair tied in a high ponytail tilted his head in her direction.
"One of your old teammates?"
"Yup. He's got low impulse control," she grinned. "But you can't blame him. He only started after he saw me yell at an Academy teacher for intentionally giving him a bad grade. I don't know what happened to him, but I think he switched classes because I scared him off."
The medic-nin sitting cross-legged on the ledge scoffed and pointed an accusing finger at her.
"I've seen the damage you can do, Haruno," he said. "He better have left before you really did something. Academy student or not, I'm positive you would've broken his kneecaps or something."
"Hey, that was the same threat I used on Shisui-san a week ago!"
The female Uchiha— the fourth security guard on the rooftop— groaned.
"Shisui? Don't get me started on that guy. He's an amazing shinobi and all, but him talking makes up for the fact over half the clan doesn't."
They laughed.
Sakura turned to look over the general vicinity as a new conversation sprung up about the best forms of weapon care and searched. From her time in ROOT, she trained herself to sense many of the members due to her being around them so much and learning the types of techniques they used to mask their chakra. Meaning, if she focused long enough, she would be able to trace the faintest trails they left behind— a skill she acquired during her time in the war.
But they weren't there. None of the ROOT operatives were not in their normal positions in accordance to the warning she gave Danzo.
She grit her teeth.
Her rage was interrupted by another shout from down below, more distinctive than the first and definitely matching Naruto's angry outbursts. This time she could make out a few words like "Not giving up" and "bullshit" and a very pronounced "dattebayo!".
Naruto learned early one that Ibiki wasn't as bad as the rumors painted him and started to address him the same way he did with all the adults he was comfortable with. Suffice to say, she got a swift chop to the head from the old man who told her to stop ruining his reputation with the younger generations.
"Yo, tidbit! Hold this for a sec."
Sakura caught a banner flung her way. It was brown with roughly done calligraphy of Anko's name hastily painted in white ink. She glanced up at her sensei, unimpressed.
"This is overkill."
"This is a grand entrance!" Anko parried. "All those shits in that room who passed will know my name and fear me, got it? Now watch and learn how a pro does it."
And she watched as a grown woman snatched the banner from her hands, readied herself a distance away from the building, and launched herself through the window while screaming: "WHO'S READY FOR THE SECOND PART OF THE EXAM?!", soon followed by: "THE FUCK? IBIKI, WHY'S THERE SO MANY OF THEM THAT PASSED?!"
Sakura winced at the sheer volume of her voice and slowly backed away from the roof ledge.
"I'm going to make my report now," she said to the other guards. The medic-nin waved her off.
"Just be sure to tell Hokage-sama that Mitarashi destroyed public property," he replied. He paused as an afterthought drifted by. "Again."
She mentally outlined her oral report on her way to the Hokage Tower, trying to figure how to happily inform the Hokage that Anko broke another window from a different building. But once her hand raised to push open the door to the Tower, she made a decision to skirt around and enter ROOT HQ instead. She made her usual path, greeted every operative she came across, and threw Danzo's office door open so forcefully that it cracked the wall and nearly ripped off its hinges.
He wasn't in.
In fact, it looked as if he hadn't been in his office for days.
"That bastard," Sakura hissed.
::
Uchiha Fugaku was a busy man. Along with being the Clan Head who had demands to carry out and an image to uphold, he was the Commissioner General of the Military Police Force. Between both jobs, it left little time for other matters like family or sleep. Most of the time with those two, he had to pick one or the other.
He usually chose the former.
As he stepped outside the Police building, he noticed a slight movement in the corner of his eyes and turned his head towards the entrance of the compound, sharingan blazing beneath his brown bangs. Nothing. He frowned and shunshinned towards it, looking right and left for anything suspicious.
Still nothing. All he could see was a fresh coat of paint on the walls. He snorted— finally his request for upkeep was pushed through despite it not being the best of times to do so.
Perhaps he was being paranoid. That, or the lack of sleep was finally getting to him. But his frown deepened as he want back to the station; he would place guards there over the next few days in case his wariness didn't go unfounded.
::
The second exam started a week later, a week where Sakura spent nearly all her time holed up in Ibiki's office to help him fix up tens of stacks of documents that came with the end of the first exam. She realized two things during that time.
One: sugar and caffeine were cruel gods.
Two: paperwork was the creation of the devil.
But those days were gone for her at least. Ibiki just about kicked her out when they both realized they'd been working from morning to morning, him telling her that even an insomniac like her should get some rest after being awake for 72 hours straight. So here she was now, hiding among the dark thicket of trees at the edge of Training Ground 44, peering at the competitors alongside numerous other shinobi guards.
"Alright, maggots!" Anko shouted from below. "These papers being passed around are liability forms, so sign your names and hand it back to the desks here up front!"
"Liability?" one of the 78 remaining genin asked. Anko grinned.
"If any one of you brats die, it won't be Konoha's fault," she sang— horribly, as her tone-deaf self would. Most of the guards cringed while a good chunk of the other genin shivered. "And it'll give us enough information to ship your bodies back in pretty little coffins if you do. Why do you think the papers ask for your measurements?"
Sakura looked up the whisper of her name and saw Obito gazing down at her from a few branches up. He'd been slated to the same security assignment as her.
"You didn't pick up her crazy too, did you?" he questioned seriously. She smothered a laugh and looked back down at the scene unfurling below her. She scanned and scanned and scanned, but Orochimaru was nowhere in the crowd. Her eyes hardened and her smile became strained.
"Maybe just a bit."
She and the rest of the guards watched as Anko raised her arm with two fingers pointed towards the sky and left to man the sections they were assigned to before their shifts started. Sakura retreated to the interior near the center of the Tower and settled in a place by the door at five o'clock.
The exam would last for eleven days. The guard shifts were in rotations of twelve hour periods: twelve on site, twelve on break. It was generous but no one had the gall to complain. Besides, they weren't the ones taking the test. Why should they suffer?
As she glanced at her field watch, Yori climbed onto her shoulder from the bark of a nearby tree.
"All the other scorpion summons are in their positions," he informed. "And Sasori-san just received the timetable for rotations. He'll be able to avoid every Konoha nin."
"Good, thanks. It'll get pretty boring here, though. If it's anything like last time, the first ones who pass should be here in a few hours," she said. Yori's tail swayed.
"That soon?"
"Gaara is very... formidable," she explained with a smile. "He might not be as bloodthirsty this time, but he's more than qualified to take these exams. Now."
She grinned and pulled out a deck of cards from her uniform jacket.
"Want to play gin rummy while we wait?"
Sakura didn't necessarily need to pay attention to what type of trouble the competing teams would be getting into and she wasn't worried. Team Seven had trained for this and would get a promotion this time. As for the other teams... maybe their luck and skill set would be on their side. It worked for them well enough in the other time.
What she did happen to do, though, was make another name for herself among the jounin who guarded the area. During their breaks were many of them sat outside the grounds to wait for their shirts, they eventually grew board by the third day and started a small gambling ring. And of course she had to join; it felt like her obligation to put everyone else in their place with the skills she perfected under Tsunade in her last life and over the years of gambling and bar betting in this life when she had to earn money without a shinobi's income.
By the eleventh day, she gained over 7,000 ryo, the tears of her comrades, a shannaro victory cry, and the nickname "Mongoose".
Mongoose. Like the animal. Petite in size, social, cat-like, and an excellent hunter— a hunter that was able to snatch the money from their wallets without trying.
But back to the exam.
Seven teams managed to pass and, to Sakura's interest and discomfort, it was the exact same set of teams that succeeded last time even if they arrived in a different order. Team Baki was first and arrived within hours of starting the exam, Team Kakashi arrived the next afternoon. Team Gai on day five, Team Kurenai on day seven, Team Dosu on day eight, and both Team Asuma and Team Kabuto on day ten.
Sakura surveyed the remaining twenty-one genin that arranged themselves before the Godaime. She hid on the ceiling beams above the tower's arena along with a one other guard who was interest enough to see who would pass on to the actual finals.
"Are we even allowed to be up here?" Obito whispered from across from her. She fixed him with a blank stare.
"You're seriously asking that now? After we snuck in through the roof?"
She started at the horror in his face for a moment— but not his eyes, she couldn't do that for long periods of time yet— before her cheeks puffed out and she looked back down below.
"Just kidding. We're still security, just in an unorthodox area," she said. "And these wood beams are sturdy, so why not?"
"I'm still wondering where these came from because this arena absolutely didn't have beams the last time I was here. Which was yesterday."
Sakura made a motion for him to lower his voice.
"I have a friend who's good at carpentry."
"That can put big-ass beams on the ceiling in one day?"
"Shh, Hokage-sama's talking!" she hushed. Obito merely shook his head with a smile, knowing fully well he wouldn't get answer out of her and looked down at the arena. The proctors and other T&I members were lined at either side of the Hokage while the sensei of the teams who passed stayed in a straight line near the back.
Orochimaru wasn't there.
"Before I begin, I'd like to take the time to explain the true purpose of these exams, " Dan began. "Why do nations conduct these exams? Not just the allies, but with the neutrals as well? Because raising levels of friendship among one another is the primary goal here, despite personal feelings we may have."
Kakashi, in the line of genin sensei, stood his ground through a sudden flashback of explosions, falling metal, and the anguished cries of his students. His forehead scrunched up slightly at the thought before he forcefully shoved it to the back of his head and kept listening to the Hokage.
"These exams are like a microcosm of battles between the nations, so to speak. Throughout history, instead of trying to decimate each other's forces, a place of battle was selected and certain shinobi were picked to engage. Time passes and those battles would soon come to be known as the Chuunin Exams. People all over the world had watched and will watch. The ones who present a certain..." Dan paused to consider the right word, "unbridgeable power then represent the nations in which job offers will steadily flow."
Sakura saw his crystal blue eyes flicker in her direction for a fraction of a second before he warmly regarded the genin that stood before him.
"Using that, pressure is exerted on the weaker nations to become stronger and pass the standard the the exams set every year," he said. Kiba frowned from where he stood.
"So we have to fight for our lives because of this?" the Inuzuka questioned. Akamaru quivered as he pressed himself against his partner's chest, whimpering quietly and trying to make himself as inconspicuous as possible. The red haired Suna boy was scaring him no matter how kind he looked.
Dan nodded.
"The nation's strength is the village's strength. The village's strength is the shinobi's strength. And a shinobi's true strength is created from fighting for one's life!" he declared. Sakura saw the awe in many of the genin's expression and looked away for a while, eyes downcast and full of shame. "This exam is created to measure the strength of a country's home shinobi. The first two tests were a precursor to this— the real exam. The real fight."
His eyes swept over the remaining candidates.
"This is where is all begins. Good luck. I'll leave the rest to the proctor of the third exam: Shiranui Genma!"
Genma stepped up after a respectful bow and began to talk about the stipulations of what was about to happen next.
Back up on the beams, Obito raised his head to make a comment, stopping when he saw the disgrace painted on her skin.
A shinobi's true strength is created from fighting for one's life.
He wanted to tell her he was sorry. To tell her that he wished she grew up loving herself instead of wanting to die because of what his look-alike did to her. To tell her that she was worth getting help, worth getting better, worth living.
Obito wanted to tell her she was worth everything she thought she wasn't.
But he couldn't. Not after seeing that look on her face.
"Only half of you will move onto the next round, and these preliminaries will determine just who will be the ones to do that," Genma said, bringing Obito's attention back downwards. "You'll be fighting a randomly generated opponent and will keep fighting until one surrenders or one can't fight any longer. Now there's twenty-one of you, so one of you lucky brats get to—"
Someone from a Konoha team raised their hand. The silver-haired one with the round glasses.
"Excuse me, I would like to withdraw," he smiled. Obito blinked. He looked at Sakura again to see that she was peering curiously at the candidate, all traces of her earlier feelings washed away. So she thought it was strange too.
"That's Yakushi Kabuto," Sakura informed quietly. "If I read his file correctly, this is his seventh time competing and he'd never made it this far before."
"Seven? That's kind of a ridiculous number."
"Tell me about it. It also said that he trains at the Konoha hospital most of the time," she said, narrowing her eyes. "That also gives a hint that he can control his chakra better than average. Why would he quit?"
Obito shrugged and adjusted his sitting position.
"If he's studying to be a medic-nin, maybe he wasn't anticipating to be in the preliminaries. Medics aren't too skilled at offensive techniques because they're the ones who need to be the least injured, but they're incredible at avoidance and defense. Maybe he thinks he can't make it that way," he suggested. At his distraction over the odd genin, Sakura moved her hand down to her pocket and tapped a message in morse code.
-.- .- -... ..- - --- .-.-.- / - --- -. .. --. .... - .-.-.- / .--. .-. . .--. .- .-. . .-.-.-
Kabuto. Tonight. Prepare.
Yori quickly received it and crawled out of her pocket to find Sasori and Hidan.
::
Back at the arena, all the genin along with their sensei had been ushered to the above ground viewing platforms to wait for the first assignments. Much to Kurenai's and Asuma's continuous shock, their genin had smooshed together with Kakashi's into one large, nine-person group and were talking amongst each other. Even Gai's genin weren't too far away from them, lending an ear every now and then.
"They were in the same Academy class before Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura graduated," Kakashi informed blandly.
"They're all good friends?"
"Apparently."
The randomizer high up on one of the walls suddenly activated. Names lit up and started flashing for a few seconds before the first two genin were decided.
Uchiha Sasuke v. Akado Yoroi
Sasuke grunted and leapt over the railing and onto the stone floor as his opponent, Yoroi, descended down the stairs. Yoroi was dressed in mostly purple with a loose mask covering his face and a pair of sunglasses hiding his eyes. He was noticeably larger and older than Sasuke was, but all that mattered in battles like this was cultivation of skill. No one deserved to be underestimated.
Though Yoroi, on the other hand, had a completely different thought pattern as he observed the twelve year old who didn't bother to wear his clan colors of blue, black, or white. The boy was bold— big whoop.
How special could he be that Orochimaru wanted him?
The took opposite sides of the stadium. Genma stepped in the middle with his hand outstretched and his gaze moving from side to side.
"No holding back. A surrender is a loss. Being unable to continue is a loss," he reminded. "Ready?"
Yoroi flexed his fingers. Sasuke cracked his neck.
"Begin!"
Yoroi charged first. His hands glowed blue as he swiped at Sasuke as quick as he could. Left, right up, down, horizontal, vertical, diagonal— it was a mess of carefully calculated movements that Sasuke avoided with ease. This was nothing compared to what he had to suffer those couple years ago in Wave. There were far more of them last time and the had a bloodlust that clogged his throat.
But his opponent managed to swipe his fingers against some of Sasuke's hair for a moment, and that was all the latter needed to figure out why he'd been attacked so quickly. His hair being barely touched resulted in a small fraction of his strength escaping him like he was being drained.
'He absorbs energy,' Sasuke realized as he dodged another hand and jumped backwards. 'I can't make physical contact with his skin. Either way, I'll have to end this soon.'
His hands flew through a series of seals as his eyes bled into the standard three-pronged sharingan.
"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!"
A grand fireball erupted from his lips and towards his opponent. Yoroi met the technique with one of his own; a water jutsu soared towards the fire and collided with enough force for the whole bottom arena to be covered in a thin layer of mist. Uncaring of the visible disadvantage, Sasuke charged in headfirst and lashed out a quick side kick to try and get Yoroi to meet his eye—
'The mist looks like the one on the bridge. The one where Sakura almost died.'
—he faltered slightly and ducked, Yoroi's hand barely skimming his skin and drawing out a little more of his energy. The Uchiha exhaled sharply, feeling his rage rising against all the anger management techniques he employed before starting the exam. The drawings, the breathing exercises, the punching bag in his room that he ripped to shreds...
He faced his opponent and bared his teeth.
'Screw it. He's going to be my punching bag today.'
Without warning, he distracted Yoroi with a simple D-rank genjutsu as he dove to the ground, spun on his hands, and landed and anger-infused kick to the underside of his opponent's chin so strong that the crack echoed in everyone's ears. But he wasn't done yet.
Sasuke launched himself onto the railing near where Naruto stood— earning himself a shout— and vaulted higher in the air until he met the wooden beams on the ceiling. Then with a war cry, he pulsed chakra into his feet and shot down at Yoroi with bullet speed, his heel aiming for the other's chest.
It met its target and practically broke his sternum.
"SHANNARO!"
Yoroi was slammed into the stone floor, head meeting the ground so harshly that Sasuke was sure he'd fractured the other's skull in a number of places as he fell unconscious. Sasuke stood and let a medical team rush over and quickly tend to the bloody remains of his opponent.
Genma raised a straight arm.
"Winner: Uchi—pfft—Uchiha Sasuke!"
Sasuke raised an eyebrow at the proctor, but Genma just waved his hands as small bouts of laughter left his lips. He grew even more incredulous at the sound of Naruto's laughter and looked up, seeing his idiot of a friend grasping the railing for dear life as he laughed so hard that he started crying. Strangely enraged, he stomped back up the steps and loomed over his teammate.
"What's so funny?" he snapped.
"You- You just- you just," Naruto heaved, gasping for air and laughing at the same time. "You just yelled shannaro, 'ttebayo!"
Sasuke cheeks immediately went bright red.
"I didn't."
His now black eyes shot to Kakashi, his whole face now glowing red at the sight of his sensei covering his mouth with one hand and avoiding eye-contact with him.
"I didn't," he repeated furiously. "You were imagining it."
He twisted around to his other genin friends who were somewhere on the spectrum between Kakashi's silent amusement and Naruto's howls of laughter. If it were possible, he went even redder.
"I didn't!"
::
Sakura let a tear run down her cheek.
"Sasuke, following in my footsteps," she sniffed. "Aw, look how embarrassed he is! I need to take a picture! Do you think Itachi-san would want a copy? I think he'd want a copy."
Obito chuckled and watched the randomizer light up again.
::
Abumi Zaku v. Aburame Shino
Shino received many claps on the back and murmurs of encouragement from his friends as he went down the stairs and onto the battleground. Zaku, on the other hand, grinned arrogantly as he descended the opposite flight of stairs as he took his place. His arms were wrapped after sustaining a small injuries through the messes of teams they went through to get here, but no matter. He wouldn't let that bother him.
"We'll start the second match," Genma announced, eyeing the bandages wrapped around Zaku's arms. "Ready?"
"Are you in sustainable condition to fight?" Shino inquired. Zaku clicked his tongue as he shakily slid one arm out of a sling, poising it in front of him.
"One arm is enough to take you down!" the sound-nin growled. Genma's outstretched arm retracted.
"Begin!"
Zaku charged with his free hand swinging to connect with the right side of Shino's head, but the latter blocked it without difficulty, not sparing so much as a grunt when their arms clashed.
"You can't defeat me with one arm."
"Watch!"
There was a small metal circle implanted in the center of Zaku's palm made for the use of certain types of jutsu: ones that related to sound or vibrations. The circle hummed for a second before an intense explosion of noise propelled Shino to the ground.
"Zankūha!"
The blow should have knocked Shino unconscious and maybe tore his eardrums to shreds, but he merely pushed himself back onto his feet as a buzzing sound fell over the arena. Zaku, struck, looked all around him for the source until his eyes fell on his opponent's face. The small holes had opened up in the skin beneath Shino's eyes as a mass of black insects crawled out.
Chouji tilted his head thoughtfully from his place on the platform.
"I think he got a new colony," he said. Zaku took a step back. Colony?
"What type of shit are you trying to pull?" he hissed. He couldn't see any indication of an answer, but he did turn to look over his shoulder when the buzzing grew louder and louder and louder. Behind him, the hive manifested itself in one, pitch black entity.
"Nothing," Shino answered. "All intents of attacking you are very much tangible."
Zaku readied his palm again by extending it in front of him. The bugs were disgusting, but what could they do? Intimidate him? He was a loyal shinobi to Orochimaru through and through and a stupid brat's magic trick wasn't going to cut jack shit from him.
"Zankū—"
He stopped when a surging pain flared in his skin and his jutsu wouldn't come to fruition. Zaku slowly twisted his palms where he could see it, eyes going wide at the sight of bugs clogging his pathways.
"I asked if you were in suitable condition to fight," Shino said. He shunshinned behind his opponent and clocked the side of his face to send him crashing into the ground. "You didn't have to lie."
Genma stepped in.
"Winner: Aburame Shino!"
Haku tapped Naruto's shoulder and cast him a questioning glance.
"How does he control insects like that?" he asked. Naruto thought for a few seconds with his chin sat on the railing.
"So, it's something like this, right?" the Uzumaki began. The Konoha jounin turned their attention to him. "When people in the Aburame Clan are born, they get their own sets of bugs to take care of. In exchange for using them in battle, the bugs get to live in their host's bodies while... eating their chakra?"
"That's how Shibi-san explained it," Shikamaru added with a yawn. "But if you want more of the details, you can ask Shino himself. Or talk to Sakura. You know her better."
The fact that the genin had been able to get to know the details of such a reclusive clan and actually come into contact with their equally reclusive Clan Head meant that they'd actually done a better job at clan relations than their parents had. Then again, it was also unheard of for members of most of Konoha's prominent clans to be on such a friendly basis to the point where they could start sharing clan techniques.
Gai peered at his comrade's faces, seeing a similar realization cross their faces. Asuma and Kurenai looked like they had to do more digging in their team's relationships with each other, but Kakashi looked like he already knew.
What did his old friend know, exactly?
After Shino climbed back up the steps, his friends and Kurenai readily congratulated him on his win.
::
"Uchiha-san."
"What's up, Sakura?"
"Remind me to buy some winter melon candies after we leave," she said. The randomizer flashed after Zaku had been carried away on a stretcher.
::
Tsurugi Misumi v. Sabaku no Kankuro
"That guy..." Sasuke murmured, staring at the randomizer. "The one we met before the exams started?"
"That's the asshole," Naruto huffed.
Tsurugi Misumi was the last remaining member of Team Kabuto. The mask over his face greatly resembled Yoroi's, but his round-rimmed glasses made him appear more like Kabuto. By the time Kankuro made his way to stand across from him, he unlatched the bandaged mass from his back and propped it up beside him.
"I'll be sure to end this quickly," he sneered. Misumi narrowed his eyes.
"I won't let you do a damn thing."
Genma raised his arm.
"Begin!"
::
Sakura watched with interest as Misumi made the first move by slamming his forearm into Kankuro's, then using some elasticity technique to wrap his limbs around the Sand-nin's arms, legs, and neck to leave him immobile. She didn't pay too much attention to this fight in the other timeline because before it was over in a snap and was rather uninteresting, but now she could see why she thought so.
While Misumi's technique was unique, it was a less effective offensive tactic. Though he would be able to bind his opponent to the point of stillness, bones were breakable and he would've been better off if he wasn't alone if he used it.
Kankuro's neck snapped and he went limp, but both Sakura and Obito were unperturbed.
"Puppet?" he asked.
"Puppet," she affirmed with a nod. Misumi was taken aback when the entity he thought was Kankuro jerkily twisted it's head, a wooden eye eerily peering at him through the broken remains of the "Kankuro" mask.
"You've had your fun," the puppet informed through the cracked lips of the mask. "Now it's my turn. Isn't that great?"
Six spindly arms came out of the puppets side to full entrap Misumi's body and squeeze him to the point where he could feel his spine threatening to break. The real Kankuro came out of the white bindings and smiled and Misumi fell over from his inability to move.
"Didn't I tell you I'd end this quickly?"
Genma called it there.
"Winner: Sabaku no Kankuro!"
::
Haku v. Yamanaka Ino
When the randomizer showed her name along with the genin from Kirigakure, Ino knew she was screwed. Haku was the one who'd been on that unfortunate mission to Wave with Team Seven, and if he was anything like Sasuke, Naruto, or Sakura in general, then he was way out of her league and there was no point in fighting him in the first place.
But she made her way down to the arena anyways and stood her ground as Haku took his place in front of her. If he was fast, she couldn't use her Shintenshin to take over his consciousness and have him surrender. She could always trap him and force the technique onto him— but then again, if his speed was too great, then she couldn't use any mind tricks.
Genma looked at the two competitors.
"Ready?"
Both Ino and Haku nodded once and he lifted his hand.
"Begin!"
Her hands immediately went for her senbon glazed in paralytic poison, but Haku had already gone through the hand seals of ox-snake-ram and opened his mouth, expelling a cloud of mist that veiled the entire first floor of the arena.
Ino could see nothing, and neither could the spectators.
"You use poisoned senbon too?" Haku questioned. His voice floated over to her from all directions. "It's not too often you see something like that in Konoha, but you probably should've tried to attack me with the them before I used this technique."
"A mistake on my part," she admitted. She spun around once and unleashed a ring of senbon to try and catch Haku unawares, but failed when his soft voice popped up again.
"Ah, you missed. And I don't think you should try your sensing technique for this one. This mist is created with my chakra, therefore holds the same signature as I do. You can try to use it, but you won't find me."
Ino did try and she didn't find him.
"If I don't give, you're probably just going to knock me out too, huh?"
"Yes."
She sighed and pocketed the rest of her senbon. She knew a loss when she saw one and Haku was far too advanced for her to even get a hit in on him— that and there were six other fights she wanted to watch.
"I surrender!" she shouted into the mist. Genma's voice echoed back to her.
"Winner: Haku!"
::
"That's the first surrender of the day," Obito commented. He watched as the mist then disappeared as quickly as it came with Haku standing in the exact same place he had been when the match started. "I think that was a good idea too. That Kiri kid is currently being trained by Momochi Zabuza, right? No offense, but I think he would've ripped her to shreds if given the chance."
Sakura remembered Sasuke's near death in the other time due to Haku's incredible prowess.
"At least we're not enemies," she said. "Then we could've had real problems."
::
Tenten v. Sabaku no Temari
Genma clacked his senbon between his teeth a few times before looking back and forth between the two kunoichi making their way down to the floor. He was surprised to find that the Sand shinobi were on a whole different league than what he was expecting, but these were also the Kazekage's three children. They were bound to have some form of specialized training one way or another.
"Do your best, Tenten!" Lee cheered. Tenten didn't acknowledge him, as she was locked in a silent stare off with the Kazekage's eldest. What was that on her back? A fan? Wind-natured, then.
Genma lifted his arm and stepped back.
"Begin!"
Tenten's eyes as she jumped backwards to lengthen the gap between them. Temari hadn't made any movement yet, but her aura had changed so suddenly that her only instinct was to avoid whatever would come her way. Lee's rocketing cries of encouragement could be heard to everyone until Sasuke hissed a scathing quiet in his direction.
But other than that, the two who were supposed to be fighting had yet to start a first attack.
"You've got to start sooner or later," Genma piped up. "So like I said: begin."
"You're waiting for me to make my move?" Temari smirked. She took one step forward, and Tenten took one step back. "A useless tactic. Once I start, you'll be over in a second. It won't matter what you do— come at me!"
Tenten steadied herself and reached to her waist to pull out a scroll.
"Your words, not mine!"
She leapt in the air and spun until the length of the scroll unraveled and encased the space around her body. Weapons of all types fly towards their target— kunai, shuriken, tantos, sickles— but none of them made their mark. They scattered themselves around Temari's feet as they dripped with some sort of odd liquid that smelled like...
The sand-nin's eyes widened as she grabbed the base of her fan and opened it to two thirds of the way, showing a pair of purple circles in its center.
... it smelled like gasoline!
The scroll in Tenten's hands retracted as she threw her last weapon: a kunai with an explosive tag tied to the end.
"Take this!"
The tower rocketed with an enormous explosion.
::
"Holy shit..." Sakura murmured, her eyes gleaming. "That was the flashiest move so far and it was awesome."
Obito was a little less enthralled as he smacked at the bit of his pant leg that caught on fire.
::
But the smoke that shrouded the fight was soon blown away by a gust of wind. Temari, covered in soot and scratches, had a grimace on her face. She hadn't expected that stupid little stunt and she wasn't about to let that girl ruin her chances at advancing to the finals.
"I'm done fooling around with you!" she growled. "Kamaitachi no Jutsu!"
Temari opened her fan to it's full extent and swung it twice, hurling a gale of chakra-coated wind her opponent's way. Tenten was instantly enveloped— air currents colliding around her and carrying her mid-air as countless invisible carved shallow cuts all over her body. When the wind dissipated and her body careened towards the ground, Temari extended her fan's hilt out to catch her by the spine.
Genma intervened then.
"Winner: Sabaku no Temari!"
Kiba recoiled a bit at the blood that spilled from Tenten's mouth.
"Hey... isn't that a bit much?"
"No," Sasuke replied. He crossed his arms and felt the stares of the other Konoha-nin. "You heard what Hokage-sama said earlier; these exams are a power show. Sunagakure and Konoha have been measuring each other up for a long time."
To their collective surprise, Naruto shared his teammate's sentiment.
"I don't like it, but..." he paused and thought of the sight of Sakura killing the missing-nin who ambushed them on their way to Wave. "I'm kinda surprised Sabaku didn't do more."
But he felt like he should've retracted that statement when Temari just chucked Tenten onto the ground and started to walk way. There it was— that subtle brutality that came with being neutrals and not allies and having a silent war of who would end up on top.
"Tenten!" Lee cried, leaping down into the arena.
::
"Is it just me or does that kid look absolutely suspiciously like Maito Gai?" Obito asked as he watched Lee onto the battle floor to help his fallen teammate. Sakura lit up at the sight of him standing up for Tenten.
"He's on Maito-san's team and trains in taijutsu just like his sensei, so don't be surprised if he grows up just like him."
Gai was able to mediate Lee and Temari before anything serious started, allowing the randomizer to flicker on again.
::
Tsuchi Kin v. Nara Shikamaru
"Me," Shikamaru mumbled. "Come on, what a drag."
Ino punched his side before pushing him towards the stairs.
"Stop complaining, get down there, and win!" she ordered. He let out a deep sigh and sauntered down into the arena while muttering how troublesome everything was all the way down. With his hands stuffed in his pockets, he regarded his opponent with blank eyes.
"You could give up now," Kin smirked. He sighed again and Genma made his call.
"Begin!"
Shikamaru's hands melded into a rat seal.
"Kagemane no Jutsu!" he called out. His shadow surged forward to try and catch Kin's shadow, but she did well enough to dash to the side and avoid it as he shot a pair of senbon towards his head. He ducked to avoid it, turning to see a small silver bell attached to the end of each one. He expected her to send another bout his way with a mix of one with bells and one without so that he wouldn't hear some of the ones in the batch.
But he could be wrong. He knew he was smart, but that just meant he could be presumptuous in his assumptions sometimes.
So Shikamaru kept his mouth shut.
"Nothing to say?" she taunted. Wires became visible in her hands as she tugged, the bells behind him ringing loud in his inner ear. The gears in his head started to turn once Kin's image started multiplying and he couldn't tell which one was the real one any longer.
"I'm trapped in a genjutsu," he winced, the ringing growing in his ears. "Is that what you wanted to hear?"
"It's what happens to anyone who hears my bells. You won't be able to do anything, will you? Your shadow doesn't know where to go. You don't know where to look," she grinned. Kin took out three more senbon and threw them, the metal lodging in Shikamaru's forearm and shoulder. "I'll draw this out slowly so that your loss will be more humiliating."
He blinked at her.
"Or," he said. She narrowed her eyes.
"Or?"
"Or you could be the only to lose instead. It'll be less troublesome," he continued. The genjutsu abruptly ended as Kin's arm was forced to her side. Shikamaru stood and gestured to the wire and the thin shadow that was cast beneath it.
"Wires can't have shadows at this height," he explained at her angry scowl. "You should've noticed that."
He reached into his weapons pouch and pulled out a single shuriken, Kin doing the same. Her eyes widened.
"What are you doing?!" she hissed. "If you throw this, it'll be over for the both of us, you idiot!"
Shikamaru chucked it at her— Kin mimicking him and launching her own— and bent backwards to avoid getting hit. As he landed on his hands, the back of Kin's head smacked against the stone walls.
"I'm not an idiot," he replied to her now unconscious body, flipping back onto his feet. "I just knew how far away you were from the wall."
::
"...Did he just yawn after his fight?" Obito asked.
"Shikamaru's as lazy as they come," Sakura sighed. "Won't do anything willingly that doesn't involve cloud-watching, shogi, or sleeping."
::
Uzumaki Naruto v. Inuzuka Kiba
The randomizer spouted out two more names.
As Naruto saw his name light up on the board, he and Kiba shared a nod and took the opposite sides of the floor. Waiting around for Genma to start the match, his mind drifted off to a conversation he had with Sakura months ago, a little after she finally found a hobby.
Naruto sat in Sakura's living room with a plate of freshly baked cookies in his hands. Sasuke couldn't hang out them them, unfortunately, saying something along the lines of his father making him stay at the compound for clan business the rest of the week.
Sakura pointed to the whiteboard she still had yet to return to the Academy and gestured with her marker.
"You have four strong points in battle, Naruto."
"... You really did steal that whiteboard huh, Sakura-chan?"
"You have four strong points in battle, Naruto," she repeated. He stuck his tongue out before really considering what she just told him.
"Four? I thought I only have three: stamina, chakra level, and close use," he said. Sakura turned back to the board to write down a bulleted list of his strengths.
"You did, but over training you've started to utilize stealth. If you practice it more consciously, you can start attributing it to your speed. Remember the kunai I gave you for your tenth birthday?"
Naruto thought tot he set of kunai hanging on his wall next to his nightstand that held up his bonsai tree wrapped in a red scarf.
"Yeah. What about them?"
Genma raised an arm to start the match as Naruto readied his hands.
"Begin!"
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
Ten clones appeared and charged at Kiba at an alarmingly quick speed. All of them brandished regular kunai and swiped at their opponent's head with silent, deadly accuracy. Listening to the fight and hearing a normally obnoxious boy go quiet at the drop of the pin made many of the spectators start to regard him more closely.
Kiba managed to claw at the clones with some struggle as he reached into his back pouch and pulled out a small red pill.
"Akamaru!" he barked. The dog yipped before rounding the fight and catching the pill in his mouth. Suddenly, he burst into smoke and turned into an exact copy of Kiba. Both their eyes turned to slits and matching growls emanated from their throats.
Naruto flipped open his kunai pouch.
Sakura capped her marker with the smile she used whenever she was planning something.
"We're going to meet a friend of mine tomorrow," she said, picking up one of the cookies. "His name's Namiashi Raido. He used to be on the Yondaime Hokage's Guard Platoon with Genma, and we're going to teach you how to use those kunai."
He wiped the sweat from his brow then summoned another ten clones to keep up the offensive. There was no problem using that technique, He was still far from perfecting it, but he had to try it out on an actual opponent to see if he could utilize it in a tricky situation.
When he pulled out a pair of three-pronged kunai and twirled them on his fingers, the air around him bloomed into shocked whispers coming from the higher-ranked spectators.
"No way—"
"Are those—"
"How did—"
"When could he—"
Naruto paid them no mind. Their words didn't matter.
He had a match to win.
Kiba charged though the clones with an animalistic snarl and started sprinting across to the other side of the arena where the real Naruto and two of his clones had taken refuge.
'One shot, one shot,' Naruto chanted internally. 'I've got one shot to make this right... but what if I try...?'
When Kiba was halfway across the stadium, Naruto threw one of his kunai. It was too far to hit his friend in the face and he side-stepped to avoid getting grazed— just as Naruto expected— and once it made it a fraction past his ear, Kiba watched as a tanned hand formed the Seal of Confrontation.
Then disappeared.
The next thing anyone knew or barely moved to comprehend, Naruto had both kunai in his hands again as he landed on Kiba's back and hit the pressure point on the base of his neck, rendering him unconscious. His clones had tackled Akamaru and turned him back to his dog form, locked in their arms and trying to bite and wiggle to escape.
Genma was one of the first to regain his bearings and cleared his throat.
"Winner: Uzumaki Naruto!"
Naruto hefted himself onto his feet, tripping and bumbling and spinning over nothing for so long that Kakashi had to eventually drop down in the area, pick him up by the scruff of his jacket, then bring him up to the platform where the boy slumped against the wall.
Kakashi crouched down beside him.
"Where did you learn that technique?" he questioned.
"Raido-s-sa-san is veeerrrry hel-pel-fel-ful," Naruto slurred. His eyes were swirling. "Why's everythin' so re-vo-lo-vol-ving- HURK!"
Kakashi stepped away fast enough to avoid having throw up on his sandals. Naruto fell to the side and sprawled himself out face down.
"I'mma... I'mma nap a... 'lil..."
::
Obito was still in sheer awe at what Naruto had managed to do after Kiba had been sent to the infirmary and Naruto had fainted from the dizziness he sustained from using a space/time ninjutsu. That was the Yondaime's technique. Minato-sensei's technique. And his legacy was learning it.
"To think he'd pick it up..." he murmured. Sakura, deciding to play the game knowing well enough to what he was alluding to, cocked her head.
"What are you talking about?"
He noticed his slip up and shook his head.
"Nothing. It's just that the jutsu he used is S-ranked and I didn't expect a genin to have clearance on it," he said. Obito observed her accusingly. "You had something to do with it, didn't you?"
She smiled.
She didn't even deny it.
::
Hinata nervously fiddled with the tips of her fingers. The five people she was left to fight were people she'd rather not have to engage in battle with. Chouji was her friend, Lee was extremely nice, the Sound-nin looked to be as volatile as his last two teammates, the Sand-nin was probably as powerful as his teammates, and Neji...
She really, really didn't want to fight Neji.
So as the randomizer started up again and displayed the next fight, her face went as pale as her eyes.
Hyuuga Neji v. Hyuuga Hinata
A hand came down to gently clasp her shoulder. She looked over and met Shino's gaze, seeing some of his encouragement through his dark glasses.
"Don't let those mosquitoes go to waste, Hinata," he said. She was abruptly imbued with a new resolve in herself. She nodded.
"Y-Yes!"
She was going to be her very best.
She was going to make Sakura proud.
Kurenai watched the short interaction between her remaining two students before Hinata walked down the stairs with her head held high. That girl never had a penchant for confidence, and if she did, it only lasted for mere seconds. Along with that, she knew well enough that Hyuuga Neji was one of the many people in her clan that instilled fear in her heart.
She looked at Shino.
"Mosquitoes?"
He kept his eyes glued to the match that was about to start.
"At least 2,000 of them," he replied. Getting a feeling she wouldn't a get straight answer out of her student, her piercing red eyes moved down to the arena as well. Once Neji and Hinata were toe-to-toe, the former spoke.
"I didn't think I'd be the one to fight you, Hinata-sama."
She clenched her fists and kept her chin up.
"Neji-nii-san," she returned. "It will be an honor to fight you one on one."
Neji narrowed his eyes. Kurenai walked closer to the railing. Lee leaned over, making sure he heard right. And Gai... Gai stayed back against the wall, his eyebrows pulled together as he tried to understand the sudden change in the normally shy and stuttering Hyuuga heiress.
Genma felt the shift in the air that came from the two and let the corner of his lips quirk up— well, well. Wasn't this interesting?
He raised his hand and stepped back.
"Begin!"
"I should advise you, Hinata-sama," Neji said as he dropped into offensive stance. "You should withdraw now. You're not fit to be a shinobi and you never will be. You're too kind and won't have what it takes— someone like you will never make it in a world like this."
There was a wave of silence.
Then Hinata placed one foot back, tucked her left hand to her side, and held her right hand up, palm facing outward. Her eyes shone with the byakugan and a determination he had never seen before.
"Th-Then I'll show you what it's like to fight someone like m-me!"
She charged forward.
::
Kurenai could clearly remember the time when she got her team assignment and saw Hyuuga Hinata's file in her hands. She didn't know whether or not it was alright to take care of an heiress from one of the most esteemed clan in Konoha and decided to make a trip to the estate to confirm for herself.
When Kurenai opened the door to the Hyuuga training room, she found Hiashi alone as he polished one of the many kendo bokken he had on a mantle.
"What is it?" he questioned. He didn't look up from his polishing.
"Hinata's going to be under my wing from now on," she informed. "I was wondering if that was alright with you. Since she's the heiress to your clan, I understand if you would like to keep her under your care since death is a risk that can't be lessened."
Hiashi stood and set the bokken back in its place.
"Do what you want," he said.
"Hyuuga-sama?"
"She has yet to show anything for this clan, but due to some... unexpected changes, she is on the middle-ground of being a failure or success. Which one she decides to be will determine her worth here."
Kurenai couldn't believe her ears. How could someone say something like this about their flesh and blood like— like all they'd be were pieces in a game of power and politics? Hiashi glanced her direction.
"If that's all you have to say, then take your leave."
Each blow Hinata dealt was one Neji blocked and it looked as if the two were on par as far as skill went. The strikes were brutal but carefully measured, precise but dangerously wild. But there was a sudden change in Hinata's stance as she pivoted her body to do a full 180° to dodge a blow and slammed her hand in an aim to catch Neji's torso.
He skidded backwards at the impact and clutched his stomach with one hand as his hitai-ate fell and clinked on the ground. Undaunted and fury quickly traveling down his bloodstream, he lunged towards her again— only for Hinata to block his arm and jab his elbow, now leaving his left arm useless.
Then his right hand shot out and hurled it to her chest to attack the chakra points around her heart, sealing her tenketsu.
"What will you do know?" he panted as the pain in his stomach grew worse. "You're gentle fist is useless."
She met his glare, blood pouring down the corners of her mouth and pulled a pained smile—
—before grabbing his white jacket, pulling him closer, and slamming her forehead so hard against his that the sound bounced off the stone walls of the arena.
::
Obito gaped at what he'd witnessed. He couldn't believe it. Even as Neji's body dropped to the ground with a quiet thump and the whole arena went silent as what transpired and when Genma slowly made his way back to the center and called out:
"Winner: Hyuuga Hinata!"
He still couldn't believe it when the medics came to carry his body to the infirmary then help Hinata walk to follow. When he looked up at Sakura expecting the same amount of shock he felt, but found that she was on her feet and elated.
"I am going to buy her so many cinnamon rolls," she beamed. He stared at her incredulously.
"Cinnamon ro— she literally just kicked the ass of one of the strongest genin in Konoha and all you have to say is that you're going to get her cinnamon rolls?!" he whisper-exclaimed. Her smile turned into a grin.
"What else am I supposed to say? She did good so I'm getting her cinnamon rolls. Oh! You think I should get her zenzai too, huh? Good call."
Obito made an odd strangling noise from the back of his throat.
::
The shock of the most recent fight still hadn't quite died down by the time the randomizer sorted through the last four names of the preliminaries. Chouji had sunk down to crouch on his knees as he sorted through the last three people he'd be paired up against: the taijutsu-master Lee, the mysterious Sand-nin, or the scary Sound-nin.
The randomizer illuminated.
Sabaku no Gaara v. Rock Lee
Chouji's head thumped against the steel railings. The scary Sound-nin, huh?
Lee was more than ecstatic to finally get picked for battle. Eight full fights he'd been waiting through, and even though they were impressive to watch, the desire to launch into his own burned bright in his bones. And here his chance came with the strange Sand-nin whose abilities had yet to be discovered!
What a joyous occasion!
"Lee," Gai whispered. "Let me give you some advice."
Lee leaned towards his sensei expectantly. Any word from the great Maito Gai was one to be carefully considered and expanded upon, no matter how big or small it might seem!
"That gourd is suspicious, got it? Keep an eye out."
"Of course, Gai-sensei!"
"Now go and fight to fullest, my young student!" he exclaimed as he pointed towards the distance. "Blossom with youth! Fight with vigor! Never give up!"
Lee nearly bursted with his battle cry as he jumped off the platform and onto the floor in front of his opponent. Gaara appeared mellow and not at all intimidating, even giving a polite nod of greeting as Lee dropped into his form. Such sportsman-like conduct! What a wonderful person!
"I hope we have a good match together!" he exclaimed. Gaara unfolded his arms.
"Good luck to you, Lee-san," he murmured. The green-clad genin smiled so brightly that he blinded half the spectators. Genma, not wanting to keep these pleasantries going on for much longer, let the two have at it.
"Begin!"
Lee dashed forward with speed almost too quick for the untrained eye and jumped into the air to drive his leg in a sideways swipe.
"Konoha Senpu!"
But his leg was caught and sinking in a wall of... sand? Tendrils of it slithered up his leg to keep him in place as a whole tidal wave came up behind Gaara to crash into his opponent. Lee was too quick and performed a series of backward flips to avoid the resulting crash of grainy material.
'Sand manipulation?' he thought. 'That's trouble. Let's see what I can do!'
He stormed forward again with flurries of kicks in all the directions he could manage, but none could land a hit. He couldn't even reach a meter away from Gaara without being blocked or turned away by his sand. Even kunai couldn't cut through it.
"You're fast," Gaara commented quietly. "I've never met someone with speed like yours. You must be talented."
Lee brightened up.
"Why thank you, Sabaku-san! You're very kind!"
And he dove in for another attack.
::
Obito squinted.
"Oi," he called. Sakura looked at him. He tilted his head to the side as he watched the battle. "Did that Suna kid just genuinely compliment his opponent mid-battle? Like they're not fighting for a spot in the finals?"
She sighed fondly.
"Leave Gaara alone, Uchiha-san. He's not very sociable and he's trying to make friends where he can find them."
He quirked an eyebrow at her.
"So what's he doing?"
"His best."
::
Temari didn't know what was happening. First the battle had started like any other and Gaara was on the road to winning he had yet to lose a fight— so what was this? He was blocking and attacking that Lee genin like he should, but he was complimenting him the whole time.
"I told you we should've introduced him to some of the other genin back home," Kankuro said. She whacked his arm.
"Well they were too busy being afraid of him, weren't they? They're not going to hang around my baby brother if they keep acting that like," she scoffed. "But shouldn't we do something? He's supposed to be fighting, not making friends!"
He scratched the back of his head.
"Eh, I say let him do what he wants. He looks happy."
Gaara's face, of course, was blank.
::
Lee wiped the sweat from his face. He couldn't keep this up for much longer. While Gaara was very polite and very personable, the match couldn't continue with this stalemate he made for himself. Without breaking eye contact with his opponent, he reached down to the weights on his legs and dropped them onto the ground.
Gai straightened.
'Is he...?'
Lee charged again— faster this time. Much faster. So much faster that when he appeared in Gaara's face and kicked, the sand didn't have the time to make its barrier and allowed for his foot to make contact and send him rolling a few meters back.
Temari and Kankuro nearly choked at the action.
Gaara had never been injured before.
::
When Gaara came to his senses and got up on one knee, his first reaction wasn't to retaliate or think of a plan to get back at his attacker and return himself to the winning end of the spectrum. He simply closed his eyes and reached down into his pocket, feeling for the smooth, rose-quartz shell he kept safely by him at all times.
His sand attached to his skin like sheet-thin armor as he stood.
"That was a good hit," he said. "But I won't let that happen again. I hope you understand that."
As Lee charged again, he let the sand swirl around them in an obscure storm and allowed a sand clone be made of himself, one that Lee mistook as the real him and performed the Lotus move that broke a good chunk of the arena floor. By the time he'd realized that he hadn't attacked the real Gaara, an arm of sand descended on him and smacked him into one of the walls.
"Please don't over-exert yourself," he said quietly as Lee struggled to get back on his feet. "It's not good for your body if you push it too hard. You can get sick if you do something like that."
Gaara's eyes widened a small fraction as he sensed a strong build up of chakra waiting to be released from Lee's body. Expulsion of that sort never came without consequence, and if someone survived whatever mass chakra release they'd done, they'd be hospitalized for days— weeks, even.
Lee couldn't do that. This fight wasn't worth it.
All the sand from Gaara's gourd suddenly streamed out and tore through the air with the intent of a blunt hit into unconsciousness. The sand surrounded Lee from all sides with no escape and no way of retaliation.
Gaara glanced to the side, avoiding what would ensue.
"Forgive me," he murmured.
::
"Winner: Sabaku no Gaara!"
"Lee!" Gai shouted. He charged down into the arena as the sand cleared, his student's body completely immobile as it lay sprawled on the ground. There was no blood and as far as he could tell, no broken bones—
"He's just unconscious," Gaara informed him. Gai turned to see the boy standing right behind him and he forced himself not to flinch. He wasn't aware that he'd walked all the way from the other side of the battle floor. "I made sure not to break any of his bones or disrupt any of his internal organs."
Gai frowned.
"Then why did you—"
"He was about to do something dangerous and this fight isn't important enough to put his whole life on the line for," he replied. "Chuunin Exams or not, lives are valuable regardless."
Gaara began to walk back towards the platform his siblings stood dumbfounded on, not seeing the tears that sprouted from Gai's eyes as he clenched his fist and let the medics set his student on a stretcher.
"A pure heart you have, young genin!" he whispered as a sunset flourished behind him.
::
Akimichi Chouji v. Kinuta Dosu
Chouji scrunched up his face as he faced off his opponent: the last genin of the Sound team who was undoubtedly their leader and strongest asset. Dosu stared him straight on as Genma readied prepared himself to start the final battle of the preliminaries.
"Ready?" he prompted. Dosu stared at Chouji.
"I'll end you quickly, fatty," he said. The Akimichi's train of thought abruptly slowed to a screeching halt as his eyes kindled in a scorching flame.
"What the hell did you just call me you bandaged cucumber roll?!" he fumed. Genma stepped back before he could get caught in the pre-fight crossfire.
"Begin!"
"Baika no Jutsu!" Chouji roared. His body expanded to four times its normal size and he retracted his limbs to become a semblance of a sphere. Chakra oozed from his body as he started spinning and propelled himself towards his opponent in a powerful roll.
But he miscalculated when he accidentally crashed into one of the walls and getting himself stuck. Dosu took this opportunity to activate the echo speakers on his arms and deliver a punch to Chouji's midsection, sending a sickening amount of sound waves through his body and making him too dizzy to continue participating.
"Winner: Kinuta Dosu!"
A medic knelt by Chouji.
"Are you alright?"
He mumbled and garbled his answer.
"I wanna eat barbecue..."
::
"That's it then," Obito said. He stood up and stretched his muscles before dusting the dust from the bottom of his pants. He was glad he came to see the preliminaries and took note of the ten genin who managed to advance. Sakura pressed her hands against her cheeks.
"I'm so proud of them!" she gushed. "They all did so well!"
"You're real excited about this, aren't you?"
"Of course! Most of them are my friends and I'll be cheering them on when the finals start a month from now," she said. Sakura reached up to pop the opening of the roof and climbed in, Obito following a distance after her. "The battle assignments are going to be posted tomorrow morning in front of the Academy building, so I'll congratulate them then."
They reached the fresh evening air and met the sun drifting down into the horizon.
"You're not going to see them now?" he asked. That was odd— he expected her to take the time to visit her friends especially after the trial they just faced. Sakura took a deep breath and smiled.
"Nah. There's something I have to do first."
She had on that mischievous grin that dimpled her cheeks, and Obito knew then that he wouldn't be surprised if someone turned up dead the next day.
::
It was near the middle of the night.
Kabuto snuck out to about a kilometer from the village under the cloak of dark, his report for Orochimaru in hand and his intent for Konoha's internal sabotage deep-set in his heart. He was to head most of the missions to weaken the village's infrastructure and make them more susceptible to the future siege.
As he was about to summon a hawk to send off the report, there was a rustling in the bushes behind him. He braced himself for a shinobi who would question his actions or one of his subordinates who had the poorest timing, but was disgruntled to find that it was neither.
Just a man with silver slicked-back hair who was dressed in civilian clothes.
"Who are you?" Kabuto questioned as he narrowed his eyes. The man lifted some beads he was carrying and smiled.
"I'm Hidan, a monk from the Fire Temple," he introduced. "I was searching for some sacred shrines that were supposed to be in the area to pay my respects, but I've seemed to come across you instead. Sorry, was I interrupting something?"
"You're alright," Kabuto replied. He did recall seeing some signs pointing directions to shrines on the way to his current location, so he supposed the monk's story checked out. Though he was irritated at being bothered, he hid it well behind a cordial smile. "Would you like my help directing you towards those shrines?"
"No, I think I'm close enough to finding them. But you can help me with something else."
Hidan tucked his beads away as the air around them darkened with heavy blood-lust. Kabuto scowled as the man brandished a black spike, his magenta irises bubbling with delirium.
"Since you're the snake bastard's lapdog, I'd like to fuck you up six ways from Sunday. It'd be a great help if you wouldn't scream like a bitch because I'm gonna make it fucking hurt," he grinned. Kabuto clenched his jaw and took a step back. Monk his ass— this guy was an absolute psycho! He probably wasn't even a Konoha-nin, how could he have figure out Orochimaru's plans?!
Suddenly, the report in his hands was pierced by a new weapon and snatched from his hands. He leapt away to the other side of the clearing as a second assailant made themselves known: a girl with pink hair in a red tank top and dark gray pants. Her right arm was bandaged from shoulder to wrist while her left was only covered from her elbow down. She kept her wrist blades out as she lazily flipped through his report.
"You're not going to be able to get his message to him now," she sighed. His papers went up in flames and she smiled at him. "Tragic."
Kabuto kept his eyes on her as she slid up to Hidan's side and exchanged predatory looks.
"Whatever information you want out of me, you're not going to get it," he snarled. A third person came out of the shadows to take their spot between the girl and the monk. Unlike the other two, this was someone Kabuto recognized almost instantly that caused him to bare his teeth in rage. "You! You dare betray Orochimaru-sama?!"
Sasori shrugged.
"Can't exactly betray someone you were never with in the first place. Like when I kill you. It's going to absolutely be my fault and I'm not even going to feel bad about it."
Three against one weren't good odds at any angle, but Kabuto would be damned if he didn't go out without a fight.
"I won't lose," he swore.
"But you will," Sasori grinned. "That's just the way the cookie crumbles."
The puppet of the Sandaime Kazekage descended on its target like the grim reaper would on a dying fool.
::
Digging holes weren't supposed to be hard. For shinobi, at least. Anyone with an earth affinity could've easily opened up a hole in the ground and dispose of a body like it was nothing, but no. They couldn't use any jutsu— the chakra that required it would alert anyone nearby and the sound of the earth splitting and two before coming together again would surely catch someone's attention.
So they had to use shovels. To dig.
Through stone layers.
"That's just the way the cookie crumbles," Hidan mimicked, raising his voice some octaves higher as he chucked dirt over his shoulder. "I can't fucking believe your dumbass. Those were the last words he was every going to hear? Bullshit! Bull. Shit! What the fuck kind of criminal are you?!"
"One that suffered 80 years in solitary confinement, so excuse me if there are a couple building blocks missing from my castle," Sasori sniffed. Hidan threw his hands up.
"Who says that? Who the fuck says that?! You know what I'm gonna do? I'm about to go over there and break some of the windows of your goddamn castle!" he shouted. The puppet master crossed his arms.
"You can't. There's a moat."
"Fuck your moat!"
Sakura stared up to the edge of the hole where Sasori sat, content at arguing with Hidan at such a height and rested her own shovel on her shoulders.
"Oi! Your Royal Highness arguing about his stupid castle!" she snapped. "Get down here and help us dig, dammit! We'd get done quicker if you helped us!"
"I'm keeping watch."
"Keep watch down here, bastard!" she demanded. They'd wrapped Kabuto's corpse in all sorts of seals that would conceal his identity and make everything about him useless if anyone tried to remove them, but the body didn't need a guard. He was going to be buried and there was no argument against keeping the corpse with them as they dug.
Sasori flipped his hair out of his eyes.
"You just called my 'Your Royal Highness'," he said. "Meaning that in this situation, you're now my subjects who have to—"
He was interrupted when a shovel soared into him.
'Just a month until the exams are over,' Sakura told herself as she turned back to observe the stone layers she was digging up. 'Then Orochimaru attacks, we end his siege, we save some lives.'
She stared up at the bright moon overhead, the sound of Sasori's groans of pain and Hidan's laughter welcome sounds in her ears.
'Maybe this time, it'll be fine.'
::
Here we have an amazing Monk!Hidan fanart by EmpressExplosion !
And a fantastic cover by samemichi !