Recap:
I smirked and said in response, "Fine. But you better win this fight because it'll make you look like a fool if you lose to him. The Uchiha name is on the line here."
His smirk stretched wide with self-confidence, but his tender gaze remained the same while he stared down at me, "I don't plan on losing to anyone today, especially you."
***
Ayuda's P.O.V
I felt a light object was placed on my left shoulder. I turned my head slightly to get a glimpse of what it was. It was a hand that, judging from its size and texture, belonged to a male. I knew in an instant of whose hand it was. I trailed my gaze from the hand to its owner. It was undoubtedly Kaito. He was the only boy in the arena that could touch me freely and appropriately.
He told me, "We should go now. The match is about to start."
I nodded my head, "Alright," I paused as I looked around and quickly realized that Naruto and Shikamaru weren't with us anymore. I asked with curiosity, "Where are the other two?"
"Naruto and Shikamaru?" Kaito apprised me, "They walked off a few seconds ago. I think they are using the stairs by now."
"Oh," I emitted the brief noise. I took a quick glance at Sasuke. He had a deep scowl played across his face and his glare was directed at something else. There was no doubt that he was looking straight at Gaara.
"Hey! Let's meet up with Kazuki! Sakura, Ino, Chouji, Kakashi-sensei, Guy-sensei, and Rock Lee are there with him too!" Kaito suggested eagerly as he narrowed his eyes on a certain spot among the crowd of audiences.
"Hah?" my two eyebrows arched in surprise. I voiced out my thought and concern, "We are the contestants of the final exam. Can we really go there just like that? I thought we are supposed to be in the waiting room."
Kaito chuckled, "Of course we can go there! Even if it's against the rule, no one will have the time to punish us! Everyone will be too busy watching Sasuke's and Gaara's match! Let's go, Ayuda-chan!"
I heaved a silent sigh before he and I jumped away onto one particular area where onlookers were seated. Kaito was leading us the way to the spot where Kazuki and the others have ensconced themselves and once we reached there, Kazuki and Kaito immediately engaged in a conversation while I asked Rock Lee how he was doing.
"Oh, it's about to start," Guy notified us.
Kaito and I did not bother to search any empty seat. We didn't have to look everywhere and we already knew in our minds that there is no seat available, especially at this moment when Sasuke's and Gaara's battle is about to begin. We remained standing next to Rock Lee while the two teachers stood behind us. Our eyes were fixed on the three boys (Genma, Sasuke, and Gaara) in the arena.
To be frank, I was no different with any other spectators here. I was as eager as them all when it comes to this battle. I couldn't contain my excitement to watch how this match ended. My parents and Reina also expressed their interests in this fight when we had our dinner together.
This was the battle that everyone had been looking forward to.
Deafening silence arose as Gaara and Sasuke locked eyes with one another. The ravenette wore a solemn look with unshakable tenacity while the redhead's lips curled into a smirk that told me that something egregious was about to befall here.
No way. Nothing awful is going to happen here. If one of them tries to kill the other, the judge and some jounins will step in and stop them. Yes, that's it. Nothing bad is going to happen here... right?
I watched Genma lift his right hand up into the air. He soon glided his hand down between the two boys like clockwork, slicing the air noiselessly as he announced, "Begin."
I was flabbergasted when Sasuke demonstrated that his speed and his taijutsu abilities had vastly increased, thanks to the intensive training he had throughout that one-month preparation. He moved with a celerity that bedazzled not only me but everyone who was watching them. He was irrefutably faster than that time we dueled in the forest and moved at the same speed as when Rock Lee took off his weights! It took him only one month to acquire such celerity!
I couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy as I watched him deliver multiple blows on Gaara. He is still my rival after all.
Everything went well for the Uchiha until Gaara encased himself completely with all of his sand, making it an absolute defense. I could faintly discern that the density of the sand case was so hard that Sasuke's knuckles bled after he struck it.
"Kakashi-sensei!" a familiar stentorian voice came not far from us, followed by the sounds of foot thumping against the floor like a bat out of hell.
All of us (Sakura, Ino, Chouji, Guy, Rock Lee, Kakashi, Kazuki, Kaito, me, and a small group of audiences around us) looked over our shoulders to see Naruto and Shikamaru dashing over to us. They stopped once they've reached us. Their shoulders moved up and down as they huffed and puffed. What are they doing here? They look like they have something unpleasant to tell us.
Kakashi asked with a lazy, slurred voice, "What is it?"
"Sensei, please stop this match right now!" blurted out Naruto, resulting in my eyes being stretched wide open, plainly startled to hear his exclamation. Bafflement began to spread throughout my entire form and mind.
"He's... totally different from us," Naruto added, his voice was laced with indisputable terror, "He's not normal!"
Ino wore an incredulous mien as she queried, "Naruto, what are you talking about?"
Naruto ignored her without taking a quick glance at her, "He lives to kill people. Anyway, at this rate, Sasuke's going to die!"
What?
Kakashi simply spun around; his body was now looking out on the ongoing battle in the arena. His face was not as shocked and panicked as I thought he would be. Instead, a relaxed look graced his features while he fixed his gaze on Sasuke. He then parted his lips to speak up, especially to Naruto, "Don't worry. We were late for a reason."
"Sensei," Sakura called out with a gentle yet confused voice. Once the silver-haired Jounin gave her his attention, she voiced out the same question that crossed my mind, "what do you mean you two were late for a reason?"
"Hmm..." Kakashi took his time, "...do you want to know?"
Naruto was starting to get impatient, "We don't have time for that!"
"Shut up and watch him," Kakashi said with a stern voice that silenced everyone. Despite the change in his voice, his eye remained serene and unflustered. His confidence on Sasuke and over this matter was clearly displayed in his nearly-masked face. He added, "You'll wet your pants."
I threw my full attention back to Sasuke who did multiple backflips until he got to the gigantic wall of the stage but he didn't stop there. He proceeded to jump up to the wall with his feet infused with chakra. He halted and crouched down on the wall upside down with the help of the chakra in his feet. He lifted his arms up and performed various hand signs.
I did not expect to see lightning gathering in his left hand. Even from afar, I could hear the sound reminiscent of many birds chirping. What is that? This display had left me open-mouthed while the holder of the electricity made a beeline for the sand case which enclosed Gaara.
"I see," Guy spoke up, "That's why you made him master hand-to-hand combat moves to dramatically increase his speed."
I was extremely enthralled by that ability that I began to tune out Might Guy's elucidation of the current technique Sasuke was using. My purple spheres were glued on him the entire time as he raced across the field. I could see the chakra coming out of his hand as clear as day. So this is what he's been practicing for? This is his trump card to defeat all of us, including me? He's this strong after only one month...
I emitted an audible gasp when Sasuke thrust his left hand – which was charged with the incredible amount of electricity – into his opponent's circular sand case. Half of his arm managed to penetrate Gaara's ultimate defense with great success, thanks to that technique that I've just discovered today. I thought that sand case is impenetrable... until now.
"Its true name is Chidori. And its secret lies in the human body's fastest attainable speed; the speed of the thrust and the chakra accumulated in one's arm," Might Guy elucidated, "The arm turns into a sword that can cut through anything."
I was completely nonplussed when a loud scream came from the inside of the sand case – Gaara's scream – and Sasuke immediately tried to pull his arm out of there as though something happened to his arm inside the case, but to no avail. Only when he summoned back the Chidori in his hand did he manage to take his arm out, but what truly shocked me was a giant sand thing that was clasping his arm while he pulled away. That thing had thin blue streaks on some parts of it.
That strange massive thing released his arm once Sasuke put a safe distance between them. The sight of that unknown thing made my blood run cold as it crawled back into the hole of the sand case.
The sand case began to crack and shatter into pieces thirty seconds later. I was a bit relieved to see Gaara – with his left shoulder bleeding – as the sand pooled around his feet, but I was still baffled. Where is that huge thing? I'm pretty sure that I'm not the only one to see that since nearly everyone around me gasped at its appearance.
That's when I saw it – a white, flawless feather dropping in front of my eyes little by little, followed by copious amounts of the same feather. My eyes started to drop with the same speed as those feathers. I could feel drowsiness slowly consumed me; my body system began to shut down one by one. But why...? Why am I so sleepy at this moment...? I want to watch how this battle ends... I want to know... what Sasuke want to tell me after this...
"Ayuda, this is a genjutsu!"
Kaito's loud shout snapped me out of the somnolence that was almost close to conquer my whole body. I quickly brought my hands up together and performed a hand sign shouting, "Kai (Release)!"
The numerous white feathers vanished in an instant along with the drowsiness, giving me my eyesight back and brought me back to reality. My head turned to all direction with overwhelming fear until I met Kaito's soothing green eyes. He smiled at me in a reassuring way, putting me at ease. Still at a loss, I asked, "What's going on?"
He simply apprised me, "I think we're under attack."