2/2

Asuma-sensei was almost choking on his cigarette with laughter, and just casually glanced at Kakashi. I caught the fractional widening of his eyes when they fell on us. Whatever sign Sensei's hand was making on my back meant something.

"Well, I don't know," he stalled. "What do you think Kurenai?"

Kurenai chuckled. "I think Gai is the expert there, don't you?"

It was very neat, how they were managing to pass the signal along, hidden behind mockery, bringing everyone's attention to Kakashi-sensei without alerting the others. Very neat indeed.

"My Eternal Rival is indeed most hip and cool!" Gai enthused, even as he appeared behind us without a sound. "Though perhaps it would not be quite so appropriate for you to emulate him in such a fashion."

Naruto snickered. "Yeah that would just be too weird."

I hummed in agreement, turning my attention back to the floor as Hayate called for the fight to begin. It opened with a few traditional volleys of kunai and shuriken with Sasuke definitely acting more wary than he normally would.

I could feel the pulsing of cursed chakra and knew that he was fighting a battle on two fronts. My hands clenched, white knuckled around the railing. Orochimaru was just toying with him.

But it wasn't until Yoroi started his chakra draining that I realised, with cold clarity, just how badly this fight could go.

He's draining your chakra… weakening your resistance against the curse seal… forcing you to draw on its power…

"Err…maybe you should let that go," Naruto said nervously, eyeing my hands as the torturous groan of metal filled the air.

I blinked and looked down. Then, finger by finger, forced my hands to let go of the railing. It was a little warped.

"Oops," I said sheepishly, calming my agitated chakra. It had snuck into my hands without me realising it, working off an unconscious desire to pummel someone.

"Sasuke will be fine," Naruto said. "He's too strong to let a guy like that beat him."

I think Kakashi-sensei was more surprised than I was. Naruto, admitting Sasuke was strong?

"Of course he will be," I agreed, just as, down below, Sasuke imitated the move that had led to Lee handing him his ass.

After that, it was game over.

"Winner; Sasuke Uchiha," Hayate announced.

"I'll be right back, kids. Asuma, could you…?" Sensei murmured.

"Yeah, I'll watch out for them," Asuma-sensei agreed. "You best get down there."

Kakashi-sensei hummed before Body Flickering down to stand behind Sasuke. They had a short conversation, as the medics came to take Yoroi away.

Sasuke glanced up at us. I smiled.

"Man, I hope Sensei knows how to get rid of that thing," Naruto said, as the two of them left. Yoroi's Jounin Sensei, the one I knew was Orochimaru in disguise, followed them out, presumably to check on his student but…

"Me too," I agreed.

"Let's move on to the second match," the proctor said quietly. The board flickered and eventually chose two more names.

Kankurou vs. Misumi Tsurugi

That was the other member of Kabuto's team. There was no Tsurugi clan in Konoha, nor an Akado one. They were both either orphans or from civilian families. That put their strength definitely at the bottom of the list.

Kankurou was definitely at the top. It was easy to see who would win this match. My brow furrowed as I tried to construct a list of who would be fighting who. It wasn't quite as straightforward as it seemed. There had been exceptions to the strongest vs. weakest rule, hadn't there?

The kunoichi had been mostly paired off against each other. Sakura vs. Ino and… Temari vs. Tenten? Yes. Because she had lost terribly.

Who had Hinata fought then?

My eyes cast around the room.

Neji.

That was right. Because she had lost terribly too.

After that it was easy to see who would be fighting who. Naruto was the trickiest. I didn't know where he should fall on the list. By rights, he should be at the top with Gaara, for much the same reasons, but those reasons were secret, and Naruto didn't have nearly the 'control' over his prisoner that Gaara did. If 'control' was the right word.

"Naruto," I said, voice low, so as not to let everyone overhear, "you'll probably be up against either Chouji or Kiba. Start planning."

He looked at me, wide eyed. He didn't question how I knew which was both good and bad. Good because it meant he trusted me, bad because it meant he wasn't trying to work it out himself.

"What should I do?" He asked voice hushed.

"How's your chakra?"

"It's a little weird," he confessed.

I bit my lip. "In normal circumstances I'd say 'turn it into a battle of attrition. A match of stamina. Just have them fighting clones until you exhaust them'. But if your chakra isn't working right… you might not be able to do that. Their fighting styles both rely on being able to move - momentum and spinning. Bog them down, tie them up… how's your supply of ninja wire?" Naruto didn't use ninja wire as much as Sasuke or I did, but being on our team meant he got a crash course in how great it could be.

Naruto started grinning madly. Life was about to get very unpleasant for somebody. "I know exactly what to do," he said.

"Because his opponent is unable to continue, the winner is Kankurou," Hayate said, calling the second match over.

I nodded thoughtfully. It hadn't taken long at all. A simple replacement technique to switch with his puppet, and Misumi had been trapped before he'd even noticed. It was impressive that Kankurou could control his puppet without being able to see what was going on. That was something to watch out for.

"The third match: Temari vs. Tenten!"

Tenten walked down the balcony behind us. I paused a second, considering. She hadn't been at the impromptu information gathering session before the first exam. And well… Konoha ninja should stick together.

"Be careful," I muttered loud enough for her to hear. "She's a wind type."

It was a bad, bad match up for her. But if she knew ahead of time… well, she might not lose so badly.

Her footsteps faltered briefly, and I knew she had heard me. I could only hope it helped.

The match started badly. Tenten opened with a frankly uninspired barrage of shuriken and was shaken when they missed. That was her first mistake, letting her opponent get to her. It was easy to see that Tenten didn't have the ability to analyse an opponents skills and then change her tactics on the fly. There was probably a reason she stuck to long range and let her team mates dictate strategy. But with prior warning, she did notice that her thrown weapons weren't getting through the shifting wind currents that Temari controlled and switched to Taijutsu, proving that Maito Gai trained no slackers.

Her Taijutsu skills were actually pretty good but Temari wasn't lacking there, either. She could use her fan as a bludgeon and easily use a wind blast to push her opponent back and escape. Temari wasn't exactly pushed but it wasn't the complete walkover it might have been.

"Winner; Temari!" Hayate called out, then coughed. Temari was smirking, leaning on her fan.

Chakra surged behind us, but a familiar pattern. He was back quickly.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Where's Sasuke?" I asked, tilting my head back to look at him. It was hard to tell, but Sensei looked a little disturbed.

"Oh, he's fine. Sleeping soundly in the infirmary. But he's been put under guard by the ANBU." That was actually a good thing, in my books. As long as the ANBU were there to keep Orochimaru away and not to make him a prisoner or anything. "Although…" Sensei hesitated. "When you were in the Forest… did Sasuke… did he… you were attacked by a team of Sound ninja, weren't you?"

How did he know about that? Sasuke could have told him, but if Sensei wanted to ask something about him, it was unlikely. The only other person would have been the one who sent them…

Orochimaru…

… who had left the examination room shortly after Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke.

"Yeah, we were," I confirmed.

Sensei looked at me directly. "Did Sasuke kill them?"

"No," I said honestly, flatly. Some of the tension drained out of his frame and I turned away. "I did."

Orochimaru, who had sent them. Who had apparently discovered that they had been killed. Had he made the assumption that Sasuke had done it? That the curse mark was doing its job? Was that a good thing or a bad thing?

There was a careful silence on the balcony. I didn't kid myself into thinking that the other Jounin hadn't heard our conversation.

"Man, this test is such a drag," Shikamaru droned. Whether he'd done it on purpose or not, I was grateful all the same.

"Next match," Hayate called. "Inuzuka Kiba verses Naruto Uzumaki!"

"Finally! A chance to show what I've got!" Naruto shouted excitedly.

"Yeah! Hey Akamaru, I think you and I won the lottery! This is going to be cake." Kiba grinned, making his way towards the stairs.

Akamaru barked in agreement.

"Heh. He's going to be surprised," Naruto boasted, before holding up a familiar canteen. "Mind if I borrow this?" he asked.

I blinked, and glanced towards my backpack where it was leaning against the wall. "Sure," I agreed readily enough, not quite sure what he wanted with it. He already had his own attached to belt. "Help yourself."

"Sorry Kiba," Naruto said as they squared off on the floor. "Don't take it personally if I blow you away."

"That's just what I was going to say! Only not so politely," Kiba growled back. "Right Akamaru?"

"When you're ready," Hayate said, moving back out of the way. "Begin!"

"Beast Mimicry: Four Legs Jutsu." Kiba's chakra spiked and he crouched down onto hands and feet. It was hard to see from such a distance, but he looked far more feral than before. "Here I come!"

His speed was now comparable to Sasuke's or maybe mine when enhanced, I suspected, though it was hard to measure for sure. This was the Inuzuka Taijutsu. Feral and wild and very different from how humans normally fought. It was difficult to predict simply for that reason.

It also used chakra to a large degree, meaning that it was pretty draining and I suspected Kiba would only be able to use it for short bursts. Though, if he got some good hits in, that might be all he needed.

"Who do you think will be victorious?" Shino asked, glancing side on at me. Hinata clutched the railings and peered down anxiously at the two fighters.

I hmmed. "How likely is Kiba to take Naruto seriously?" It looked like he wasn't really messing around that much, going straight into his family techniques.

"More so than before the Forest, that's for sure," Shika said, leaning on the railings. "Man, I wouldn't even want to face him now."

"The more seriously Kiba takes him, the better chance he has," I said. "But…" I shrugged. "I'd be a poor team mate if I didn't back Naruto, ne?"

"As would I," Shino acknowledged quietly. "Kiba is not a push over."

"Neither is Naruto. Not anymore." I shivered, just a little. "But neither of them will be using life or death techniques. It isn't that sort of fight."

Naruto wouldn't be pushed to using Kyuubi chakra. If he could even use it now… Of course, he could still do plenty of damage without it.

I watched idly as Kiba threw down some smoke bombs and attacked while sight was screened. I followed the fight with my chakra sense as Naruto started moving to try avoid Kiba's attacks. It wasn't completely successful, but it was a good effort, and he nearly cleared the smoke before Akamaru tackled him back into it.

There was silence, then Kiba leapt clear of the smoke, eyeing it warily. It started to clear, slowly, revealing an orange body huddled on the ground.

'Akamaru' sprinted out of the smoke cloud, back towards his partner.

"Yeah! Way to go Akamaru," Kiba cheered, crouching down to pick him up. "This fight is over!"

Then 'Akamaru' bit him.

It was hard to say who was more shocked, the crowd, or Kiba.

"Idiot," I mumbled. "If you were going to bite him, you should have bitten him somewhere it would matter." It was only on the arm, and his thick jacket pretty much negated the whole effect of it.

"Surprise!" Naruto said, releasing the Transformation Jutsu with a cloud of smoke. Kiba shook him off and he backed up spitting.

"What? Where's Akamaru?" Kiba asked. There was real worry in his voice.

The Naruto that had been lying on the ground, stood, holding Akamaru by his front paws. Akamaru whined in shame.

"Wow," Ino said. "Is that really Naruto? Who would have thought that Naruto would be a match for Kiba?"

"To balance a Transformation Jutsu and a Clone Jutsu at the same time?" Shika commented. "That's kinda impressive. There's no way he should be able to do that."

I blinked. Actually, it was. Now that I thought about it… I was still working on being able to do two jutsu at the same time. But Naruto played Shadow Clone Shogi with me… huh. I'd never even recognised that …

"Whaddaya know?" Kiba said, grinning in feral relief. "Got a little stronger, I see. But not nearly strong enough because now I'm going to get serious."

"Good, I was hoping you would because I want to seriously knock you out," Naruto shot back.

I really wanted to tell him to stop playing around.

"Naruto, if I were you, I'd let Akamaru go." Kiba reached into his kunai pouch and pulled out something tiny. He flicked it towards Akamaru who swallowed it.

Akamaru's chakra blossomed and he began to grow. Larger and heavier, fur turning a dark red as he started to growl. He broke free of Naruto's grasp easily, dispersing the clone.

"What the heck happened? What was that thing you just fed him? Why did all his fur just turn red?" Naruto asked, puzzled.

"Are you sure you want to stick around to find out?" Kiba taunted, swallowing something himself. His chakra almost doubled. Soldier pills. No doubt about it.

"Beast Mimicry: Beast Human Clone!"

The two of them changed, Kiba becoming even more feral than before. Akamaru was his matching double.

"We'll take you down in one hit!" Kiba said. The two of them leapt forward and then began to spin. "Fang Over Fang!"

The two of them rotated until it was like they were inside a drill - or a tornado.

Interesting. They really are taking Naruto seriously to be using that already.

Naruto seemed to recognise that he didn't want to hit by that. I felt the surge in chakra of a Replacement Technique just before Kiba hit, leaving behind a chakra construct shaped like a scarecrow (complete with X's for eyes and a sticking out tongue) behind.

"Okay, so is it my turn now?" Naruto asked, mockingly, from the other side of the room. Kiba and Akamaru spun around in shock to face him.

Naruto was weighing the two water canteens in his hands, and with a casual flick he popped off the lids and threw them halfway across the room.

"Hidden in the Mist Jutsu!" He called, hands flying through the seals. His chakra spiked and poured out. That was much, much more chakra than he normally used for that jutsu, but the mist came out thick. It covered almost the whole room, with only the barest amount of clear space around the walls. I remembered that he had had problems in the Forest…

"Kakashi-sensei," I muttered. "Orochimaru did something to Naruto's chakra system." I described the jutsu that he had used, as much as I had seen of it, and exactly where he had been hit. "It's been causing problems with his chakra control since…"

Sensei's eye was slightly wider than normal. "I'll get someone to look at it, after the preliminaries."

"Urg!" Naruto's voice came echoing from inside the mist. "Smells like wet dog."

"Why you-!" There was an incoherent sound of pure rage. "You think this is going to stop me? I can still smell you, you know!"

A Naruto landed on the wall, then another, and another. There were dozens of them, up the walls, over the ceiling, crouched on the balcony and rails. And all of them appeared to be holding … wire.

Inside the mist it must have been like a cats cradle.

"Fang Over Fang!" Kiba shouted again.

Several of the Naruto's were yanked forwards, then a few more, then others grunted and pulled backwards. Rather like they were fishermen reeling in a large one.

"Hey! What the-!"

One Naruto jumped backwards out of the mist, standing in the tiny space clear of the mist. His face was very focused as he worked though a set of hand seals. "Alright! Eat this, Kiba! Lightning Release: Radiating Shockwave!"

It blasted out of him, scorching his hands from jutsu overload, but dancing through the mist. There were points where it sparked up impossibly bright - probably from the metal of ninja wire - and the clones all began to explode as the lightning was channelled down the wire into them.

Radiating Shockwave wasn't a huge jutsu, or a particularly long range one. As the name suggested, it produced a wide wave of lightning that arced around the user. Using the mist and ninja wire to increase it's range into an area of effect jutsu was a pretty clever combination.

"Kiba is down," I said, feeling his chakra stutter. Lightning jutsu often had the 'side effect' of paralysing the victim, and Kiba and Akamaru had basically taken that one full force.

Naruto was panting, but didn't look particularly wounded or tired. The mist started to fade, creating puddles of water on the floor. That would be something to watch out for in later fights. Wet floors were often slippery.

Kiba was tangled in lengths of ninja wire, twitching sporadically. Akamaru had dropped out of the clone jutsu and was back to being a small white puppy. But he was out of it too.

"Kiba Inuzuka is unable to continue. Winner is Naruto Uzumaki."

I cheered.

"That was surprising," Chouji said. "It's hard to think that that's the same Naruto…"

"Not that surprising," I said. "It's been a hard couple of months."

I bumped shoulders with Naruto as he rejoined us. "Did you see that?" he exclaimed. "Was I awesome or what?"

"Way to go," I congratulated. "Kiba was a tough opponent, you know."

"We're all really surprised," Ino said. "You're not the same kid from the Academy, anymore."

"No way! And you better believe it!" He grinned at her.

"Next match," Hayate called, catching our attention again. "Shino Aburame vs. Chouji Akimichi."

"Good luck, Chouji, Shino," I said as they both made their way downstairs. They both nodded at each other, perfectly polite.

Without name calling to enrage him, Chouji wasn't an aggressive soul - even though Asuma-sensei had bribed him with barbeque. And while Shino was perfectly willing to indulge in battle based trash talk, commenting on someone's appearance was beneath him. He much preferred to state why his opponents skill set was below his and why that meant they were going to lose.

It was actually an interesting match up. Akimichi naturally had large chakra reserves, quite apart from their stored 'excess', in order to use their Expansion Techniques. That meant that Shino's kikai had a long way to go in order to drain Chouji's chakra. Added to that, the spin of the Human Bullet Tank prevented them from gaining much of a foothold. But Shino wasn't ruffled at all and was easily able to dodge the not-very-accurate rolling sphere. Without someone to slow his target for him, Chouji simply couldn't hit it.

In the end, Shino's slow and persistent method of increasing the number of kikai on Chouji depleted his chakra until he could no longer use jutsu.

It was an almost anticlimactic fight, even though both of them gave it their best efforts.

"Winner; Shino Aburame," the proctor announced.

"Well, it was a good effort, Chouji," Asuma-sensei said, laying a hand on his shoulder. "Maybe next time."

"The next match will be," Hayate announced. "Shikamaru Nara vs. Shikako Nara."

I'd almost expected that, but it was still a punch in the gut.

If the Finals were to promote the village, they would want to show variety. Having two members from the same family would just be boring, particularly when Nara weren't known for our exciting combat styles.

I glanced at Shikamaru.

His grip was white knuckled on the railing.

Are you… afraid of me, Shikamaru?

The thought made me unbearably sad. It sat in the pit of my stomach like a heavy stone, closed my throat off, ached behind my eyes.

"Troublesome," he muttered.

My thoughts raced. We could fight. Given how unmotivated Shikamaru was, I might even win. Of course, given how good Shika was at out manoeuvring people, the match might go in his favour. It was tough to say.

"I forfeit," I said, voice barely loud enough to be heard by the proctor.

Shikamaru looked over at me and sighed. "You really want to do that?" he asked.

I nodded. "I forfeit," I repeated louder, voice surer.

"What's the point in that?" Temari scoffed from across the room, leaning on the rail, all casual arrogance. "Hanging in here to forfeit now?"

I shrugged. "There are two people in this room that I would forfeit rather than fight. My brother just happens to be one of them."

Your brother is the other, went unsaid.

Naruto looked scandalised. "You cant do that!" he protested. "Why are you just giving up? You used to kick his ass all the time at the academy!"

"Think about it," I said lowly to him, as the Proctor announced Shikamaru as the winner. It wasn't quiet enough to prevent those around me from hearing, but since it was only my team and team ten, I didn't think that was an issue. "Everyone here is watching. When it comes to the finals, they're going to have no idea how Shikamaru fights. That'll give him the advantage."

"You still could have won," Naruto argued stubbornly.

"Maybe," I said. "Maybe not. But he's my brother. A promotion… that's not a good enough reason to fight him." There might have been something approving about the glint in Kakashi's eye, but I could have been imagining it.

That made him pause. Naruto didn't have family, but he regarded his friends highly. Of course, to him, not fighting them would have been more insulting, but he did understand in a way. "I guess."

"Besides," I continued. "If I forfeited, that just means the Shika has to become Chunin."

"Troublesome," my brother muttered. "You had a better chance of getting through the Finals than me."

"If you're really torn up about it, you can do my chores for me," I suggested.

"Not a chance," Shikamaru snorted.

The next fight was where things started to get miserable. I wasn't pleased with having to forfeit, but it wasn't the end of the world. Not for me.

Hinata Hyuuga vs. Neji Hyuuga

Watching Hinata and Neji fight was painful. Not just with the explosive discharges of chakra as their Jyuuken strikes clashed, but emotionally as well. I wanted to tell Hinata to forfeit, but at the same time I wanted to encourage her to stand up for herself. I wanted to tell her she was strong and didn't have to listen to him discourage her.

I wanted to stop him hurting her.

But…

But Hinata kept standing up.

"You're wrong, Neji-nii-san," she said, her voice carrying quiet conviction. "Because these eyes… can see that the one suffering here is you."

Because Hinata thought it was worth it.

It wasn't about the match. It wasn't about the Exam anymore. It was about standing up to prove she could.

I swallowed, my throat thick and bitter.

"Hinata," Naruto said, when she had to be carried off the floor on a stretcher, a growl in his voice. "I promise, I will prove that people can change. I will beat Neji in your name."

"Hmph." Neji snorted, unimpressed. "A failure will always be a failure."

But if watching Neji and Hinata was hard then watching Lee and Gaara was worse. Because, like Sasuke, Lee would never quit. And Gaara would never be pacified.

I didn't want to watch. But I had to. If Gaara gave away anything that could help beat him… I had to see it.

Lee was impressive once the weights came off. But it wasn't enough. Then he started opening the gates.

The explosion of chakra as the limiters released made my breath catch in my throat. There was so much chakra it was visible. And yet, watching what it was doing to him made me glad that I had never pushed myself that far.

And it still wasn't enough. He gave too much, too fast and his body couldn't handle the strain.

Like Hinata, Lee had to be carried out on a stretcher too. But Gaara walked off the floor under his own power.

"And with that match, the Third Exam preliminaries are now finished." The proctor coughed once more before calling all the winners - and Ino, who hadn't fought - down to the floor.

The Hokage stepped forward. "In the Third Exam you will all put your battle skills on display. You will demonstrate the power and control you have achieved in your respective disciplines. Accordingly, the Third Exam will be held one month from now in order to provide a suitable period of preparation. So now, all that remains to be done is to find out who your opponents will be."

"Everyone," Anko said, holding up a box and moving down the line. "Take one piece of paper and tell us the number written on it. Ibiki will draw up a sheet of matches."

Naruto vs. Neji

Sasuke vs. Gaara

Ino vs. Temari

Shino vs. Shikamaru

Kankurou

I stared at the matchups. That was … familiar.

Well. If they rigged the prelims, why wouldn't they rig the actual matches? There were bound to be ways to ensure Genin picked the right numbers. Naruto had already declared a grudge match against Neji - which was bound to provide interesting motivation - and everyone wanted to see Sasuke fight Gaara. Ino and Temari fought it off as the two Kunoichi to make it through. Shino, Shikamaru and Kankurou were all the more long distance, strategic fighters. Pitting them all against each other made sense.

.

.

Urgh. This just kept getting longer and longer. Not really that happy with this chapter.