Chapter 28: The Preliminaries

Finally, after the long wait, we were all lined up in the room. The hokage stood at front and had just announced the preliminaries. This is going to be way better in person! I can't wait! Too bad though. I can't participate. I would mess up the events. "anyone who would like to drop out, raise your hands now." I slowly put my hand up. unless… I stopped and put my hand back down. I heard someone release a breath from behind me. I looked back at Sasuke glaring at me, he shook his head and looked away. "coward." he whispered barely high enough for me to hear. I rolled my eyes and looked back at front. The first match was announced and we all headed to the balconies to watch Sasuke fight.

I was happy to see that sasuke's curse mark didn't act up throughout the fight. It was a quick sweet victory. I started manifesting chakra slowly. I'll show them how strong I am. I smirked to myself. This will be fun. I wonder who my victim will be. I scanned the room. The sound team still made it through but the girl was heavily injured. I'm guessing only the boys will fight then. I wonder who the girl fought in the…before I could even finish the thought, I was slammed with the reality in front of me on the big screen. "Elle Candel and Shikamaru Nara. Come down." I sighed and looked at Shikamaru who was waiting for me so that we can go down together. Shika can't lose. He has to make it to the finals. He has to become a chunin. I sighed and took a step back from him. I guess I'll have to forfeit…after I have some fun though.

I looked up at him, smirking slightly. "you ready?" my voice was playful, I sounded more amused than anything. He smirked back, "Just try to dodge this time." He said as he got in his stance. I chuckled slightly and got in a stance too. "Begin!" the proctor shouted and we both jumped further back. I quickly jumped in the air and made my chakra tubes. Everything was going exactly according to my plan. I jumped down and his shadow caught me, not before I attached my chakra tubes to him though. "give up, Elle. It's over." I smiled a crazy smile and started sucking chakra out of all the tubes. His eyes widened and he fell to his knees. His shadow possession dissolved and he was panting heavily.

Ino's POV

It has been less than a minute and the match was already over. "well that was boring. I knew that girl was useless. I don't know how you go on missions with her Sasuke!" he scoffed from next to me. "it is over. She won." I was about to ask him what he was talking about when Shikamaru fell to his knees and released his jutsu. "what?! How? She didn't even do anything!" Sasuke shook his head. "She was the winner the second this match began. She's sucking away his chakra." My eyes widened as I looked down. How strong is she?

Elle's POV

I kept sucking away till he had barely enough to stay conscious. Even though he was almost completely out of chakra, he stood back up. A slight smile was on his face, he nodded to me and was about to forfeit when I spoke up. "I forfeit." An audible gasp was heard in the room. He looked at me with wide eyes, before shaking his head. "Troublesome woman." I chuckled and walked closer to him. "sorry about your chakra. You can have it back." I said as I sent chakra back to him through the tubes. He scoffed, "you never wanted to win, did you?" I shook my head slightly. "I would make a terrible chunin, are you kidding?!" the proctor announced Shikamaru as the winner and we headed back up to our teams.

Once I was up, Naruto grabbed me by my shoulders and shook me. "ELLE WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT? YOU WERE WINNING." I shrugged at him and pushed his arms off. "A) stop that hurts and B) Shikamaru deserves to be a chunin more than I do." He stormed off, mad at me, grumbling about something. Just like Naruto, everyone was either looking at me mad, or confused. Sasuke looked the maddest out of everyone. He glared at me with an icy glare. "Coward. You will never succeed if you keep doing that." How come I help a friend and people get mad at me?! I don't get it! I frowned at him and left the place, sick of all the looks I was getting.

I sat above the building on the roof, staring at the sky. It's insane how simple things people do can ruin your mood. I went from playful and excited to questioning my purpose. Yes, I know I had to forfeit, but I could've just not fought. I could've simply dropped out. Wouldn't that make everyone even more mad though? Was I any help at all really? I know that they all would succeed in life without me there, so what was my purpose? Why am I here? I was snapped out of my thoughts by the feeling of Gaara's chakra. "shit!" I jumped down the building and back inside only to see the sand wrap round lee. Please work, please work. Gaara closed his fist but lee didn't scream. "THANK GOD." I screamed running over to have a closer look. Now I need to interfere. Lee will hate me for this. Just as lee landed, Gaara was about to send his sand over to him when I stood in the way covering him. The sand froze and Gaara looked at me with crazed eyes. "I will kill you! MOVE!" I shook my head at him and scoffed. I infused my chakra into his sand and pushed it away. He could've easily kept it there but he chose to let me. "You're going to hurt him. stop." I turned my back to Gaara and looked at Lee, who was looking at me like I was insane. I walked over to him and leaned close to his ear. "Lee, trust me on this. I placed the shield on you because I knew he would use his sand coffin. You have to forfeit now. I promise I'll explain everything but please forfeit. If you don't… you might never be a ninja again." his eyes widened and he stared at me. I looked back at him pleadingly. He sighed deeply and looked over to guy and back to me. "I'll explain to him too." He nodded hesitantly before looking up at the proctor. "I…forfeit." With that I grabbed his hand and we turned and left the building.

Guy and Kakashi both followed us out. Guy was glaring daggers at me. Kakashi just looked at me knowingly. I smiled at him for a second. At least he trusts me. Guy looked over at lee and was about to start saying something. "Before you say anything let me explain!" It's fine if they know. I can trust them. He looked down at me. he looked like he wanted to cave my head in and he was about to but Kakashi held his hand out in front of him. "hear her out."

Guy's gaze never faltered but he stopped. I looked over at Lee first. "I'm so sorry I interrupted your match, but I had no choice." He shook his head. "I COULD'VE WON! I WASN'T HURT IN THE LEAST BIT!" I flinched away at his screams, looking down. "It had to happen. Or else…" there was really no proper way to phrase this. "Look Guy, Lee, I will trust you with a secret, but first you have to promise to never tell anyone." They nodded at me. I looked over at Kakashi hesitant. He nodded at me encouragingly. I took a deep breath and started. "I have a sort of kekkai genkai. I get…visions. Sometimes they're of the past. Sometimes they're from the future." Guy looked at me with wide eyes and then over to Kakashi for confirmation. He simply nodded and told me to go on. "before the exams I had a vision. It was of Lee." At the sound of his name, his eyes widened. "He was fighting Gaara and he was doing great. That is until Gaara got his leg and arm. He completely destroyed them and Guy had to interfere." I looked over at lee. "you were taken out on stretchers. You stayed in the hospital for months. You had almost no chance of continuing as a ninja. I'm sorry, but I just couldn't let that happen. that's why I placed the shield on you. that's why I interfered when I did." He looked straight up shocked. He probably didn't know how to handle the information. Then without a single word, he turned around and went back inside. I turned around too and ran off into the forest, hurt and confused.