Chapter 21: Round 3: Battles of the 'Geniuses'

"Haha, you won, Hinata!" Naruto shouted as Hinata came back to the contestants' box. He then proceeded to give her a big hug. If they were in a match, Naruto would have won as Hinata fainted upon that with a clueless Naruto staring down at her.

"Will Sasuke Uchiha please report to the arena?" Genma announced as Gaara had already made his way to the arena. However, Sasuke had not shown.

"The crowd is becoming quite restless" the Kazekage said to the Hokage.

"Yes, that sure was a great match" replied the Hokage.

"I'm sure that is part of the reason, but its most likely because of this next match. For experienced lords and shinobi leaders, there isn't a match they'd enjoy more" said the Kazekage, referring to Sasuke and Gaara's match. "By the way, where is he?"

One of the Hokage's guards whispered in his ear that Sasuke was still missing. He also mentioned the question of Orochimaru.

"What's going on?" Ino said. "Where's Sasuke? Is he even here for his match?" She looked over at Sakura and saw that something was up.

"What the heck is that guy doing? Is he even planning on coming?" Shikamaru said.

"Of course he's coming, this is Sasuke after all. He's not going to pass up a chance to fight Gaara" replied Naruto. 'Sasuke, what's taking you so long?'

"We have no choice" the Hokage said. "The rules say he must be disqualified."

"Hokage-dono. Please wait a little longer before disqualifying him" requested the Kazekage.

"I beg your pardon, but anyone who takes punctuality lightly doesn't have what it takes to be a chunin" the Hokage's guard said. "Unless there is a suitable reason for the Lords to wait, we must go on as scheduled."

"I see" said the Kazekage. "If that is the case, then there is a more than suitable reason. The majority of the shinobi Lords are here because of this match, including myself. Sasuke is a member of the Uchiha clan after all, and we of the Wind country request that our Gaara be given the chance to fight him."

"Hokage-sama, what should we do?" asked his guard.

"There is no guarantee that Sasuke will come, but at least we can postpone his match until the very end. We will make this exception and have the match later on" said the Hokage. With that, the guard went to inform the examiner.

Baki remembered what Gaara said to him a few days ago. 'Did he really kill him?' Baki thought.

Hiashi found this little interruption to be a suitable time to finally have a chat with Neji.

Neji was in the stadium's infirmary, recovering from the match and reflecting on a few things that Naruto had said.

"Huh?...Oh, Hyuga-sama" one of the medic said.

"Sorry, but could you leave us alone for a little?" requested the Hyuga lord.

Neji struggled to sit up, still sore. "What do you want?" he said harshly.

"I came to tell you the truth of that day" Hiashi said.

"Truth?" asked Neji.

Hiashi nodded. "That day, I was fully prepared to die." Hiashi's comment struck Neji.

"What?! What are you talking about? That time my father was killed to take your place!" declared Neji.

"The results may appear that way, but that is not the truth" claimed Hiashi.

"What, after all these years?" replied a disbelieving Neji.

"I'm telling you after all these years because I thought you would believe me now" said Hiashi.

*Flashback*

Hiashi was standing in front of the Hokage and a few members of the Hyuga council, including his brother Hizashi. "There is no choice then, if it will prevent another war" said Hiashi to the Hokage.

"Hold on Hiashi" said one of the Hyuga elders. "The advanced blood of the Hyuga is a valuable trump card to this village. The duty of protecting it belongs to the main family."

"But before that duty, if the village is drawn into a dangerous situation…" said Hiashi.

"I know" replied the elder. "That is why the branch family exists. We will hand over Hizashi's body in place of yours. He has already agreed."

"But what they want is the secrets of the Byakugan. Once Hizashi is killed, they will be sealed away!" stated Hiashi.

"No. All we agreed to was to hand over the body of Hiashi Hyuga" claimed the elder. If we act like we agreed and hand over Hizashi's body, which is an exact duplicate of yours, they won't be able to complain any further."

Hiashi did not agree with this plan, especially sacrificing his brother in his stead. "Hiashi, the time must come for each generation where they must protect the Hyuga blood in this way. You must have the heart to let go of even a sibling to protect that blood…That is the destiny of the main family and that's the destiny of those born as Hyuga."

Hizashi spoke up. "What happened to the always valiant Hiahsi-sama?" taunted Hizashi.

"This is different than anything from the past! I can't…" Hiashi was cut off as Hizashi slammed his palm into his brother's stomach.

"Please let me go" Hizashi said.

"W-why? You have Neji" Hiashi managed to get out, trying to catch his breath. "Why for the main family do you chose death?"

"That's incorrect" stated Hizashi, shocking both Hiashi and the elder. "I have always hated the main family and I still do. That is why I am doing this to save you as my brother, not a member of the main family. This is the first time I have had the freedom to choose. I have only shown my ugly side to Neji…yet here, I finally understand my own will."

The entire room remained silent at Hizashi's comments. "Please tell Neji this…I am not being killed to protect the main family. To protect Neji, my brother, my family, and the entire village, I choose death by my own will" explained Hizashi.

Hiashi couldn't quite understand. "Choosing death is freedom?"

"Brother, I wanted, just once, to disobey the Hyuga destiny, that is all" Hizashi stated.

*End Flashback*

"That is the whole truth" said Hiashi as he told his story to Neji.

"Why should I believe a story like that?!" shouted Neji in disbelief. "It's some lie made up by the main family! After all these years!..."

"I thought that was what you were going to say. That is why I waited after all these years to tell you until now. I wanted to tell you Hizashi's final words, not as a member of the main family, but as his brother."

Neji looked down, taking it all in. When he looked up, he saw something no branch member had ever seen before. Hiashi was bowing before Neji, begging for Neji to believe him.

"Please…raise your head…"said Neji calmly. Hiashi left the room, but not before giving Neji a letter in his father's handwriting, explaining everything in his own words.

'Father…is a person's destiny a thing like a cloud flowing with an inescapable flow? Or can a person choose the flow he wishes?' Neji thought. 'I still don't know the answer. Either way, the destination may be the same in the end. However, by choosing to live like the latter, a person can live and strive towards a goal, and in this match I finally understand that those who have that are truly strong. Father, I now have but one goal. I want to become stronger so that I may not lose to anyone ever again."

"Oh, Hinata? What are you doing down here?" Hiashi said, running into his daughter down in the infirmary.

"Um…I was just making sure Shino was okay" Hinata replied. She was wondering if she would get something more from her father for once. However, after some time, Hiashi remained silent. She decided to return to the competitors' box.

"Hinata…" Hiashi said, causing his daughter to stop. "That technique, what was it?"

"Umm…well…It was what I was working on outside our training sessions. I…I call it the Protection of the Eight Trigrams" she explained. "I needed something to defend against Shino's insects and I came up with that. Unlike the Kaiten, which utilizes a charka pulse to repel attacks, the chakra is so thin that it cuts whatever hits it instead of pushing it away."

"Hmm, I see" Hiashi said, pausing for a moment, worrying Hinata a little. "It was good. I was impressed." Hinata picked up her head, glad that her father had finally begun to recognize that she did in fact have talent as a shinobi. "Now, go back to the stands, the other matches should be starting soon and you shouldn't miss them."

Back in the stadium, the Hokage's guard had informed Genma to proceed to the next match and to postpone Sasuke's match to the end of the first round. Some of the crowd was upset, but it was better than there being no match at all. For Gaara, at least there would still be an opportunity to kill Sasuke.

"Alright, we will go ahead with the next match, Haku Yuki and Yugito Nii, please step down to the arena" Genma announced.

As the two of them proceeded to the arena, Hinata made her way back to the contestants' box. "Hey Naruto, Hinata, you know the two of you are going to have to fight, right?" Shikamaru stated.

'F-Fight N-n-naruto?…' Hinata thought, her mind going blank. Naruto wasn't sure what to make of it either. He didn't want to hurt Hinata, but at the same time, he didn't want to forfeit. Now, both he and Hinata almost regretted winning their match. Temari was getting quite a laugh as the two of them went completely silent and Hinata turned red.

"Begin!" Genma announced as Haku and Yugito began their match.

Yugito made the first move by launching her Katon: Fiery Hellcat Jutsu at Haku.

"Sution: Water Wall!" Haku said, creating a wall of water in front of himself to block the flaming cats.

'Damn…I guess he can use water style ninjutsu since he can use ice style. And I'm a fire style user. This will be difficult, not to mention that I can't exactly use the power of the Nibi to freely' Yugito thought.

"Yes, sadly I cannot help. From what I understood with Naruto, he was even pushing it by tapping into Kurama's power. Although I can give you a little bit. Kurama mentioned that was enough to defeat Haku's ice style." Matatabi said to Yugito.

Now, Haku was aware of Yugito being a jinchuriki, after their encounter in the Forest of Death. As such, he was being cautious around her, knowing that Naruto was able defeat the ice style by tapping into his demon's chakra.

"Hyoton: Ice prison!" Haku shouted while Yugito was still in conversation with her demon. Ice shot towards Yugito along the trail of water on the ground that had been laid while Haku was using the water wall. The ice surrounded Yugito, encasing her in a block of ice. The entire audience stared in awe at Haku's ability. Many of them were simply not familiar with ice style and they were interested to see its true ability.

"What was that technique?" Ino asked Sakura.

"It's his Ice Prison. One of the techniques I helped him develop over the past month" Zabuza said, joining the group in the stands. Needless to say, the former Demon of the Hidden Mist got a few looks. Some people, especially those from out of town, did not expect to see him here, let alone wearing a Konoha headband.

"Ice?" Ino and Kiba asked.

"Yes, the Hyoton or Ice style. It's a blood line that belonged to the Yuki clan before they were all but eliminated during the Hidden Mist's blood line purges. As far as I know, Haku is the only one left who has the blood line" explained Zabuza.

"But Zabuza, I have heard that there are ninja in the Land of Snow that can use ice style jutsu" Asuma said.

"Yes, I am aware of that. However, Haku's blood line is the true Hyoton, and is more powerful than their ice style jutsu" explained Zabuza.

"Wow, so Haku is really that powerful?" asked Ino. Zabuza just nodded to her question.

'Damn' thought Yugito. 'Looks like I am going to have to tap into your power, Matatabi.' With that, Yugito felt some of Matatabi's chakra flood her system.

"This is all I can give you. Remember, we were warned by the Raikage not to use it, hoping to keep this fact relatively secret. We jeopardized it by talking to Naruto, but it appears as if he hasn't told anyone" replied the Ghost Cat. While she was a jinchuriki fully capable of controlling her beast, Yugito being a jinchuriki was completely unknown outside the Hidden Cloud, with the exception of Team 7. The Raikage wanted to keep it that way as he wanted to have one secret weapon if the time came that Killer Bee, the jinchuriki of the Hachibi and the only other jinchuriki besides Naruto and Yugito to be in good standings with his beast, wasn't enough. This was why she couldn't fully tap into the Nibi's power this time around.

With the demon chakra, Yugito was able to break out of Haku's jutsu and charged forward at high speeds. Haku was prepared for this and had already frozen most of the water puddled on the ground. Thanks to the blood limit, Haku was able to walk on the ice without slipping. That was not the case for Yugito. Haku just sidestepped her as she slid by. When Yugito finally was able to stabilize herself, Haku had already prepared his next attack. "Hyoton: Ice prison!" The ice slowly began to encase Yugito, but she was able to break free as the demonic chakra was still flowing through her system.

"Katon: Fiery Claws!" Yugito said, creating claws of fire on both her hands and feet. She darted at Haku, claws at the ready. Thanks to the heat generated from the claws, the ice beneath her feet melted almost instantly, giving her some traction on the ice. She trusted her claws towards Haku, impaling him in the chest.

"Heh! Got you" she said.

"Haku!" Naruto shouted up in the competitors' box.

"No. She didn't get him" Hinata said, her Byakugan active. "There is no chakra network in that Haku, it's just a water clone."

"Huh?" Naruto said. "But I thought all clones had chakra networks, like my shadow clones."

"N-No. Shadow clones are one of the few clone types that exhibit a distinct chakra system" explained Hinata.

As Hinata explained, the impaled Haku burst into water, revealing it to be a water clone, soaking Yugito in the process. "Hyoton: Ice Prison!" shouted Haku as Yugito was instantly frozen. Unlike the last time, the ice did not creep have around her as she was already soaked in water. Instead, she was instantly frozen. Haku managed to leave her head unfrozen as he walked up to her and held a senbon to her neck. "Surrender" Haku said, giving Yugito only one option.

'Damn. I can't use anymore demonic chakra without giving anything away and it's as if this ice is frozen into me, not around me like the last times. I can't move' thought Yugito, in a tight position. "Fine. I surrender."

"Winner: Haku Yuki" Genma announced as cheers erupted from the stadium.

"An interesting ability that one has" said the Kazekage.

"Yes, I would agree. And he demonstrated rather good mastery of it as well" the Hokage said.

'He? That girl is a boy?' the Kazekage thought, slightly disgusted at his own train of thoughts.

Haku unfroze Yugito, who had to then go to the infirmary to be treated for a major case of frost burn.

"This ice kid's not bad" said Kotetsu to Izumo.

"Yeah, he showed a good mastery at using his abilities and even showed that he was a fairly good strategist, coming up with the idea of using the water clone to soak her and increase the potency of his ice" commented Izumo. Zabuza overheard their conversation and smiled a little. While they had not completely hit Haku's abilities, they were rather close.

Knowing that she was next, Temari whipped out her fan and floated down to the middle of the arena.

"Looks like you are eager to start" said Genma. "Shikamaru! Get down here!"

'What's she getting all excited about? I wish she would just die' thought Shikamaru, who obviously didn't want to be there. 'Well, I guess I could forfeit and…'

"Let's go Shikamaru!" Shouted Naruto as he pushed Shikamaru over the railing and onto the floor of the arena. Apparently, Naruto had gotten over the fact that he had to fight Hinata next and wanted to get to Shikamaru's fight.

'That had to hurt' thought Temari, watching the whole ordeal.

"Hey! Hurry up and fight!" The crowd yelled as they started to throw stuff at Shikamaru, who was lying on the ground still.

"Everyone wants to see Sasuke's fight. They are probably angry because after all this waiting, they have to watch this fight" sighed Shikamaru. He then looked at his opponent. "Troublesome".

"What are you giving up already?" asked Temari.

"Well, it's not like he was motivated to begin with" said Asuma to the group of Konoha ninja in the stands.

"Good Luck! Shikamaru!" Shouted Naruto.

"Fine, if you won't come at me, I will" shouted Temari as she charged.

"Oh man, that girl is really revved up" said Shikamaru as he pulled two kunai from his back pouch. Temari slammed her fan down on top of Shikamaru, kicking up a cloud of dust. "Ya know, I really don't want to fight, and I don't care if I become a chunin or not, but I'm not going to lose to a girl." Shikamaru was up against the wall, about three feet off the ground, using the kunai to support him. Temari opened her fan and sent a gust of wind sailing towards Shikamaru.

"Hmph, he's good at running away" she said as Shikamaru dodged the attack, running into the trees.

"Can't have a guy lose to a girl, but even so, I can't go around hitting her" he said.

"YEAH SHIKAMARU! Beat her up!" Ino said, slipping into crazed fan girl mode.

'Hmm, he's a ninja who uses shadows, so he's probably trying to lure me into those trees' thought Temari, analyzing Shikamaru's techniques.

"Hey Ino? Wasn't it supposed to be Sasuke's match next?" Chouji asked, depressing Sakura in the process.

'Best to leave her alone right now' Ino thought, looking over at Sakura.

"Heh, Shikamaru in the finals seems really out of place, doesn't it?" said Chouji.

"Don't say that" argued Ino. "Sure he may not have many special techniques, but he's great at coming up with strategies. I get the feeling that is how we were able to survive until the finals."

"Mmm, yeah. But he'll give up soon" said Chouji, munching on a bag of chips. "He thinks things are too much of a hassle. I'm telling you, he's definitely going to give up soon."

"And I'm saying he won't" said Ino, getting into the match. "Just now, he jumped down into the ring on his own, so he must be fired up! Go Shikamaru!"

'That's because Naruto pushed him off the ledge' Kiba thought.

Back in the ring, Shikamaru had been staring up at the clouds for the past 5 minutes. 'And I only became a ninja because I thought my life would be more interesting as one' he thought. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the hole that Naruto had made back in his match. 'I guess things aren't going to be that simple.'

Wondering what Shikamaru was doing, Temari sent a huge gust of wind towards Shikamaru. Even the audience felt the gust. As her gust subsided, a shadow came bolting out of the woods towards her. Temari back flipped out of the way, coming to a stop once it couldn't reach any further.

"I've seen through your shadow possession jutsu" she said. "Looks like there is a limit to how much you can stretch and shrink your shadow. No matter how much you change and shape your shadow, you still can't stretch it any further than the surface area of your original shadow…right?"

'So she figured it out' thought Shikamaru.

Temari analyzed Shikamaru's technique, taking into account the size of the wall's shadow and her distance from it. Suddenly, Shikamaru made a seal with his hands. No one recognized it, except Asuma.

"What's that seal?" Kurenai asked.

"It's not a seal" replied Asuma. "It's more like a habit. He knows how to slowly take his time. He actually enjoys it, like one of those old geezers. That's why he enjoys stuff like shougi. I've played against him a lot recently and he always does this when backed into a corner. It's a sign that he's working on some strategy. As a result, I've never beaten him before."

Kurenai looked at him as if he were a little crazy. "You speak of strategies, but this is a real fight" she said.

"Yes, but it is said that those games have their roots as devices for tacticians to plot their wars with" explained Asuma. "I guess you could say that Shikamaru's a shrewd tactician."

"Shrewd? Hold on a minute! His grades were no better than Naruto's" said Kurenai.

"Hm, he always said those testes were too much of a hassel to even move the pencil on paper. It seems like he would always sleep through his tests" explained Asuma, with Kurenai and the other genin listening in. "Once, it struck me that he could be so good at strategic games and have poor grades. So I had him take an IQ test disguised as a game."

"So, how was it?" Asked Kurenai.

Asuma let out a little laugh. "He sure is a diamond in a rough. He's a super genius with an IQ of over 200!"

"200?!" said Kurenai. The other genin, with the exception of Kiba, who didn't really know what IQ meant, were shocked. Chouji wasn't sure of the meaning of this IQ thing either, but he knew the full range of Shikamaru's intelligence as they had been best friends ever since childhood.

Shikamaru released his hands, indicating that he was done. Seeing that he was done as well, Temari whipped her fan, creating another massive gust of wind. When it subsided, a kunai came flying at her, which she blocked with her fan. Then, Shikamaru's shadow struck again. She thought she was safe as she was behind her safety line, but when the shadow didn't slow down, Temari had no choice but to start back peddling.

"Very good, you saw through it" said Shikamaru.

"I see, you were buying time for the sun to drop lower so that would increase the length of your shadow" explained Temari.

"TEMARI! Above!" shouted Kankuro from the stands. Everyone looked up to see what Kankuro was talking about and Temari saw it. Shikamaru had tied his coat to a kunai as a parachute. After a few seconds, another shadow appeared on the ground where the tip of Shikamaru's shadow was, allowing it to extend forward more towards Temari. Thanks to quick reflexes, Temari was able to back pedal away from this one as well. Eventually, she stopped as Shikamaru's shadow could not stretch anymore.

"Damn, his plan wasn't good enough" Kurenai said.

"Yeah, his opponent is pretty bright to" explained Asuma.

"This isn't good. As time passes, his shadow gets more of a reach" Temari said. 'I'll end it right here'. Temari made a hand seal, but was stopped mid seal. "What?!"

Everyone looked on at what had just happened. "Heh, finally. Shadow possession jutsu is a success" claimed Shikamaru. She didn't know what just happened. She was sure that she had evaded all his attacks. Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a second kunai hit the ground with his shirt attached to it. The first one had just been a distraction from the second one and he used the first kunai with his jacket to push Temari more towards the second one.

"Heh, checkmate" Asuma said. In the arena, Shikamaru moved Temari against her will towards the center of the arena.

'Suddenly, everyone's into this fight' Izumo thought.

'The guy nobody took seriously just became a dark horse' Kotetsu thought.

"Yeah! Do it, Shikamaru!" shouted Ino. Next to her, Chouji's pace of eating had increased dramatically.

"I give up!" Shikamaru announced.

"…WHAT?!" could be heard from all over the stands. Naruto and Ino almost lost it.

"Heh, I told you he'd give up" said Chouji, his pace returning to normal.

"W-what?" Temari said.

"I said, I give up" repeated Shikamaru. "I barely have enough chakra to hold this jutsu for 10 more seconds. I had about 200 more moves planned out, but I'm out of time. Besides, I'm getting tired of this, 1 match is enough for me."

"Winner: Temari!" Genma announced as Shikamaru recalled his shadow.

'Hmm, that's child's intellect is well beyond that of a genin. If it was an actual 4 man team, Shikamaru's victory would have been definite the moment he caught her' thought Kurenai. 'It's like he won the battle, but lost the match.'

'While it's true and unfortunate that he does not have any motivation, you could say it allows him to stay calm and collected while making decisions' thought Asuma. 'Because he knows his own strengths, he doesn't panic and doesn't lose his cool, allowing him to stay calm. When you talk about the mental make-up for a chunin, Shikamaru has the most important abilities that would make for a good leader.'

"Hmm, when you measure the value of a small unit leader, protecting the team from danger is usually more important than completing the mission" said Izumo.

"In information gathering you can't be saying 'I completed my mission, but my team was wiped out'" said Kotetsu. "You need a leader that can balance the risks, sacrifice and mission on scale. If you can't act and think with the lives of the team as the top priority, you don't have what it takes to be a chunin."

"Well, on that point, Naruto and Neji were no good. I don't think Hinata is ready yet and neither is Shino. Haku, possibly. He has talent and potential, but I'm not sure yet" Izumo said. "What do you think?"

"He's got a better chance than Naruto" Kotetsu replied. At that time, Naruto jumped down into the arena to lecture Shikamaru about giving up like that.

"Why'd you give up?!" Naruto said.

"Forget about it, let's just enjoy the next fight" replied Shikamaru. Naruto had forgotten that Sasuke's fight was next and got all excited.

"Oh, you're here" one of the arena guards said greeting their guest.

"Okay! Let's go Lee!" shouted Gai. The two had made it just in time for Sasuke and Gaara's match.

"The first round has almost been completed, only Sasuke and Gaara's match remain" the guard said.

"The Naruto and Neji match was…" Lee said, wondering who the victor was.

"It's surprising, the Hyuga lost that match, although the other Hyuga won her match" informed the guard. "Haku beat the Kumo girl and the last match, well…Shikamaru won, but forfeited, saying it was too much work." Lee and Gai had a laugh at the last comment. The entire Nara family was known for their laziness and Shikamaru was no exception. However, what impressed them the most was Naruto's victory over Neji.

"Where's the Uchiha!" the crowd shouted, anxious for the next fight to begin.

In the contestants' box, Gaara began to head down to the arena. "Is he really going to come?" asked Temari.

"Yeah, he'll come" replied Gaara. Suddenly, a swirl of leaves appeared in the middle of the arena. When it cleared, there was Kakashi standing with Sasuke.

"Sorry we're late" said Kakashi. For some reason, Naruto wasn't surprised by this.

"Sasuke!" Lee said, finding his seat in the stands with the rest of his friends. Everyone was glad to see him out of the hospital and walking.

"Hmph, from your excitement, you won the first round?" Sasuke asked Naruto.

"Of course!" Naruto said with a big grin.

"Sorry for the tardiness, I hope Sasuke hasn't been disqualified" said Kakashi.

"Don't worry, you're just in time. We pushed his fight to the very end" Genma said. "And your tardiness is starting to rub off."

"That's good" said Kakashi. He left Sasuke in the arena and proceeded to the stands. Naruto and Shikamaru wished him good luck and proceeded back to the competitors' box.

"Sakura, I hate to admit, but your team is pretty amazing" Ino admitted.

"Huh?" said a confused Sakura.

"Well, Naruto won his first match; Haku has that cool ice ability, and now Sasuke!" Ino squealed at the last part.

Next to them, Lee was hurting. Sasuke was now fighting Gaara and Naruto had just beaten Neji, his rival. Yet Lee was stuck with a crippled arm and leg and his career as a shinobi in doubt. Only his sensei could see his student's pain.

As Naruto and Shikamaru were walking up, they heard two screams coming from the hall. Once the screams stopped, Gaara came calmly walking out. Naruto and Shikamaru were horrified at the act Gaara just committed. "I-if those two hadn't been there, we would probably be dead" said Shikamaru, Naruto agreeing with him. "I've never seen a guy who could kill with so little hesitation; even Sasuke could be in trouble."

"We've gotta go find Kakashi-sensei and have him stop the match" Naruto said.

"Heya Gai, and you too Lee, your body alright?" Kakashi said, coming up to the stands.

'Kakashi-sensei' Sakura thought, showing a little bit of anger on her face.

'Sakura must be pretty mad at him' Ino thought, looking at her friend.

"Begin!" Genma announced as the match began.

Gaara's sand was already pouring out of the gourd, causing Sasuke to back away. Gaara bent down and clutched his head in pain, the demon inside him becoming even more bloodthirsty. "Mother, I am sorry I fed you some nasty blood earlier, but his…his will be delicious!" said a sadistic Gaara.

"What the hell?!" thought Sasuke. The realization came to him that this match, someone WAS going to die.

"Damn, 'conversation' has begun" said Kankuro, who was joined by Temari in the stands.

"I've never seen him like this before. It's going to get bad" said Temari.

Sasuke threw a few shuriken at Gaara, only for the sand to block them. Gaara's sand proceeded to take on a human shape, effectively becoming a sand clone. It shot some sand out at Sasuke, who dodged the attack. Sasuke engaged the sand clone, only for his hand to get caught. Before Gaara could do anything more to the trapped Sasuke, he freed himself from the sand with a thrust. Sasuke resumed his assault, attacking Gaara, but quickly moving behind hind him, just as Lee had done in the preliminaries.

'Fast! Just like him!' Gaara thought, recalling the earlier fight. Sasuke was too fast for the sand and landed a punch on Gaara's face, cracking the sand armor.

'His taijutsu is the same as mine' thought Lee.

Imitating Lee's style, Sasuke continued the assault landing a few more blows on Gaara.

'His speed is like that of Lee's without the weights…' thought Gai. He looked over at Kakashi, who just returned a smile. 'What did you do Kakashi?'

'Sasuke, you are a genius that surpasses my imagination. How many years did it take for me to gain that speed? And yet only a month for you' thought Lee. However, he noticed Sasuke panting. 'But as expected, keeping up that speed requires a great amount of stamina.'

"What kind of training did you do?" Gai asked Kakashi. "To come this far in only a month."

"I had Sasuke copy Lee's taijutsu earlier. During training I had him working on Lee's style" Kakashi said, confirming Gai's suspicions. "It was a lot of work, but because he had seen Lee in action before, he was able to copy him. Why did you bother only on training his taijutsu?"

"Katon: Fireball Jutsu!" shouted Sasuke, backing away from Gaara and shooting his fireball at him. The fire made contact with a wall of sand; however, Sasuke noticed something. Small chunks of sand had turned into glass and fell away from the wall. This was what he was looking for, only he needed a more powerful flame to get most of the sand.

"Kakashi-sensei!" shouted Naruto as he and Shikamaru arrived in the stands with Shikamaru dropping to his knees panting. Hinata followed closely behind, wondering what was up when Naruto and Shikamaru went racing through the contestant's box. "Stop the match now! That Gaara kid's not normal! He's a jinchuriki who's gone completely bloodthirsty and insane! His only purpose in life is to mindlessly kill others!"

Most of the genin in the stands were confused by Naruto referring to Gaara as a jinchuriki, not knowing what exactly it was. However, the jonin, chunin, and Sakura had looks of fear on their faces, now realizing what Sasuke was up against.

Kakashi regained himself. "Don't worry Naruto, we weren't late for nothing" said the Copy Ninja. Out of the corner of his eyes, he caught Sakura's reaction to Naruto's claim. "If he knows what a jinchuriki is, then he knows about the Kyuubi. However, Sakura…she seems to know, but how?"

"What do you mean, not late for nothing?" Sakura asked.

"We don't have time for this!" shouted Naruto.

"Just be quiet and watch" Kakashi said.

Gaara began to wrap himself in a cocoon of sand and Sasuke saw this as his opportunity to eliminate most of Gaara's sand. Gathering his chakra, he flipped through about a half dozen hand seals. "Katon: Dragon Fire Breath!" he declared as the flamethrower shot towards Gaara, encasing him in flames as if he was being baked.

"Did that?..." said Sakura, wondering if that last attack had managed to do some serious damage to Gaara. Once the flames cleared, it was obvious as to what Sasuke had done. Most of the cocoon had become glass, except for a small layer of sand near the very core.

"Wait? What just happened?" asked Naruto.

"Naruto, what happens when you superheat sand?" asked Kakashi. Naruto didn't know the answer until he looked at Gaara.

"Oh! It turns into glass?!" he said, realizing what Sasuke's strategy had been.

"Ah, just like good old times. I miss the days of turning the Ichibi into a glass statue" joked Kurama. "Although, his fire wasn't quite powerful enough to bake the entire ball."

Back in the arena, Sasuke was going to end it right here. He took a few steps back as the glass began to flake away from the cocoon. After finishing the hand seals, Sasuke's hand began to glow a yellow-blue color and a chirping noise could be heard.

"No way! Is that…?" said Gai, watching Sasuke's jutsu.

"Kakashi?" Zabuza asked. From the looks of it, that was the same jutsu that he was almost impaled by in the Land of Waves.

"The reason I trained Sasuke, is because he's the same type as me" stated Kakashi. Most of the genin in the stands were amazed at Sasuke's new technique.

"Now I see why you trained him in taijutsu and greatly raised his speed" Gai realized. Sasuke began his charge.

"What's going on?" asked Sakura. "You can clearly see the chakra in his hand."

"Yeah, I'm going to rip his head off. And then I'm going to crack it open so you can have all the blood in it" said Gaara to his inner demon. "I'm such a good boy. I just want to make you happy mother."

Everyone looked on as the Uchiha charged at the sand/glass ball, his hand charged with a crackling chakra.

"What's that technique and sound?" asked Sakura.

"A simple stab" explained Gai. "But it's the Leaf's number one tactician, copy ninja Hatake Kakashi's, only original technique. A technique designed specifically for assassinations. Because the chakra is concentrated at hand and the speed of the user, it gives off that chi chi chi sound. A thousand birds running towards you, that technique is called…"

Sasuke's hand impaled the ball, as it was now leaking some blood. Sasuke had drawn Gaara's blood. "Chidori, or the Lightning edge" Gai said. "Given that nickname when Kakashi cut a bolt of lightning with it"

Everyone stood in awe at Sasuke's attack and Zabuza was now aware of what he had managed to avoid just a few months ago. Sasuke's Chidori cut through the remaining ball of sand like butter, impaling Gaara in the shoulder and causing him to actually bleed for the first time in his life. A scream of pain could be heard through the stadium as feathers began to fall from the sky. The time had come for Orochimaru's forces and the Sand to make their move.