FicWad

Chapter 5

Ugh... my head... What the hell happened? The last thing I remember was that Kusa fre-

/You are marked.../

Wha-? Who the hell said that?!

/I am what you wish me to be.../

What the hell?! What the fuck do you want?

I offer you power. You, who lusts for vengeance. You, who thirsts for strength. I can make you greater than any mortal...

How?! What must I do?

/You must... SURRENDER!/

An explosion of malevolent chakra heralded Uchiha Sasuke's return to consciousness. All movement in the small clearing ceased as killing intent easily trumping anything the fighting genin ever felt before flooded the area. Sasuke commanded the attention of all present as he stepped from the cave, living tattoos of black flame spreading over his body.

This power is incredible. Itachi is nothing compared to this...

Sasuke stepped over the fallen body of the green leotard-clad member of Neji's team and got his first look at the rest of the clearing. The two male Sound genin stood in the middle of the clearing, with their female teammate laying unconscious a few yards away. A bit away from the pair, Naruto's battered and unconscious form rested. The heavily beaten and short-haired Sakura at his feet was angrily noted before he addressed the girl.

"Sakura... Who did this to you?" Sakura was stunned by the new appearance of the Uchiha, and could no more respond than the tree behind her.

"..." Sasuke-kun... what happened to you?

"We did it!" called Zaku from across the clearing. With a laugh, he continued. "And what's a half-dead freak like you going to do about it?" Sasuke merely grinned in response.

Before he could do move, Sakura's faint whisper reached his ears. "Sasuke-kun...your body..."

"Do not worry," he reassured his teammate. "I feel ...perfect. I finally understand now. Even if I must partake of the devil's fruit, I shall gain the power needed to kill that man..." Shifting his attention back to the Sound ninja, he leapt into action, starting with a trio of kunai aimed at the spiky haired Sound nin. Zaku rolled away from the kunai and unleashed a Zankuuha as he regained his feet. The fierce wind tore through the small clearing, annihilating everything in its path and raising a huge cloud of dust.

When the dust settled, the Uchiha scion was nowhere to be found. "Hah! He was completely obli-" Zaku's self-congratulatory shout was cut short by the sudden appearance of a fist in his side. The boy was sent flying several yards before rolling to a stop. Painfully climbing back to his feet, he clutched his bruised side as he faced the branded Uchiha across the clearing.

"Your pathetic attacks will not work against someone of my level."

"Like hell! Zankuukyokuha!"

"Zaku, no!" Dosu called to his enraged teammate. The cry reached the boy far too late. Before either Sound genin could blink, Zaku was already in the grasp of the deranged Uchiha. Standing close behind the Sound nin, Sasuke held both of Zaku's arms behind the boy with his left foot planted on the genin's back.

"You seem to value these arms of yours," Sasuke pushed slightly, a demented grin spreading across his face at the Sound nin's cries of pain. "We shall see how you manage without one." Sasuke quickly produced akunai and shoved it into the back of the boy's right shoulder. After removing the kunai with a small twist, the last Uchiha pulled back hard on Zaku's right arm at the same time he shoved his foot down. In a display of unprecedented brutality, Sasuke pulled, until, with a wet tearing sound, Zaku's right arm tore off at the shoulder. An insane cackle followed Zaku's whimpering form as he collapsed in a heap. The sound genin huddled on the ground in shock, unable to even think of moving. Sasuke uncaringly discarded the severed limb and turned his attention to the last remaining Sound ninja. "You are the only one left... Hopefully you will be more entertaining."

The Uchiha's movement towards Dosu broke Sakura from her state of shock. Latching onto the boy from behind, she sobbingly pleaded with him. "Sasuke-kun, stop! Please... This isn't like you." The girl's pleas somehow managed to reach through the violent haze surrounding the avenger and the strange flame-like markings slowly began to recede. A heartbeat later, the last of the markings retreated into the seal, along with Sasuke's strength. The avenger fell to his knees, followed shortly by his female teammate.

The curse seal is retreating. Looks like we might survive this... Dosu shakily withdrew his team's Earth Scroll from his supply pouch. Setting it lightly upon the ground, he spoke. "You are too strong Sasuke-kun, we can't defeat you at the moment." The bandaged genin set the scroll on the ground. "Take this as agift and please let us leave." When both the conscious members of Team 7nodded, he continued. "You may think this an act of fear, but we need some information at the moment. If we meet again in this exam, we shall neither run nor hide." Setting us the task of killing Sasuke-kun, but going ahead and giving him the curse seal... What was that man thinking? Dosu quickly gathered his teammate's bodies and took to the trees, vanishing from sight amoment later.

Silence reigned in the clearing after the Sound nin had departed, broken a few moments later by the appearance of the non-green members of Team Gai. The duo quickly greeted the conscious rookies before shaking their teammate awake.

"Ugh... Tenten? What are you doing here?" The bowl-cut genin asked as he was roused.

"We came looking for you, Lee. What happened?"The kunoichi of Team Gai answered shortly, helping the boy to his feet.

"Sakura-san was in dang-" Without warning, Lee jumped to his feet and began looking around wildly. "Where are those Sound nin?!"

"It's okay, Lee. Sasuke-san drove them off."

Sasuke-san... Is he really that powerful? Shaking off his sudden feelings of inadequacy, Lee limped over and gently shook Naruto awake. The orange-clad boy sat up with a soft groan, flinching softly before grasping at his stomach again.

"Ugh... Thanks, Gejimayu." Standing on unsteady legs, Naruto grinned at the boy. "We'll have to spar sometime after this test, you're really strong!"

Lee flushed slightly at the praise until his usual exuberance returned in full. Striking a mild, and painful, pose, Lee spoke. "Yosh! We shall test our Flames of Youth after this exam!"

"Right. For now, we gotta finish this thing." Lee nodded quickly and rejoined his teammates near the edge of the clearing. Once they had all gathered, Neji led them away through the trees. Naruto limped over to his teammates so they could get underway as well. The Higan user smiled widely when he noticed the scroll his darker teammate was holding. "Alright, an Earth Scroll! We can finally get out of this damned forest!"

"Hn. Let's get to the tower already," Sasuke said, seemingly back to normal. His teammates nodded and the trio of genin began the long trek to end the second test.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Team 7 did not make good time traveling the last few kilometers to the tower. Regular incidents in the forest, like an attack by agigantic centipede, hampered the group's progress. They doggedly pushed on though; trudging through the forest well after night of the fourth day had fallen.

"Kuso!" The frustrated yell echoed through the trees. "Why can't we just get there already?! We've been walking for hours!"

"Dobe... shut up." Sasuke ground out through clenched teeth. "We'll get there when we get there, and if you keep yelling like the baka you are, we'll have a fight on our hands in no time."

"Gah, never woulda thought the great Uchiha would be scared of a fight!"

"Baka! If we get ambushed, it's not much of afight!"

The boys' bickering soon evolved into a physical scuffle. The fight did not last long however, for Sakura quickly reached the end of her patience. Bopping both of them hard on the head, she reprimanded the pair. "Just what the hell do you two think you're doing? We need to get to the tower, not fight each other!"

Naruto wilted under his teammate's lecture, at least until he noticed the Uchiha massaging his scalp. The blonde burst into uncontrollable laughter, much to the bewilderment of his teammates. "What are you laughing at dobe?"

"Sa- Sakura actually hit you!" The unexpected answer had Sasuke staring blankly at the blonde, eyebrow quirked, while their female teammate blushed heatedly and stared at her traitorous hand in shock. "Oh man... I never thought I'd live to see the day..."

Shrugging it off after a moment as Naruto being Naruto, Sasuke turned and led the way towards the tower once the blonde had recovered sufficiently. As they left the clearing, Naruto flinched violently and slapped a hand over his eyes.

"Ouch! Someone put up a genjutsu; it's just like before the first test." The blonde announced to his teammates. "Everything is so glowy I can't see anything."

The other two members of Team 7 reacted immediately. The pair peered into the gloom trying to pick up clues on the whereabouts of their assailants. The tension continued to rise as the trio of genin flinched at the slightest sound. As the tension became almost unbearable, Sasuke saw something and sprang into action, launching a /Gokakyu no Jutsu/at a small copse of trees. A mere second before impact, three shadows blurred away from the copse, to land before Team 7. The dark shapes were revealed as the team of the Ame ninja that had impersonated Naruto on the first day of the test.

"You guys are unlucky," the leader of the trio said casually. "In the state you're in, you will not be able to defeat us."

"Tch. Don't discount the Sharingan so easily."

"We shall see, Uchiha."

The three Ame genin melted into the ground, disappearing moments before Sasuke's kunai impacted the ground where they had stood. A second later, masses of illusionary bodies rose from the ground. The Ame nin taunted the Uchiha from his hiding place with a laugh as kunai began to fly from every direction. "Surely the vaunted Sharingan is enough to overpower this simple technique?"

Faces grim, Sasuke and Sakura dodged the hail of kunai. Naruto, blinded as he was by the chakra of the genjutsu, was not quite as agile as his teammates. A bloodied and thoroughly pissed off blonde emerged from the storm of knives a few seconds later. "Gah! That's it, you guys are going down!"

The blonde brought his hands up into his favorite cross-shaped seal, a look of intense concentration on his face. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" The resulting puff of smoke covered the blonde, blocking him and a small portion of the clearing from sight. A light breeze passed through the resulting stillness, dispersing the smoke. A single, sickly clone was revealed to the watching genin. The original Naruto sweatdropped when his clone was dispelled by a sudden, violent sneeze. "Damn that snake freak and whatever it is he did to me!"

The watching Ame genin chuckled darkly at the blonde's blunder and renewed their assault on the genin. The Konoha trio dodged as best they could for what felt like hours, unable to so much as glimpse their assailants. Finally, the exhaustion began to set in for the most delicate member of Team 7. Sakura's leg gave out as she tried to dodge yet another knife, sending her to her knees before it. "Sakura-chan!" As the blade approached in seeming slow-motion, Sakura screwed her eyes shut and braced herself for the coming pain. The kunai plunged into the girl's neck and continued straight through, erupting out the back in a fountain of blood. Sasuke watched in shock as Sakura's limp body fell to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut while blood slowly pooled around her.

There was a moment of absolute silence before, with a loud crack, an explosion of killing intent and chakra erupted from a certain blonde. "You... bastards!" an enraged Naruto yelled as the seal on his stomach exploded, destroying his shirt and jacket, leaving the Kyuubi's seal plainly visible. The five additions Orochimaru added had been decimated by the amount of strain they had been put under, completely obliterating two of the marks and cracking the rest. The blonde's blue Higan started swirling with small gouts of blood red flames. "I'll kill you!"

The berserk blonde charged at the Ame clones, swinging wildly at everything that moved. "Get out here and face me, cowards!" Naruto's cries snapped Sasuke out of his shock, focusing his mind on the utter annihilation of the Ame team.

"Naruto, stop that and focus damnit!" Sasuke snapped from his position in the middle of the clearing. The blonde turned to him, absolutely livid.

"God damnit teme, they killed Sakura-chan! They will pay!"

"I know, but you'll never find the bastards like that! I know you want to avenge her as much as I do, but we have to think!" The avenger activated his Sharingan to search. "These things aren't even clones! All we're doing is tiring ourselves out in a gigantic genjutsu."

"Then I'll just take it down!" growled Naruto. The blonde focused on the anger and hate burning within. Using the strength and clarity of his anger, he put all his energy into one final strike with the Higan. An audible snap resounded through the clearing as the blonde forcibly tore away every ounce of chakra in the genjutsu at once, revealing the Ame trio amongst the brush.

The blonde fell to his knees, panting. The Higan calmed slightly, all traces of red flames vanishing completely. "Take care of these guys, teme... for Sakura-chan." Naruto managed to get out before his consciousness fled, dropping him into a troubled sleep.

"I will dobe, don't worry." The avenger turned his attention to the three Ame nin. "You have crossed a line that is unforgivable. Do not expect mercy, for I have none."

"Lucky... only one left." The Ame leader said to his companions. "This should not take long."

The Uchiha, Sharingan active, stared down the trio. "Death smiles on us all eventually." With those words, the seal on his neck exploded into action. Black, flame-like markings extended from the seal to every part of his body and malicious purple chakra radiated from them. As the transformation completed, an insane grin split the Uchiha's face. "But right now... he smiles for /you/."

"Bakemono...." The terrified tone of the Ame nin caused Sasuke's grin to widen, and the boy leapt into action. The Uchiha blurred from sight, only to reappear where one of the Ame nin had stood moments before. The first target of his wrath could be found, clearly dead, halfway through the trunk of a nearby tree with his entire face caved in. Sasuke disregarded the corpse and turned to the remaining two enemies.

"You shall pay in blood for what you have wrought this day." Sasuke drew a kunai and settled into a stance. Without warning, the second Ame nin fell to the ground, a kunai lodged ring-deep in his skull. "You will know true fear..." The leader stared wide-eyed at the boy, unable to tear his gaze from the dual tomoe irises.

"Please... Have mercy..." The leader fell onto his back, desperately scrambling to get away from the demented Uchiha. "I'll give you the scroll! Money! Anything you want! Just let me live!"

"Mercy to the guilty is treason to the innocent."

Sasuke disappeared from sight once again, materializing behind the terrified genin. Without preamble, the avenger snapped the boy's neck. With a sneer, he tossed the corpse away before coming face to face with the harsh truth. He forced himself to ignore his every instinct and approach the body of his female teammate.

The boy fell to his knees beside the still girl, stone-faced on the surface but broiling with barely concealed turmoil within. He lost himself in reminisces of Team 7, and how he would miss her constant attempts to win his affection. It's like people always say, you don't know what you have until it's gone. "Goodbye... Sakura..." The boy leaned over, intending to kiss her forehead and hopefully speed her along to the afterlife. As he lowered his head, though, he felt a faint stirring of air along his cheek. Immediately, all of his attention was focused on the bleeding girl. Grabbing her wrist, he felt for a pulse. A few moments later a happy smile, the first true one since Itachi murdered his family, spread across his face. Looking up, Sasuke examined the girl's wound, only to find that the wound, while deep, was not actually a puncture, but rather a cut along the outside of her neck, somehow missing her arteries and important veins. The blood had begun to clot, and it would most likely leave a very large, nasty scar, but she would survive if he could stop the bleeding.

Sasuke moved over to his other teammate to retrieve the first aid kit and kicked the blonde awake in the process. Naruto sat up slowly and took in the corpses of the Ame genin. "Good job, teme. Maybe you're not such a bast-"

"Not now dobe, she's still alive." Naruto did adouble-take at the avenger's pronouncement. "She's lost a lot of blood, and it's still bleeding, but as best I can tell, the kunai missed anything major. It sliced the outside of her neck rather than going through the middle."

The blonde was immediately on his feet, dragging his teammate to their friend. "What are you waiting for then?! Let's fix her up!" The duo ran over to the girl and swiftly cleaned and dressed the cut on her neck. Once they had swapped the bandages a few times, and managed to mostly stop the bleeding, they settled in to await her recovery.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Dawn broke bright and early the next morning, rousing a certain blonde from his slumber. Naruto sat up with a yawn and prepared for the day ahead. Or at least, he would have had he not noticed Sakura sitting up across the fire-pit from him.

"Sakura-chan! You're awake!" he called to her. "How're you feeling?"

The girl looked up, meeting his gaze and smiled warmly. "I've been better, and this bandage is annoying, but I'll survive. Thank you for your help, Naruto-kun."

"Ehehe. The teme did most of the work against those three," The blushing Naruto waved a hand towards the small grave he had dug for the Ame nin. He and Sasuke had buried the bodies after ensuring Sakura was going to recover in a show of respect for the deceased.

Sakura gave a small gasp as the implication registered with her. "Sasuke-kun... he... he killed them?"

"Hai. We both thought you were dead, and we were furious. I got knocked out halfway through the fight, and he didn't want to talk about it, so I don't know for sure what happened, but he killed them all to avenge you."

"...I see..."

"Anyway, let's stop talking about all this depressing stuff and get ready to head for the tower. Once the teme wakes up, we should get moving as quick as we can." Sakura nodded her agreement and the two repacked their sleeping bags and the first aid kit. Naruto nudged the sleeping Uchiha with his foot, bringing the boy back to consciousness. "Hurry up and pack teme, we want out of this forest."

"Huh..? Oh... Go to hell dobe." Sasuke rolled back over and pretended to go back to sleep, succeeding spectacularly in his goal of aggravating the blonde. Eyebrow twitching, Naruto launched a kick at the snoring Uchiha. Sasuke rolled out of range, barely avoiding the blonde's foot. "Heh, you can't even hit me when I'm asleep."

"Shut up, teme! I'll kick your ass!"

The two boys did not take long to resort to physical violence, each trying to pummel the other into submission. Sakura stood by on the sidelines, a blood vessel in her head pulsing visibly. "Will you two knock it off?! We need to get to the tower today damnit!" The boys found their feet fascinating all of a sudden as she lectured them. Gah! These two will drive me insane... Shannaro! Readjusting her bandage, the girl turned to resume the trek. "Let's get moving already, I want a medic-nin to check this cut already."

"Hai."

The trio helped pack up Sasuke's equipment and took off towards the tower. The trip was uneventful, a welcome change for the genin after the last four days. Team 7 finally made it to the tower after another hour of walking.

"Finally! I thought we'd never get here"

"Whatever dobe, let's hurry up and get inside so we can finish this test. Sakura needs to get that wound looked at." Said girl blushed heavily at hearing her crush's concern for her.

He really does care...at least a little.

The trio pushed through one of the many doorways at the base of the tower, only to find themselves in a closed off room with abanner on the far wall.

"If you lack 'heaven', seek wisdom and be prepared. If you lack 'earth', run in the fields and seek advantages. These rules will guide 'something'"

"Huh? What the hell does that mean, Sakura-chan?"

"I don't know. There's a word missing; maybe we have to open the scrolls to fill it in."

With a shrug, the boys each pulled out their scrolls and unrolled them. Smoke began to billow from the patterns inked on each, causing no small amount of alarm to the duo. Sasuke tossed his away and called for Naruto to do the same. When the scrolls landed on the ground, there was an explosion of smoke, and with a pop, a familiar face appeared.

"Iruka-sensei! What are you doing here?!"

"It's the job of chuunin to meet with the examinees at this part of the test. I'm here to congratulate you on passing an-" The chuunin's words were silenced by an enthusiastic Naruto slamming into his midsection.

"YATTA! We passed!" Naruto proceeded to dance happily around the room, while his teammates slumped to the ground.

Being able to move after all we've been through... Just how strong are you, Naruto? Sasuke thought to himself as the blonde was finally silenced by the chuunin.

"Naruto, let me finish before you get all excited!" The blonde released his old teacher and embarrassedly scratched the back of his head. With a fond sigh, Iruka continued his explanation. "You really are the same over-enthusiastic Naruto aren't you? Anyway, I'm here to welcome you to the third stage of the exam and explain this saying on that banner."

The genin listened intently as Iruka explained the chuunin motto, written by none other than the Sandaime Hokage himself. "This motto can be related to a person, and that is the missing word up there. 'Heaven' means the mind; like if Naruto's weakness is his mind, he should learn more and be prepared for any situation. 'Earth' means physical ability; like if Sakura's weakness is her strength, she should train harder to overcome those weaknesses. These two guidelines will curb a person's extremes, and make them into an effective shinobi. I want you three to challenge this next part of the exam with this motto in mind. "

Serious looks settled on the faces of the genin as the ex-teacher finished. "That's all I have to pass on to you. Good luck with the final test, but be careful. Don't push yourselves too hard, especially you, Naruto. I worry abo-"

"There's no need to worry Iruka-sensei. This hitai-ate is the symbol that I am an adult, right? I may still be enthusiastic, but I'm not a little kid anymore. I'm a ninja!"

Iruka felt a small smile spread across his lips. "Good to hear. Sorry for underestimating you."

"Damn straight!" With a wide grin, Naruto led his teammates through the inner door, towards the final exam and their future.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

"Before we begin, congratulations to all of you for passing the second test of this Chuunin Selection Exam." Anko's voice echoed around the large room. I said I'd cut them in half, but 18 is a lot more than I was expecting...

"Your team isn't half bad, Kakashi," Gai muttered to his rival. "But with my team here, getting farther is impossible. Real ability is all that matters now."

"Huh? Gai? You say something?"

The blase response from his eternal rival rattled Gai quite effectively. "Not bad, my eternal rival. You're cool like that, and it really gets on my nerves!"

So that's Gai-sensei's 'eternal rival', eh? Gai-sensei definitely loses in looks, at least. Tenten thought to herself as she watched the drama unfold up front.

Lee had much the opposite reaction, however. I knew it! Of all the teachers, Gai-sensei shines the brightest. Watch me Gai-sensei, I'll shine too!

While the two jounin had their heart-to-heart, the Hokage was admiring the skill of his rookie genin. For this many to pass, and most of them being rookies... No wonder they were all nominated.

A brief moment to settle down was allowed before Anko's voice rang out once again. "Listen up, maggots. Hokage-sama will now explain the third test. Hokage-sama if you please."

Sarutobi nodded to the jounin in acknowledgement before turning to the genin and beginning his speech. "The third test is approaching, but before I explain that, I would like to take this opportunity to explain the true purpose behind the Chuunin Selection Exams to you all." Murmurs swept through the small crowd at these words, their confusion obvious. "Why do we have this exam among the allied countries? Is it 'to raise the level of shinobi' or 'to improve relations between countries'? No. I want this to be very clear. This exam is a replacement for war."

The genin were now openly shocked, most unable to stop themselves from voicing minor protests. "If you go back in time, you will see that the current allies were often times enemies of the worst sort, who fought each other for world domination. To prevent this wasteful and pointless fighting, the Chuunin Exam was created to serve as the stage for battle."

Naruto could hold his tongue no longer. "Why the hell do we have to do bullshit like that?! This thing is for deciding who gets to be chuunin, right?!"

"This exam does indeed determine who is able to be a chuunin, but the exam is also an opportunity for a country's shinobi to put their lives on the line for the sake of their homeland's prestige." At Naruto's confused look, the Sandaime continued. "Many damyos and influencial people, all potential clients, will be watching the third test. If the strength of a country is clear, it will receive more clients. The inverse is also true. Countries that seem weak will lose clientele. It is a standard with which to measure a countries power that acts as a political message to outsiders."

"Yeah, but why do we have to risk our lives for that?!" Kiba called out from his place in the back.

"The strength of the country is the strength of the village. The strength of the village is the strength of its ninja. And the strength of a ninja can only be truly assessed in a battle for one's life." An ominous silence filled the room as the Hokage's words registered. All of the Konoha rookies looked decidedly ill at ease.

Tenten voiced the question on everyone's mind. "If that's all true, why do you say things about 'friendship'?"

"I don't want you confused on this. The shape of friendship in the shinobi world is no more than creating a balance, even at the cost of life." The silence left by the old man's words was deafening. Letting out a sigh, the Hokage finished his speech. "I have but one final thing to tell you all. This is not just a test. This exam is a life-or-death battle, with your dreams and country's prestige on the line."

"I don't care about all that. Just get on with explaining these life-or-death battles," Gaara impatiently called from the crowd.

"I'd like to explain the third test but-"

"Actually, Hokage-sama," a voice said with acough. A heartbeat later, a man dressed in standard Konoha jounin attire, with his hitai-ate acting as a bandana to cover his hair, appeared kneeling before the old legend. "As the referee, please allow me, Gekkou Hayate, to explain."

"Of course," the aged Hokage agreed, stepping back and letting the jounin to the fore. The jounin turned to the genin, revealing the bags under his eyes and his overall sickly look.

"Umm... before the third exam, we must hold apreliminary to decide who gets to participate in the main event."

"Preliminary?! What do you mean by that?!" Shikamaru surprised everyone by yelling, going completely against his laidback nature.

"The first and second test were too easy this year, and we have too many people left. According to the rules, we must hold apreliminary and reduce the number of people for the final round. As Hokage-sama said earlier, there will be guests at the finals, and so we cannot afford to take too much of their time. Umm... Those who wish to quit after hearing all this, come forward now, since the preliminary will start immediately."

Yosh! Now's the time to shine. I'll do my best and get all the way to the finals! Naruto prepared himself for the coming fights. After that bit with the Ame nin I can feel some of my chakra, it should be alright. I still can't use the Higan well, but I can at least make a few kage bunshin.

Ugh... I don't know how I'll fight with my neck like this. Sakura thought to herself, thinking hard about the upcoming matches. The medic said it should be alright, so I guess I'll just have to be careful with it. No way am I backing down now! Shannaro!

Sasuke, in comparison, was more worried about the seal he now bears, and the strength it could grant him. That power I felt in the forest... It has something to do with that man. Orochimaru... you will tell me the secrets of this brand.

While Team 7 was lost in thought, one of the genin moved to withdraw, giving Hayate his name as Yakushi Kabuto. "I've seen that kid before," Anko muttered to herself. "Didn't he quit at the finals of the last chuunin exam?" She paused a moment as she flipped through her notebook to his records. "Yakushi Kabuto... he's failed 6 straight times."

The Hokage overheard her quiet musings and felt the need to ask, "What kind of record is that?"

"Don't know. Since his academy days he hasn't stood out much, mission record is standard, grades were average. Overall, he's completely average. There's something off about him, though."

"Do tell, Anko-chan."

"Do you remember that kid that was brought back from the battle at Bellflower Pass?"

"I do... A senior member of the medical team brought back a child of the enemy. So... he is that child. I'll trust your judgment on him, do what you feel is best."

Hayate finished taking down the boy's name while the two had their conversation. Dismissing the genin, the examiner turned his attention back to the remaining participants. "Now, let's begin the preliminary. This will consist of a series of one-on-one fights. You will treat this as a real life confrontation with an enemy ninja. Since we have 17 participants remaining, there will be 8 matches, with the winners, and one lucky bye, proceeding to the finals."

A round of nervous glances went through the genin as Hayate continued with a short cough. "There aren't any rules really. The fight goes until one of you dies, loses consciousness, or surrenders. If you don't want to die, I suggest quickly admitting defeat. If I decide the match is over, however, you will abide by my decision. We don't want to pointlessly increase the number of corpses."

A soft click and whir sounded from the wall behind the jounin, revealing an electronic display to the left of a pair of stone hands forming a handseal. "This scoreboard controls your fate. Now let's see who the first two combatants are." The board flashed through a series of names faster than the eye could follow for a few seconds, before stilling. The names displayed sent a satisfied smirk across Sasuke's face. "Uchiha Sasuke versus Aburame Shino."



A/N - And here's the fifth chapter. It would have come out faster, but the haze from spring break immediately following St. Patty's day weekend, which immediately followed my birthday didn't lend itself well to writing much.