Preliminaries Pt. 1

Kiba dashed forward and threw a punch at sasukes face. Sasuke quickly ducked under the strike and kicked kiba away before he jumped back. The uchiha landed a few feet away, reached into his kunai pouch and quickly chucked a handful of the knives towards his opponent.

Kiba jumped to the side, allowing the blades to fly past him as he grinned at sasuke, akamaru stood next to kiba and growled at sasuke.

" i hope youre ready to get your ass kicked sasuke." Kiba spoke with a grin on his face." Akamaru and i have been training for this exact moment and theres no way im gonna lose to you!" He declared with akamaru yipping in agreement.

Sasuke scoffed at his opponents confidence." Theres no way id ever lose to you dog breath." The uchiha crouched a bit and let a small grin dance across his face." But do try and give me a challenge. This match would be totally useless to me if i didnt get to let loose a bit alright?" Kiba growled at the uchihas arrogance.

"Im taking you down!" Kiba declared before he got ready." Lets go akamaru!" Said dog yipped and dashed forward with his master/ best friend.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the oncoming duo before said eyes widened." Fang over fang!" Kiba cried out as he and akamaru jumped into the air and began to spin, not even a second later the inuzuka and his partner were nothing more than twisting blurs that shot across the room towards sasuke.

Sasuke dodged to the right just as kiba and akamaru reached him, letting the two twin twisters pass him. He looked down at his right side and frowned as he saw a large rip in his shirt and a thin cut running the length of his ribs. It seemed that akamaru had managed to scratch him.

"Again akamaru!" Sasuke face his opponents just as they began to spin once more." Fang over fang!"

Sasuke jumped backwards and flashed through a set of hand seals before calling out his attack." Fire style: fire ball jutsu!" And the uchiha spat out a decent sized fireball that shot towards the two human/dog twisters that were coming right at him.

Sasuke heard kibas shout of 'shit!' Before both twisters moved out of the way of the fireball. Kiba dodged left while akamaru went right. The two attackers stopped spinning and landed on the ground just as sasukes fireball hit the far wall and exploded.

"Damn you and your fire!" Kiba yelled out.

Sasuke didnt respond instead he narrowed his eyes and looked between his two opponents.' That attack is too fast for me to see, what did kiba call it? Fang over fang? Yeah thats it.' Sasuke thought to himself. He reached into his pouch and gripped three shuriken.' It seems im gonna have to activate my sharingan in order to keep up with their movements. But i have to finish this fast, my chakras still not fully recovered from our run in with orochimaru!'

Suddenly kiba went through a set of hand seals before his features became more feral. His slitted pupils seems to thin out even more, his spiky brown hair seemed to stand up on end slightly and his finger nails seemed to grow about two inches longer.

"Four-legged technique, complete." Kiba muttered out as he dropped onto all fours and grinned at sasuke, his canine teeth were even a bit longer." Stay back akamaru! Only intervene when you see an opening!" He ordered, getting a small yip in reply.

Kiba then shot forward on all fours, dashing across the room at a higher rate of speed than he once had. In no time he was directly in front of sasuke and was in the process of sending a strike towards the uchihas throat when suddenly his wrist was caught and he saw the room seemingly spin upside down before he was kicked in the gut and sent sliding across the floor.

Kiba coughed a bit as he rose to his feet while cradling his injured stomach. He looked up and glared at sasuke who was glaring back at him.' How did he-' kibas breath caught in his throat as he saw sasukes eyes. Gone were the charcoal colored eyes and they were replaced by red eyes that had tomoes slowly swirling around the pupil." Is that?.." he asked, his question dropping from his lips.

"Yes." Sasuke replied." This is the famed sharingan. The eyes that my family are famous for." Sasuke grinned." Ill admit kiba, you and akamaru caught me off guard with your little twister trick. I wasnt prepared for you two to show such speed." The uchiha admitted." But now, with these eyes i can keep up with you both!"

"Grrr!" Kiba growled as he realized that sasuke was underestimating him." Ill show you! Tunneling Fang!" He roared out as he shot forward and began to twist once more.

Sasukes sharingan easily kept up with kibas speed as the boy shot towards him. Instead of moving out of the way, sasuke just grinned wider. He held his arms out and allowed kibas to smash into him.

Kiba couldnt believe it! The uchiha was so arrogant about his abilities that he allowed himself to be hit! Instead of wasting the opportunity kiba grinned and spun even faster.

The watching genin all looked wide eyed as kiba lifted sasuke off his feet and carried the uchiha against the far wall, throwing up a cloud of dust and bits of concrete.

"Wait a second." Sakura spoke up, confusion laced her voice." Where did akamaru go?" Unseen by her, nearly every jonin in the room smirked. Except for kurenai that is.

The dust soon settled and everyone saw kiba standing over sasuke with a triumphant grin on his face as he deactivated his four-legged technique. Sasuke was imbedded into the wall, seemingly unconscious.

"Haha! Thats what you get for underestimating me you uchiha prick!" Kiba grinned widely, that is until sasuke slowly rose his head and looked up at kiba. The uchiha slowly opened his mouth and much to kibas shock, a small whimpering yip came out of the boys throat." W-what?" Kiba whispered out in horror as the world around him seemingly shattered into glass. He blinked and saw - instead of sasuke buried into the wall, it was akamaru. 

The small puppy whimpered in pain as kiba dropped to his knees." A-akamaru?" He whispered out, his head froze as he felt the cold edge of a kunai rest itself against his throat. He turned his head slightly and locked eyes with sasuke who was standing over him from behind." H-how?" Kiba asked with a gulp.

"Genjutsu." Sasuke answered." The sharingan is capable of casting a genjutsu without any handsigns. I put you under one the moment you locked eyes with me before your last attack." Sasuke began." After that i threw three shuriken at you just as you began to spin towards me, two of them missed but the third-" sasuke used his free hand to tap kibas left shoulder. The inuzuka looked at said shoulder and frowned as he saw a shuriken sticking out of his arm, yet he didnt feel any pain. In fact he couldn't feel his entire arm." I laced all three shuriken with a paralyzing poison. It wont kill you but itll stop you from moving and feeling your limbs." Sasuke explained.

"But how did i hit akamaru? I was aimed right at you!" Kiba yelled out.

"I used the substitution jutsu and replaced myself with akamaru at the very last second. In fact you did sorta hit me." Sasuke motioned towards his chest. His shirt had a large hole in it, exposing his chest. But his chest was also bruised." If i didnt have the sharingan then you wouldve no doubt won." He added.

Kiba let out a sigh before looking back at akamaru, he could feel the paralysis poison beginning to kick in." Sorry akamaru, i didnt mean to hit you buddy." He said with a small frown. Akamaru yipped sadly as he freed himself from the wall and limped forward and onto kibas knees." I forfeit!" He called out and sasuke instantly holstered the kunai.

Hayate appeared next to the two genin and called the match in sasukes favor. A few medic ninja came out to pick up kiba and akamaru in order to take them to the infirmary where they'd give the boy an antidote for his paralysis while also fixing up akamaru.

Sasuke refused the medics help before making his way up to the rest of the genin. He walked towards kakashi, sakura and naruto while rubbing his bruised chest.

"Good job sasuke." Kakashi congratulated the uchiha with a small nod.

"Yeah! I knew you could beat him." Sakura stated with a grin. Sasuke chuckled lightly.

"Maybe, but my chests gonna hurt for awhile now." Sasuke motioned towards the large bruise. He yelped out in pain when naruto reached forward and poked his injured chest.

"Does it hurt?" Naruto asked, his ringed eyes danced with amusement as sasuke slapped his hand away.

"Fuck off naruto!"

"You shouldnt speak to your  superiors like that sasuke-chan."

"The day i see a blond idiot like you as my superior is the day i see pigs fly!"

"But i have a jonin vest on."

Sasuke clicked his tongue." That means nothing to me." He stated as he crossed his arms- slowly of course- over his chest.

"Ma ma~" kakashi got the boys attention." You two shouldnt fight, youll miss the next match." He stated as he motioned towards the floor down below them. 

Both boys looked up at the large electronic bored as it picked out two new named. Once the name were picked, hayate called out the next match.

"Will sakura of the leaf and asano of iwa please come down here."

"Wish me luck!" Sakura stated as she looked at her teammates.

"Good luck sakura." Said girl sweat dropped when all three boys spoke at the same time in the same bored tone.

"I hate you all.." she sulked as she made her way down towards the make-shift arena.

• down in the 'arena'•

Sakura came to a stop in front of her opponent with hayate standing between them. She took a second to observe her opponent. The boy didnt look that strong but she new better than to underestimate him. She idly noticed the iwa headband that was tied to his forehead and concluded that shed have to watch out for any earth jutsu.

"Are both oppone-" hayate cut himself of as he coughed."- are both opponents ready?" He asked in a bland tone.

"Im ready." Sakura answered, taking a deep breath before she let it out.

"Same-"

" asano!" Everyone looked up towards the railing and saw asanos teammate, maki, glaring down at the boy." Crush this weak tree hugger or else im gonna kick your ass- URK!" Maki was cut off when her sensei smacked her in the back of her head, sending her face into the guard rail before she fell to the ground.

"Stop saying dumb things!" Kurotsuchi roared out with puffed up cheeks.

"Mou~" maki pouted into the floor.

Asano sighed at his teammates behavior before looking back at hayate and giving the man a nod." Ready." He told him.

"Okay." Hayate replied." The second match starts now!" He called out before he jumped away from the two genin.

Sakura jumped back away from the iwa genin while throwing a few kunai towards him. Asano easily dodged the knives as he ran towards the pink haired girl, his hands flashing through handsigns." Earth style: rock thorn bed jutsu!" He called out before slamming his hands into the ground.

Sakura gasped as six inch stone thorns began to rise up out of the ground and began to spread out over the floor in a twenty-five foot radius. She was forced to jump back in order to not get caught in the jutsus range.

"You almost had me there." She stated as she brought out three kunai, though she quickly attached a paper bomb to their handles.

Asano stood in a five foot circle that was surrounded by sharp, stone thorns." I apologize for being so aggressive, but i dont wish to drag this match out longer than it needs too." He stated.

"Dont apologize to your enemy idiot!" Maki roared out, though everyone ignored her.

"Dont worry, i feel the same." Sakura stated with narrowed emerald eyes." Ill do my best to make your defeat as quick as i can."

Before asano could reply, sakura chucked the three kunai into the ground around him before the paper bombs exploded, sending a large dust cloud up and around them.

The dust cleared and sakura frowned as she saw an earth dome began to recede into the ground, showing that her opponent was unharmed.' Of course it couldnt have been that easy' she thought to herself.

Asano quickly went through more handsigns." My turn! Earth style: pebble barrage!" " hundreds of small stone pebbles began to rise up from the floor and sakura realized that in the act of destroying those stone thorns, she had unexpectedly gave the boy ammunition for his next jutsu.

Asano thrusted his hands forward and the few hundred stone pebbles shot forward at an alarming rate. Sakura spent the next few moments doing her best to dodge the stone pebbles and the stone shuriken that asano had somehow mixed in with the airborne pebbles.

Once the attack was over sakura was slightly huffing. Her stamina had went up during her short time in training under tsunade and she couldnt be more grateful. Shed no doubt be riddled with small red welts from the stone pebbles and stuck full of those stone shuriken if she was still at the level she was before she began to take her training seriously.

"Im surprised." Asano began." Even my teammates have trouble dodging every single pebble and shuriken i throw at them when we're training." He stated with furrowed brows.

"Yeah well, maybe im just better than them." Sakura replied, idly ignoring makis cry of disagreement." Now its my turn!" She stated with a grin as she sent chakra to her legs and dashed forward.

'I cant let her get close!' Asano thought to himself as he jumped back and went through more handsigns. He idly took notice of his dwindling chakra reserves. It had taken a lot out of him to pull off that many jutsus one right after the other. He was hoping to take the girl out quickly in order to cover his one and only weakness. Close quarters combat. Kami above he wasnt good at hand to hand and made up for his weakness by becoming a long range fighter.

"Earth style: earth clone!" Out of the ground next to him came a solid earth clone that looked exactly like him. Without even sharing words, asano and his clone jumped backwards.

The earth clone went through handsigns and slammed his hands into the ground." Earth style: ground shaking technique!" Sakuras eyes widened as the ground below her began to shake and tremble which caused her to lose balance.

"Damn it!" She cried out before she went through her own handsigns as she began to fall to the side just as the real asano threw a kunai towards her.

Everyone watched with bated breaths as the iwa genins kunai flew through the air. Just as the kunai stuck itself handle deep into sakuras left thigh, the pink haired leaf genin simply exploded into cherry blossoms.

"Huh?" Asano mumbled before he felt the air around him shift slightly.' Genjutsu!' He held up a single handsign." Release!" He cried out as he flared the rest of his chakra, he of course shattered the genjutsu but sadly.. it was to late.

His eyes widened as sakura seemingly appeared crouched down in front of him with her left fist drawn back and a pissed off look in her emerald eyes." That fucking hurt!" She of course was referring to the kunai that was sticking out of her left thigh." Pay back time! CHA!" She cried out as she sent chakra into her fist and struck.

Asano doubled over the girls fist as she rammed said fist into his gut. He spit up a glob of blood before his body was sent flying backwards. He hit the far wall and was instantly knocked unconscious as his body cratered the wall.

Sakura was kneeling on her good leg while breathing heavily. Her left fist, which she had just socked the iwa genin with, was broken. She had unconsciously sent to much chakra into her fist when she had punched the boy, thankfully it wasnt enough to kill him, just enough to put him to sleep for awhile and possibly brake a few of his ribs. But hed be fine!

Sakura idly noticed the boys earth clone crumbled away into rocks and dust. It seemed that the clone couldnt function if its maker was rendered unconscious.

Hayate appeared in front of asano and lifted him out of the wall before lying the boy down on the ground. The man checked the genins pulse before looking up at the hokage." Winner by knock out is sakura haruno." He stated and instantly the room was filled with happy cheers from the rest of the leaf genin, except neji. Neji just nodding his head.

"Damn kakashi!" Asuma laughed as he clapped his hands for the young winner." What are you teaching your genin! She just punched the poor boy across the room!" The smoking jonin laughed out.

Kakashi didnt answer as he stood there looking down at his genin. He was both proud and slightly frightened of his only female student.' Shes like a little tsunade!' He paled.' What kind of monster am i creating by allowing tsunade to teach sakura?' Suddenly he paled even more when images of a chibbi sakura punching him into the sky appeared in his head.

"Good job forehead!" Ino cried out, clapping her hands and smiling down at her friend.

"Sakura-chan is kinda scary.." hinata whispered out to naruto and the blond chuckled at her.

"Dont worry hinata-hime!" The blond replied as he put an arm around her waist and pulled her into his side." I dont think sakura would ever hit you that hard." He told her.

"I agree." Came the calm yet stern tone of hinatas teacher, kurenai. Said sensei put her hands on their heads before pushing them apart." Now stop trying to feel my student up naruto!" She ordered.

Hinatas face turned bright red while naruto vanished and reappeared on kurenais back." Stop being a pervert nai-chan!" Naruto scolded the older women." I wasnt trying to feel hime-chan up! Bad!" He lightly smacked kurenai in the side of the head." Get your head out of the gutter!" Kurenai didnt respond and instead settled with glaring down at the arena with her arms crossed over her chest and a small twitch in her right eye.

Meanwhile, sakura was grinning happily as her friends and fellow leaf shinobi cheered for her. She felt her budding chest puff up in pride, but she quickly winced when she tried to put pressure on her left leg. She looked down at her leg and frowned. The kunai was in there deep and she could feel the metal of the blade inside of her leg bone.

"Let us help you sakura-san." Said genin looked up as two male medic ninja walked up to her. She idly noticed two other medics taking the unconscious iwa nin away on a stretcher.

"Thanks." Sakura muttered with a small blush as the two medics gently picked her up. She put her arms around there necks as they began to walk towards the exit.

"Its no problem." One of the men replied with a kind smile as they exited the room.

Not to long after that, the bored picked out two more names and hayate cleared his throat." Will ino and murai please make their way down here." He asked kindly.

• unknown location•

"Whats our next move tobi?" Zetsu asked as he stood in front of a wooden desk, staring down at tobi who was sitting at the desk looking through a few recent reports he had gotten from the other akatsuki members.

"What do you mean zetsu?" Tobi asked, looking up at the humanoid plant.. thing?

Zetsu furrowed his brows." What are we going to do about the kyubi jinchuriky?" He asked." Its obvious that he has grown stupidly strong in such a short amount of time. Not only that, he also has the rinnegan and apparently he has complete control over the kyubi. How are we going to deal with him?" He asked once more.

"Silly zetsu." Tobi let out a deep chuckle." We may not be physically stronger than little naruto, but there is a way to weaken him."

"How so?"

"By destroying his village of course." Tobi answered with a hint of amusement in his voice." Its no secret that the boys insanely loyal to both the village and its people, so what better way to shatter his will and confidence then by destroying his home and killing its people?" He asked. 

"And how exactly do you plan on destroying the strongest of hidden villages?" Zetsu asked curiously.

Tobi let out a deep dark chuckle.

"By sicking the three tails on the village during the chunnin exam finals of course.. after all, whats the point of having a jinchuriky under my control if i cant have a bit of fun with it every now and then? Hmm?"

• cliffhanger •