Prelims!!

"Damn it. Maybe I should just withdraw."

Sure, Shikamaru would have been the first to do so, but that Gaara guy seemed dangerous dangerous.

He'd heard of what happened to several teams in the forest, and that Shino had died, too. It made what they were doing seem a bit too real for him.

"That kid from Sand is bad news. He's got a strange look in his eyes. Be very careful, Shikamaru." Asuma said, looking entirely serious.

That really didn't settle his worries.

Asuma noticed it. "Don't worry, if it gets bad, I'll jump in and stop the fight. The Hokage's here too, and he's a firm believer of avoiding unnecessary killing."

"You hear that, Shikamaru?" Ino asked, trying to look confident for him. Heh, it really didn't work.

"I hope Shikamaru will be alright." Chōji thought, but he wasn't about to stop his best friend from actually trying.

Gaara used a Shunshin to appear in the arena. Sand flicked around him lazily.

"Here goes nothing." Shikamaru muttered.

Naruto held the railing tightly and wished him good luck, looking serious.

"Man… This really looks bad, huh."

The only advantage he really had was that his opponent likely didn't know how his technique worked.

And there was the problem.

He didn't know how Gaara fought, either.

The proctor, a man named Genma, called the start of the fight.

Gaara uncorked his gourd and stood, waiting.

So did Shikamaru, ready to jump, or dispel whatever technique the genin from sand was about to use.

"From the way sand flows around him, this is likely the way he's going to attack." He thought. What kind of attack, though?

Seeing as the guy wasn't going to attack, he decided to try his luck.

He threw a single kunai.

Sand moved to catch it.

He started moving in circles around his opponent, sending a weapon here and there to see how the sand moved.

"Too fast. I can't risk going in close quarters, who knows what this sand could do to me."

He wrapped an explosive tag around a few kunai, and threw two of them at the same time.

They detonated, making a massive amount of smoke and debris fly.

When it cleared, Gaara was standing here unharmed, and more sand was outside of his gourd.

"Man… this is really going to suck."

"This gourd is full of sand?" Naruto asked, more to himself than anything.

"It's a peculiar technique." Kakashi nodded. "The current Kazekage can do something similar, manipulating gold dust."

"How do you fight something like this?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto wondered about the same, he was pretty sure none of his techniques packed much more punch than two explosive tags.

Kakashi threw Naruto a side-look. "I'm sure Raikiri would manage." He said evenly.

Naruto snorted. It might, actually, but he had never seen it in action. Plus, provoking Kakashi was always nice.

"Yeah, an unmoving enemy might be the only target your jutsu actually works on."

Kakashi actually looked offended.

"This sand moves fast, doesn't it, Lee?" Tenten asked.

"Yes! And he's not even moving a muscle, so he's conserving stamina, while being protected. What an incredible jutsu, I'd love to test my taijutsu against him!"

"This is probably the worst sort of opponent for Lee, short of genjutsu users." Neji thought. Who knew how fast the sand could actually go.

He spoke. "The sand is heavily infused with his chakra. He's also wearing a layer of it over his body. It would take being faster than the sand, and strong enough to break the armor, too."

"That's exactly what makes it exciting!"

Gai nodded in approval.

Neji laughed. Only Lee.

The sand rushed after Shikamaru.

He actually had to make an effort to avoid getting caught up in it.

Wave after wave came after him.

"Oh boy. I can't keep this up for long." The guy from Suna was just standing there, looking bored.

He threw a smoke screen, followed by a flashbang, set to detonate a few instants later.

That turned out to be useless, too, as Gaara closed his eyes.

His sand just swept more ground, blindly, and it seemed to take no more effort on his part.

"This bores me." Gaara said. "If you're not afraid, fight me, now."

"I'm trying." Shikamaru quipped back, but he was getting frustrated. He couldn't get close enough to use his shadow jutsu, and there was his sand in the way anyway.

The sand at Gaara's feet began to fire small pieces in every direction, forcing Shikamaru to waste more stamina.

"Poison could work." Unfortunately, he didn't have any supplies on him, and no time to brew something with whatever he did have.

The only thing he could do was to catch him with his shadow.

But even then… He was pretty sure the sand moved on Gaara's thoughts, which meant he didn't know if the Shadow Possession would be enough. He would have to knock him before his sand could grab him.

Troublesome.

He started formulating a plan-

"I have had enough." Gaara made a motion with his hand, the first of the match.

The sand leapt out, twice as fast and grabbed Shikamaru, covering him. He tried to move.

"I forfeit." Were the words he wanted to say, but sand was already in his mouth.

Was this how he died?

He thought he heard a man speak.

"That will be quite enough, Gaara of the Desert."

The Fifth Hokage's voice carried over easily. His red eyes were focused on Gaara, who stared back.

Despite his wishes, he couldn't crush the boy the way he had intended to. The sand was slowly falling off Shikamaru — who was spitting out sand, looking terrified —, and crawling back to him.

It was as if his mastery over it, that he had had for his whole life, had suddenly been replaced by fumbling hesitation.

"How…?" Gaara thought.

It was the eyes, he realized. The red eyes had somehow prevented him from crushing his opponent.

"Proctor, this match is over."

"Yes, Hokage-sama." The man bowed. "Winner: Gaara of the Desert. Both of you, please regain your teams."

Shikamaru almost ran off, cold sweat running down his back.

Gaara stared for a few more instants, and the Hokage looked back disinterestedly.

He wouldn't forget this.

He would remember the Uchiha's name.

"Are you okay?" Chōji and Ino rushed him as soon as he came.

"…Yeah. Yeah, I am." He answered. "But I really thought…"

Asuma nodded. He had been about to rush in, as he had promised.

"Hokage-sama had it under control." He said with confidence. Just like Minato had been, Fugaku was the best of his generation. "But you never really get used to these close brushes to death."

Shikamaru looked at him, tried to put on a wry smile. It looked a bit shaky. "I guess this is part of being a shinobi, huh?"

"Damn, your dad's awesome!" Toru shouted.

Sasuke just nodded proudly, his nose in the air.

He then pointed at the screen, when it flashed. Toru leapt into the arena with a flip.

Kakashi snorted. "Show-off."

Temari of the Desert vs. Uchiha Toru

"Hey there, beautiful." Toru winked at her.

She looked at him , and proceeded to ignore him, waiting for the proctor's call.

"Time to shine!" Toru shouted, a fist in the air.

Temari rolled her eyes, and opened her fan up completely.

Against an Uchiha, she would not waste any time. His fire jutsu would just get more dangerous against her Wind Style.

She filled the entire arena with violent winds.

When it settled down, Toru was left alive, but severely wounded.

She snorted. "Serves the little imbecile right."

The match got called.

"Winner: Temari of the Desert."

She flew off.

And then in.

"Hey there, beautiful." Toru winked at her.

She looked at him , and proceeded to ignore him, waiting for the proctor's call.

"Time to shine!" Toru shouted, a fist in the air.

Temari rolled her eyes, and opened her fan up completely.

Against an Uchiha, she would not waste any time. His fire jutsu would just get more dangerous against her Wind Style.

She filled the entire arena with violent winds.

When it settled down, Toru was left alive, but severely wounded.

She snorted. "Serves the little imbecile..." Wait.

Something wasn't right.

The match got called.

"Winner: Temari of the Desert."

"Hey there, beautiful." Toru winked at her.

She looked at him , and proceeded to ignore him, waiting for the proctor's call.

"Time to shine!" Toru shouted, a fist in the air.

Temari rolled her eyes, and opened her fan up completely.

Against an Uchiha, she would not waste any time. His fire jutsu would just get more dangerous against her Wind Style.

She filled the entire arena with violent winds.

When it settled down, Toru was left alive, but severely wounded.

She snorted. "What the hell am I doing?!"

She screamed on the inside.

The match got called.

"Winner: Temari-"

She lost consciousness as the blunt end of a kunai slammed against the back of her head.

"Winner: Uchiha Toru"

"Man, this really feels dirty." Toru sighed sheepishly. He had caught her in a Sharingan genjutsu the moment he had winked at her.

His team was cheering, though, so he didn't feel too bad.

The next matches went.

Naruto watched, focused.

A genin from Kumo beat up a genin from Konoha's Team Four handily.

Neji destroyed the second genin from Team Four, in just a few seconds. He tried not to make it too humiliating, but well…

Kankurō from Suna beat the last member of the team, catching him within his puppet.

"Man, they really have bad luck."

"Karin, from Kusa vs. Mazui, from Kumo"

Seemed like they didn't have family names in their villages…? That was mildly interesting.

The Kumo ninja was better, this much was obvious.

And he apparently knew it, from the way he was toying with the girl from Kusa.

He would feint attacks with his sword, making her get ready to parry with a kunai, and then just not do anything.

He was just making her tense on purpose.

"This is unneeded."

Something happened after a few minutes of this, when the people started to jeer.

Down in the arena, Karina couldn't tell whether they were booing her… him… or the whole match.

At first, she got self-conscious. Then sad.

But after a while, she just got mad.

The more the guy from Kumo taunted her, the more parallels she drew to her life in Kusa.

Did they all think she was a joke…?

She'd show them.

The Sarutobi from the first exam seemed to notice her change in disposition, and gave her a thumbs up.

Somehow, just seeing one person encouraging her — her teammates never did, of course — was enough.

She pretented to miss her dodge, and tripped.

When the Kumo nin went to finish her with an electrified hand chop at the back of her neck…

She grabbed his wrist.

There was the smell of burned flesh, and the pain registered, of course.

But she was just too angry.

She saw red.

Her right hook broke a few teeth, and now her good hand hurt.

The Kumo nin fell. She fell on top of him.

The real beating only started then.

"Holy shit." Naruto muttered under his breath. "I almost feel sorry for cheering her on, now."

Sasuke cringed, and turned his Sharingan off. There was no point in seeing this guy get beat up so badly.

"Okay, okay, okay. You can stop. Winner: Karin, from Kusa."

"Huh…? Oh yeah, the match." She got up. One of the teammates of the Kumo ninja looked angry. The girl was crying.

Their sensei just shrugged. Mazui definitely needed a good beating by someone their age. Teeth were easily replaced, anyway.

She threw a beaming smile at the Sarutobi, who just answered with a hesitant one.

"Man, you're so screwed now. She noticed you." Toru whispered.

Ino was glaring daggers at him,too.

"Damn."

"It was kind of cool, though." He thought.

Tenten easily beat up one of Fū's teammates.

The lightning jutsu the Kumo nin was throwing around didn't even slow Chōji down as he rolled over him.

The girl from the Kumo team won against another guy from her village.

Uchiha Sasuke vs. Kirei, from Kumo

Sasuke moved to the area calmly.

His dad was watching, and while it made him nervous, he knew he could win. Kakashi-sensei had trained them, and he was about as good as Toru, or Naruto.

He had no doubt either would win their matches, so he focused on that notion.

He believed in Toru especially, and that meant he could believe in himself.

He turned his Sharingan on, initiated with a few shuriken.

Kirei ducked under them, but that helped him notice the shuriken hidden in the shadow of the first volley.

He jumped up to avoid both of them, and Sasuke pulled on the wire he had attached to both. At the same time, he weaved three hand seals.

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique." He thought, leaving the theatrics to Toru or Kakashi.

"All right, now he's likely going to use some mobility jutsu to avoid these. I'll use my Sharingan to predict which way and catch him in a hold, coming from the angle where he can't see me." He focused chakra to his feet, ready to spring.

That's what Kakashi would do. But then again, Kakashi knew better than to leap in the air with no visibility.

Instead, the Kumo genin fell from the air, having been hit by both the technique and the four shuriken.

He was currently trying to put out the flames.

"I yield! Please! Put it out!"

The proctor did, and called for a medic nin. "Winner: Uchiha Sasuke!"

His father nodded with a small, proud smile, and Sasuke beamed.

There were a few more matches.

Ino won against a girl from Kusa by tricking her and taking control of her body once she was immobilized.

Naruto paid less attention after this.

Rock Lee destroyed the genin from Waterfall.

Naruto saw the display.

"Ah, fuck."

Fū from Taki vs. Sarutobi Naruto

Sasuke cringed, and Toru stayed quiet. Kakashi gave him a serious look.

"Forfeiting is also an option." Was what he tried to convey.

He thought about it. His teammates were already in. What was he still doing here…?

He smiled.

Turned out this was the moment Naruto found out he had some fighting spirit.