26 Preliminaries Part 1

*2 days later*

Suki was found in her own small room that everyone who arrived at the tower before the deadline were given, reading from a book as another one of her is seen laying on the ground nearby, sharpening the kunai and shuriken she had on her at the moment.

Neither of these were the real Suki, as she was laying down on a bed on the other side of the room, her shoulder now sporting a new look.

Instead of just the three tomoe marking, it now had a circle around the marking.

During 4th day, while usually against the rules, the Hokage had Kakashi go and seal up the Curse Mark with the Evil Sealing Technique.

Using a lot of seals made out of the blood of the user [Kakashi], it seals off the power of anything classified as a Curse Mark as long as the holder [Suki] does not want the seal to activate. It is a strong seal but relies entirely upon the holder's willpower.

The process of sealing it could be found on Suki's Top 10 most painful moments. She nearly passed out 3 times during and after the sealing.

Ever since it was sealed, she's been laying in the bed while having 1 or 2 clones do things such as reading or maintaining equipment.

There was a knock on her door.

She dismissed her clones, feeling the faint knowledge from the shadow clones.

"Come in."

The door slid open, revealing a Chunin.

"The Second stage has ended and all participants have been asked to gather in the main hall." He told.

"Very well."

The Chunin left while she gathered her equipment before putting it back in her pouch and sealing her book back up.

She then made her way to the area they arrived in 2 days ago and saw several people waiting.

She made her way to her team before stopping between Naruto and Sasuke.

"You feelin better?" Naruto asked.

After being told about the mark, he had become worried about it, especially after Sasuke told him how it felt similar to her chakra when he regained consciousness on the bridge.

"Yeah, it's been taken care of with a few days of rest."

That was as far as they could talk as Jonin, Chunin, and the Hokage appeared in front of everyone.

"Hokage-sama will now explain the Third Exam. Pay attention!" Anko told while wearing a headset.

"For the third exam, before I start with that, I should tell you the purpose behind these exams." Sandaime told. "Why do we have all of the allied countries participating in this at the same time? It is not to promote friendship among countries or to increase the level of Shinobi. Make no mistakes, the Chunin Exams are held together for one reason: A replacement for War."

"If you go back in time, today's current allies were enemies. In order to prevent useless and meaningless fighting, they chose an event to do so. That is the origin of the Chunin Exams."

Suki started to block him out, seeing that she could start to predict how this would go.

'Fight for prestige which is a factor of deciding if someone deserves to be promoted, defend their village's 'honor' through combat while at the same time, showing just how strong said village is. If there are to be people of high influence, that could decide if said village gets more or less missions.' She rattled off in her head.

Once he finished talking, he reached the end of his speech/explanation. "Now then, I can properly explain the third part of the exam."

"Actually," Someone spoke up before a figure kneeled in front of him. "As the proctor of the next part, I think it would be best if I explain it."

Sandaime looked at him before nodding. "Very well."

The man looked at them.

"Hello there, I am Gekko Hayate." Before he coughed. "Before we begin, there is something I must inform you." Cough. "We will be having a preliminary test to decide who can actually participate in the next part."

"What?!" Suki couldn't really tell who said it.

"To put it simply, the second exam appeared to be too easy. Too many of you passed. According to the Chunin Exams rules, we must have one to cut down on the number. As such, we ask any who believe themselves not capable of fighting to forfeit. From this point on, it will be a one-on-one fight until everyone here has fought once. The match is over if you or your opponent forfeit, are knocked out, or are killed." He told, coughing every now and then.

Kabuto raised his hand and said that he would quit, saying how he's too beat up and couldn't really hear out of one of his ears.

"That leaves 20 fighters, giving us 10 fights. Each of the winners will be permitted to enter the third part of the exam. However, if I say that the fight is over, the fight is over. If you continue, I will be forced to intervene. Now, turn your attention to the screen up above." He directed, causing everyone to look at it.

"This is the machine that will determine who you will be fighting in this part. It may be sudden, but let's get the first two fighters out in the stage now."

The screen continuously flashed through names before settling on two.

Kiba Inuzuka

v.s.

Ino Yamanaka

'Huh?' Suki couldn't help but think.

"Will all participants other than the two chosen please head to the upstairs section." Hayate told.

Everyone else went up while both of their teams wished them luck.

"Are you ready?" He asked both of them.

"Yeah!" "Yes." They both replied.

"Begin!" He announced before using the Shunshin to return to the upper levels to allow the two combatants space to fight.

"Let's go Akamaru!" Kiba exclaimed before throwing a smoke bomb on the ground, covering him and Akamaru.

Ino jumped backwards while holding her kunai, preparing herself for when he charges her.

A figure shot out from the smoke, revealing it to be Kiba with fingernails turned into claws and looking more animal like.

She faced that Kiba before another Kiba shot out from the smoke, surprising her.

The two charged her before one swiped at her, a blow she blocked with a kunai before ducking under a kick from the other.

She swung out with her other kunai, causing the one who tried to kick her to back off, only to get hit in the cheek by the other one causing her to move away.

The Kiba who backed away threw another smoke bomb at Ino's feet.

"Akamaru! Fang Passing Fang!"

Two gray tornado-like things appeared which were actually Kiba and the disguised Akamaru spinning before going in and out of the smoke screen before everyone heard a cry.

The tornadoes stopped with the two Kibas next to each other while the smoke screen went away.

Once it finished, it showed Ino on the ground with a few rips on the sides of her shirt and pants while seemingly unconscious.

"It appears-"

"I give up."

That caused everyone to get whiplash and look at Kiba who had his hand raised in the air.

"What is he doing?! He won!" Naruto exclaimed.

Suki was thinking before coming to a conclusion.

"She got incredibly lucky." She muttered.

"Kiba Inuzuka has given up, causing the win to go to Ino Yamanaka." Hayate declared.

Kiba smirked before his eyes seemed to regain focus before shaking his head.

"Damn it!" He exclaimed.

Ino slowly got back up on her feet.

"Nice match Kiba, I do thank you for doing that." She smiled.

"I didn't do anything! You used your jutsu." He declared. Before giving a toothy smirk. "Well done."

He obviously didn't like losing the match, but he could admit that it wasn't JUST bad luck he lost.

She had splashed some kind of perfume or something on the kunai she slashed at him with, causing a few drops to land on him. Even now, he had a purple stain on his shirt that distinguished him from Akamaru.

"Alright, with the first match out of the way, let's continue to the next one."

Kiba and Ino went back up and arrived at the second floor just as the names were decided.

Shikamaru Nara

v.s.

Kin Tsuchi

"What a drag..." Shikamaru complained.

Once they reached the bottom, Hayate asked both if they were ready before announcing, "Begin!"

Shikamaru started off with his clan's jutsu which caused black tendrils to shoot out from his shadow, which Kin avoided by jumping around before the tendril stopped before receding to him.

Kin then threw several senbon with small bells on them that he avoided. He also avoided the senbon that were 'hidden' by the senbon with bells that would distract people with the sound, making them focus only on that senbon instead of both of them.

"Really? Using tricks so basic even a first year academy student could see it?" Shikamaru taunted.

Kin smirked before shaking her wrists slightly, causing thin wires to ring the bells, creating an illusion on Shikamaru.

Shikamaru swears that he could see 8 different versions of her while they all spoke at the same time, taunting him.

As she goes to finish the match and throw senbon at him, she realized that she couldn't.

The bells stop ringing and allow Shikamaru to see straight again.

"Don't know what happened? Look for yourself." He told, moving his head down to look at the ground, causing Kin to do the same.

"What you see is my shadow technique traveling through the shadow your wires created." He reached his hand down into his kunai pouch where Kin continued copying his actions.

They both drew a single shuriken.

"Where are you going with this? When you duck out of the way, so will I." Kin told.

"Then you have nothing to worry about then." He told her before they both threw their shuriken.

Shikamaru swung his head back fast, despite the shuriken going over him a second later.

*Thunk*

They saw Kin do the exact same thing, except, she slammed the back of her head into the arena's wall, knocking herself out.

"The winner is Shikamaru Nara."

Someone went and took Kin to the infirmary, while Shikamaru went back up where his team congratulated him.

"Here are the next competitors."

The screen spun before landing on two more names.

Kankuro of the Sand

v.s.

Misumi Tsurugi

A ninja from the leaf and Kankuro went down before their fight began.

Misumi quickly went through a few hand signs. "Soft Body Physique!"

Suddenly, his arms looked like they became modified before showing what they did.

He...slithered?...towards Kankuro before wrapping his now incredibly flexible body around Kankuro, preventing him from using whatever was on his back.

"Forfeit or I'll break your neck." He warned.

"Over my dead body." He growled back.

"As you wish."

He followed through on his threat and tightened his body before a crack sounded out before a piece of Kankuro's face dropped off, revealing it to be a puppet.

The giant bundle of bandages that he used to have on his back that got thrown to the side unraveled, revealing that Kankuro had hidden inside the bandages before he used his chakra strings to control the puppet.

"GAH!" Misumi cried out as Kankuro had his puppet squeeze the already soft body of Misumi before breaking most of his bones.

"This fight can not continue." Hayate declared. "The winner is Kankuro of the Sand."

As Misumi was taken away, Kankuro went up and rejoined his team.

The screen moved again before stopping.

Sasuke Uchiha

v.s.

Yoroi Akado

'This will be over quick.' She thought.

Over the years, she's noticed that she had begun to forget a few small things. Nothing major.

But she remembered that the main reason Sasuke had a hard time against his opponent was because he couldn't really use his chakra.

Without that condition, there was no chance that Sasuke would lose.

"Begin!"

"Fire Style: Fireball!" Sasuke shot a fireball at Yoroi, who's eyes widened before dodging.

Only to have a kunai slam into his shoulder after jumping away.

His eyes widened after seeing an explosive tag on it. He quickly grabbed the kunai, pulled it out, before throwing it to the side where it exploded.

He turned his attention back to Sasuke, only to see several small orbs impact him, causing him to get electrified.

By the time he could move, he noticed that Sasuke had placed a custom explosive tag on him.

"I wouldn't remove that." Sasuke spoke. "If anyone tries to remove it without knowing how or I activate my chakra, it will explode and you'll be turned to chunks."

While it wouldn't actually blow him to chunks, Sasuke isn't joking about how deadly it is. It was one of Suki's Rocket Tags.

He would be pierced by enough weapons that he would be fatally dying within seconds.

"If you give up now, I'll release it and you can continue on living."

Yoroi growled. "I give up."

"The winner is Sasuke Uchiha." He announced before looking at Sasuke. "Would you remove the tag now?"

Sasuke walked up before pinching near the middle before pulling backward.

Suki had put in a 'safety pin' in her seal work that would allow one to pick it back up but one could only do it if they were either told by Suki, saw how to make it, or could see how the chakra seems to erupt in the middle first.

He put it back into his bag before they both went up to the second floor.

"Nice job Sasuke." Suki congratulated.

"It seemed too easy." He told.

"Looked it too! I don't know if I want an easy fight or a challenging one!"

The board spun once more before landing on two names.

Naruto Uzumaki

v.s.

Shino Aburame

"Alright!" Naruto exclaimed.

"I forfeit."

Naruto fell to the ground at that.

"What!?"

"He can't win against you Naruto." Suki told. "While I only know the basics, the Aburame clan is known for their insects that drain an opponent of their chakra. Based on how developed the little amount of his body I can see, he's not exactly made to fight someone like you when you have so much chakra, he could be draining it for a day and get no where."

"The winner by forfeit is Naruto Uzumaki." Hayate declared.

With that the wheels spun once more.

It stopped on a certain pair that she wasn't sure if she wanted to watch it.

Neji Hyuuga

v.s.

Hinata Hyuuga

--------------------------------

That's 5 of the 10 fights finished.

Next chapter: Preliminaries Part 2