Chapter 6: Harsh Preliminaries, Tatsu vs Gaara 1/3

Lavernius: I honestly don't have anything against Sakura, aside from what a (insert massive stream of curse words here) she is in Part I and how she abuses Naruto throughout the entire series, but it's for the sake of the story.

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Tatsu noticed that a total of 7 teams had made it through the Forest of Death 'So our team, Kabuto's team, Lee's team, Ino's team, Kiba's team, the Sound team and the Sand team. Looks like we'll have some tough competition.'

Anko soon addressed them "First of all, congratulations on finishing the second exam. There were 78 team, frankly I'm surprised that even 21 passed. I knew that less than half would make it, but I really thought the number would be in the single digits. Alright now pay attention, Lord Hokage is going to explain the third exam to you! You'd better listen carefully maggots! Lord Hokage, they're all yours."

Sarutobi stepped forward "First, before I tell you what the third exam entails, I want to explain something about the test itself. Listen closely now, it's something all of you need to understand. I'm going to tell you the true purpose of these exams. Why do you suppose our country holds these exams in conjunction with our allies? To raise the ability levels of the shinobi an increase friendship between allied nations to be sure, but it's important that you understand it's true meaning. The exams are, so to speak, a representation of the battle between allied nations. Now if we look at our history, all of the countries we're currently allied with were once neighboring nations that continuously fought with each other for power. In order to avoid destroying each other's military strength meaninglessly, those nations picked champions to do battle on behalf of their countries in a mutually selected location. That was how the Chunin Exams originally began."

"Well that's great but why do we have to go through these exams then?" asked Naruto "I mean, it's not like we're doing this to pick chunin to go fight."

"Well actually, there is no question that part of the point of these exams is to select shinobi worthy of becoming chunin, but that's just not the whole story. These exams also allow for a place where shinobi can carry the pride of their nation on their back and fight against other ninja for their very lives. Many leaders and people of prominence from various countries are invited to attend this exam as guests, and also possibly to seek shinobi to work for them. This exam could determine the course of your ninja work, from here on out and more importantly those rulers will watch your battles and take note of the strengths that each ninja and each nation is developing. If there is a gap in power between the countries then the strong nations are inundated with job requests for their ninja, and conversely the requests to countries that are deemed weak decline. Therefore, the stronger our nation is the better our position when it comes to negotiating with neighboring countries, so it's important to show how much military strength our village has."

"Okay but even so, why is it necessary for us to risk our lives?" asked Kiba.

"The country's strength is the village's strength, the village's strength is the shinobi's strength, and the true strength of the shinobi is only achieved when it's pushed to its limit, such as in a life or death battle. This exam is a chance for each nation to display the strength of its shinobi and hence, the strength of the nation itself. It's because this is an exam where your life is on the line that it has meaning, and it's for this very reason that for the strength of the nation that your forerunners fought in this exam. It's truly a dream worth striving for."

"But then why did you use the expression friendship before?" asked Tenten.

"But you've only remembered half of what I said, you also mustn't have the wrong idea of the exam's meaning. This is a custom in which balance is preserved by fighting and dying, in the world of the shinobi that it friendship. The third exam is a fight for life with the pride of the village and your own dreams at stake. Now listen closely, I'm going to tell you exactly what you'll be doing on the third exam."

That was when Hayate appeared "Lord Hokage, before you do, please allow me to speak first."

"So be it."

Hayate turned to the genin teams "It's nice to meet you all, there's something I would like all of you to do here before the third exam." he let out a hacking cough.

"Hey man, you alright?" asked Kiba.

"Just fine, thanks. We have to have a preliminary exam before we can move onto the third one."

"I've got it from here Hayate-sensei." Tatsu cut in "It's basically to cut down the numbers because so many teams passed. At this stage, they've gotta speed things up a bit. As the Hokage said, a lot of important guests will be watching so they can't afford to waste people's time. They only wanna see the best."

"Exactly, so if anyone feels like they're not in top physical condition then now's the time to raise your hand and bow out bow out. The preliminaries will start immediately."

That was when, to the surprise of many, Kabuto raised his hand "Okay you got me, I think I'm gonna call it."

"I see. Kabuto Yakushi of the Hidden Leaf Village then, you can go ahead and step back while we get started."

"I understand." he prepared to make his way out.

Naruto's loud voice was quick to stop him "Kabuto hold on a second, what the hell is all of this about? What the hell are you doing, you can't just quit!"

"I'm sorry about this Naruto, truly I am, but I just don't have what it takes to keep going as I am right now. The fact is that ever since the orientation and that little scuffle with the team from the Hidden Sound Village I haven't been able to hear anything in my left ear, and now to put my life on the line, to fight again right away without so much as a break… I just don't have it in me, I'm sorry." and with that, Kabuto walked away from the conversation and the group

Tatsu shared a glance with Hayate, Kakashi and the other jonin present 'This guy claims to have failed the Chunin Exam 7 times, starting to see why but still there's something about him that really just makes my skin crawl.'

Kabuto was quickly pulled aside by Yoroi and Misumi, his two teammates "Is there something you need?"

"Yeah you bet there is." Yoroi hissed "What the hell do you think you're doing anyway, what about the orders from Lord Orochimaru?"

"Of course I haven't, I'm leaving all of that to you. There shouldn't be a problem with that, for someone with your abilities it shouldn't be any sort of trouble right? This is the chance for the two of you to prove yourselves, after all you've wanted to take my place haven't you? I say you should go for it."

"You might my Lord Orochimaru's favorite, but just be sure you don't push it too far."

"Thanks for the advice, I'll keep that in mind." and with one last wave at Tatsu and the others, he took his leave 'Sorry about this Tatsu, Naruto, Sasuke. I do wish that I could've stuck around to play a little bit longer. But then again, if I did that then the old me might get stirred up and we can't have that. It would blow my cover if I did, and I wouldn't be much use as a spy if I did something like that. Besides I've already done my job and played my part, with you here looking after things you don't need me here do you Lord Orochimaru? I suppose I'll just have to save my fun for later, until we meet again my friends. I expect the three of you to go far in this little tournament.'

With another sickly cough, Hayate got things back on track "Alright then, is there anyone else that wants to quit?" he received no replies of any kind "Very well then, we'll now begin with the preliminary round. This round will consist of 1-on-1 individual combat at full battle intensity. This is not an exercise. There are 21 of you remaining, so that means there will be 10 matches and one person will be given an automatic advance to the next round. The surviving candidates from these 10 matches as well as the one with said automatic advance will advance to the third exam. As for the rules, there are none. You will fight until one dies or concedes defeat, or is rendered physically incapable of continuing. Naturally, those who concede defeat are urged to forfeit properly to avoid a fatal outcome. Furthermore, as proctor I'm given a certain amount of leeway in judging the matches. I will occasionally intervene if the match seems hopeless in order to save as many lives as possible. Now it's time to reveal what fate has been chosen for you." the panel behind him opened, revealing an electronic screen "The names of each pair of opponents are chosen completely at random. Before each match, these names will appear on the display behind me. I have nothing more to say, so let's begin. In a moment, the name that appears on the screen will be the candidate who receives the automatic advance." he and the others looked up at the screen to see the name "Rock Lee, you receive and automatic advance to the finals. You may go now."

"I understand, thank you sir." Lee bowed and walked away, frowning slightly as he gripped his fist with determination 'I suppose our battle will have to wait until the finals Tatsu, but what a glorious battle it will be.'

"In a moment, the names of the participants in the first match will appear."

Sasuke smirked at the names that appeared 'Didn't waste any time, did they?'

Yoroi smirked underneath his mask 'I couldn't have asked for anything more.'

'This guy is one of Kabuto's teammates, I don't know anything about him so I'll have to be sure to keep my guard up.'

"Alright now, those whose names have been drawn, come forward." Hayate gave the order.

Sasuke quickly stepped forward, with everyone else doing the same.

"You have been chosen for the first match, Yoroi Akado and Sasuke Uchiha. Are there any objections?"

"I don't have any to this." Sasuke eyed Yoroi with an intent gaze.

"Alright then, let's begin the first match. Everyone other than the two opposing candidates will now clear the area and move to the upper level." this prompted everyone present to move up to the balconies on separate sides of the room.

'I don't know what this guy's deal is but I can tell that he's pretty shady, I'd better avoid using my Sharingan or any jutsu just yet until I figure out his gimmick.'

"Alright, now if you're both ready then let the match begin."

"I'm more than ready."

"So am I." Yoroi formed a quick hand seal and fired off a barrage of shuriken.

Sasuke countered the shuriken using a kunai of his own, only to see Yoroi charge towards him with surprising speed, but he managed to avoid his attack, knock Yoroi to the ground and catch him in an arm lock "I've got you now."

"You would think so." Yoroi grabbed Sasuke by the shirt as his hand began glowing with blue chakra, causing Sasuke's grip to loosen.

"What… What the hell did you do to me?" Sasuke let out a cough, only to receive a quick kick to the chest.

Yoroi quickly rebounded to his feet and retreated "You can feel it can't you, all of your strength having disappeared in an instant." he blitzed back towards Sasuke and grabbed him by the hair as he forced him to the ground.

"What the… What the hell are you doing… to me…?"

"What you're just figuring it out now?"

"Your jutsu… it's stealing my chakra from my body…"

"It took you long enough to catch on, maybe that blonde idiot is rubbing off on you. I have quite the extraordinary jutsu at the grasp of my fingertips, I can suck the chakra right out of the bones of my opponent with just the palm of my hand. And then once the last drop of chakra has been drained from you, you'll be begging for Lord Orochimaru to give you his power."

"So… you're working with… Orochimaru…?"

"It's about time you realized it, but it won't do you any good. You don't have a chance in hell of saving yourself."

"Get… your greasy hands… off of me!" Sasuke dealt Yoroi a sharp kick to the ribs, knocking him to the ground and at the same time forcing him to release his grip, allowing Sasule to pull himself back to his feet.

"So you've still got some fight left in you do you? I have to say that's pretty impressive, especially considering you're just a guinea pig."

'That was a lot closer than I would've liked.'

"No need to worry little man, I'll make this short and sweet." Yoroi readied his chakra absorption jutsu and charged at him again.

Sasuke dodged almost every strike, until it hit a few strands of his hair, causing him to stumble slightly.

"What's the matter, don't tell me that's really the best that you can do." Yoroi dodged a feeble kick with ease.

'I don't have enough speed to keep away from him, there's no way he'll give me enough of an opening to release my gravity seals again, and I don't have a chance in hell in a close quarters fight as I am at the moment. If I'm gonna pull through this then I'll need to think of something and fast.'

'The great Sasuke Uchiha, is that all he's capable of?'

'What the hell am I supposed to do?'

"HEY SASUKE!" and then Naruto exploded from the stands "GET AHOLD OF YOURSELF YOU DUMBASS, HOW THE HELL COULD YOU CALL YOURSELF AND UCHIHA, OR A MEMBER OF TEAM 7?! How the hell could you let this ass clown walk all over you?! Pull your head out of your ass and get in gear already!"

"Naruto…"

"NARUTO!" and then Sakura ruined the moment by slamming her fist into Naruto's face in a blind rage "DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE TALK ABOUT SASUKE LIKE THAT YOU PIECE OF CRAP!"

That was when a blade suddenly appeared in front of her throat, courtesy of Tatsu "Take that fist away if you don't want me to cut off your head."

'All of them…' Sasuke locked eyes with Naruto, and then Tatsu, and then Lee, and then he felt the inspiration hit him 'Wait a second, that gives me an idea.'

"I'll teach you to turn your back on me you little son of a bitch!" Yoroi activated his jutsu and charged at Sasuke in a rage "That's a big mistake, and it will be your last!"

"I think we'll see about that." Sasuke dodged and weaved around every attack and then disappeared from view.

"What the hell, where did he go?"

"Right here!" Sasuke blitzed in front of Yoroi and dealt him a sharp uppercut kick to the jaw, sending him flying off his feet, and then he blitzed behind Yoroi in mid air while simultaneously giving Lee a thumbs up "Okay I'll admit it, I pretty much borrowed that move from a friend of a friend but from this point onwards it's all Sasuke style original."

"The Dancing Leaf Shadow?"

"Yep, now get a load of this one. Tell Orochimaru that if he wants my friends then he'll have to go through me! Lion's Barrage!" he spun Yoroi around and dealt him a devastating combo in mid air before slamming him straight into the ground before crashing to the ground himself with a loud thud.

Hayate observed the situation and made the call 'Well I think it's safe to say that they've both had it, but at least Sasuke is still standing. I'm declaring this match to be over, as the winner of this preliminary round Sasuke Uchiha advances into the finals.

"Yay." Sasuke pumped a tired fist but stumbled slightly from chakra exhaustion.

Tatsu jumped down to meet him at eye level "Not too shabby for a first time user of the Dancing Leaf Shadow."

"Think so huh?"

"Let me take a wild guess, you had your Sharingan activated when me and Lee had our little match before the exams started?"

"What are you gonna do, sue me?"

"No but he might."

"Well he can have that one, if I hadn't seen his moves when you and him went at it then this might have turned out pretty badly." he suddenly cringed at the pain he was feeling.

"Yeah that's not something you wanna use without significant practice."

"Duly noted, I guess I still have a ways to go. But then again, people don't get insanely overpowered in one night."

That was when one of the medic ninjas came over to him "Sasuke Uchiha, maybe you should come along with us to the infirmary and allow us to treat your injuries."

"I don't really have any injuries, I just need a little bit of rest and I'll be just fine."

At the same time, a jonin from the Hidden Sound village looked on at Sasuke with ever growing anticipation and excitement 'You're growing stronger by the moment aren't you Sasuke? Yes, the stronger you are the more satisfying it will be to make you mine.' and then he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Dosu on the other hand scowled at this and shared a glance with Kin and Zaku 'Let him do whatever he wants for the time being, but soon enough he'll see that we're far more than just a few pawns for him to dispose of.'

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A masked figure in a green kimono with a black katana strapped to his side observed the battles through a crystal ball from his place in a hidden room 'Well that's a pleasant surprise, it would seem that Sasuke's developing much more nicely than you had anticipated Itachi. How he turns out from this point onwards will be very interesting, but then again we have high expectations don't we?' he glanced back and his eyes narrowed from beneath his mask as a spiralling ball of chakra formed in his hand "I already know you're there, come out and show yourself before you force either of us to do something drastic."

Sure enough, from within the shadows emerged the Hidden Sound jonin, and with a puff of smoke he revealed his true identity "My my you have grown up haven't you, to think that you've mastered the jutsu created by the Fourth Hokage and your father to such an extent."

"My father may have helped the Fourth Hokage develop the Rasengan since they used to be teammates under Master Jiraiya, but I've mastered it far better than he was able to before his death. Would you like to experience it first hand Orochimaru?"

"Such big talk, you haven't changed a bit have you Dragon, or should I say…?"

"Don't."

"Very well. My business isn't with you anyway, I'm more interested in the Uchiha boy you've been guarding over from the shadows."

"Just tell me, what is it that you want with Sasuke?"

"It would seem you've acquired something new, or rather you've improved on something that you already had. Yes you certainly had it the last time we met, but by no means had you mastered it to that extent, the gift that you hold in your eyes that rivals that of the Sharingan itself. Of course the Sharingan lacks those drawbacks, so it makes sense that I should want it for myself, the power of the Uchiha

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The preliminaries continued to get underway, and two more matches had already been completed fairly quickly.

The second match had featured Shino Aburame of Team 8 against Zaku of the Hidden Sound team, and while Zaku had the element of surprise through revealing that he was able to use both of his arms despite his injuries, Shino was able to secure the win by discreetly using his insects to clog the air tubes in his hands, causing the pressure to build until they burst, allowing him to be easily knocked out by Shino.

The third match was between Misumi Tsurugi, Kabuto's other teammate, and Kankuro of the Hidden Sand village. Misumi quickly attempted to strangle Kankuro using his ability to constrict his opponent by dislocating his joints at will, only to end up being trapped by Kankuro and his puppet Crow, as he used it to break every bone in Misumi's body and snap his neck, though his ability to contort himself.

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Following the surprising brutality of the last few matches, a brief intermission was being held for everyone to recover a little bit of stamina.

Ino was in the bathroom splashing some cold water on her face, and mainly just cleaning herself up, and once she made her way out of the bathroom she found Tatsu leaning against the wall nearby waiting for her "Hey."

"You seem a little bit jumpy." Tatsu noted.

"Can you blame me? We saw Sasuke almost kill a guy, Shino blow holes through a guy's arm and that Sand guy break his opponent's back and smirk about it. It's freaking insane."

"It's the life of a shinobi, if you think that everyone you come across is gonna teddy bears stuffed with candy and flowers farting rainbows out of their asses then you're going to be in for a rude awakening and a lot of therapy."

"Well that's… disturbingly colorful."

"Maybe unnecessarily but it doesn't make what I'm telling you any less true. Let me try this from your approach, if you're not prepared to give it 100% and resolve not to pull any punches no matter who you're up against then you don't stand a chance."

"Okay now see, that's better." Ino shot him a bright smile that was filled to the brim with confidence and resolve "And trust me, I have no intention of quitting. In fact, I can't wait for it to be my turn. I have a few tricks of mine that I have in store, let's just say that you're not the only one who prepared a few surprises for the exam." and with that, she made her way back to the arena.

"Well now, looks like someone's got a fire in her eyes."

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Hayate let out a sick sounding cough "Alright, now let's continue with the preliminary matches then."

Naruto rolled her eyes "Well it doesn't matter who's gonna be picked it's gonna be two total freaks, this contest is chock full of them."

"Get real stupid." Tatsu let out a loud snort "You're the last person in here that has the right to talk about shit like that."

"Hey cut me some slack would ya? You know what my deal is."

"Yeah, and it's the only thing about you that actually makes any sense."

Sakura let out a scoff "Please, the only thing about him that makes sense is that he's a worthless loser."

"You mean like you?"

"Listen you son of a-" she was cut off by the sound of a beep, and she glanced up at the screen and gave a dark smirk "Well what do you know."

Ino glanced up at the screen and let out a sigh "Oh boy."

"Sounds to me like we've got a chick fight." Tatsu pulled out a bag of popcorn, a large soda and what looked like a foam finger "Get ready guys, this is gonna be good."

"Where the heck did you get that stuff?"

"I know when I have to come prepared." then he turned serious "But in all seriousness Ino, you need to remember what I said."

"I know." Ino promptly pulled off her arm warmers (probably unnecessary but I think she looks better without them) and threw them aside "I can't afford to pull any punches against my opponents, no matter who I might have to face." she made her way down into the center of the arena to meet Sakura at eye level.

'Ino was a stand out amongst the kunoichi in our graduating class, she's got decent chakra reserves, fair taijutsu skills and overall she's fairly balanced in her range of skills. But with that being said, she and Sakura were friends at one point so will she be able to bring herself to fight with everything she's got in order to get the job done? Well I guess we're about to find out, but it's all on you Ino. Don't let us down.'

"I have to admit that I didn't think I would have to fight you of all people Sakura, or at least I didn't think it would end up happening so soon. But don't expect me to go easy on you."

"You say that like a bitch like you has a chance of beating me." Sakura promptly cracked her knuckles.

"I guess we're about to find out."

Hayate made the call "Begin the match."

"Right."

"You're mine you swine!" Sakura charged at her and let a kick fly forward.

Ino blocked the kick and leapt over the next one, dodging and blocking every attack being thrown at her, whether they be feeble punches and kicks or kunai being hurled at her.

Sakura wasted no time in charging at Ino and started firing off a barrage of punches.

Ino blocked every punch being thrown at her with ease, eventually slugging Sakura in the gut hard enough that she coughed up blood, and then she closed in for the kill.

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Tatsu watched with interest and let out a sigh "Just like I expected."

"Why the hell do you look so upset?" asked Naruto "I mean Ino is totally blowing Sakura out of the water in this battle!"

"And add that to the list of reasons why you're an idiot."

"What the hell does that mean?"

"It means pull your head out of your ass and you'll see what I mean, yes Ino has the clear advantage in terms of skill, speed, power, pretty much everything but the problem is that she's still fighting with kid gloves."

"Fighting with… kid gloves? What the heck does that mean?"

"It means that she's not fighting seriously."

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Ino let her fist fly towards Sakura, but she suddenly retracted it and settled for lightly slapping her across the face, before she actually realized what had happened 'I guess Tatsu was right about me pulling my punches, but it's harder than I thought it would be. Sakura and I met back in the academy, I protected her from the other girls that were bullying her because of her huge forehead, I encouraged her to embrace it instead of hide it, and we ended up becoming friends somewhere along that way. So what changed?'

"That's it." Sakura clenched her fist and gritted her teeth "I'm not the weak and needy little brat that I used to be, and I'm not gonna let you look down on me anymore. You're not on my radar, and you're nothing compared to me!"

"You'd better watch your step Sakura, before you cross the line you can't come back from."

"What line? The line about realizing that Naruto is destined to be worthless and Tatsu is nothing but an orphaned loser that no one ever loved or ever will love, and he just tries to make himself look cooler than Sasuke when he's really all bark and no bite. He's nothing, and he'll never be anything-" she was silenced by a fierce fist to the face, sending her crashing into the wall behind her.