Preliminaries Part 4

"May the tenth match... Begin!" Hayate said.

"Konoha senpu" Lee said as he ran towards Gaara and did a round house kick while jumping. Gaar just stayed where he was with his arms crossed. His sand blocked Lee's kick and the started going after him. Lee jumped backwards while doing many flips to get away from the sand. He then looked at Gaara and saw the sand returning to the gourd behind the Suna Genin's back.

"What a weird jutsu." Sakura said. Everyone other than the members of the Suna team were surprised seeing the sand being manipulated like that.

"Gaara has magnet release. It's a nature transformation kekkei genkai. Rasa, the fourth Kazekage has it as well and so did the previous Kazekage before him. He can control sand by generating a magnetic force to apply on substances for derived purposes. In Gaara's case, it's sand." Hiroki explained.

He then saw Kankuro had a surprised expression as he heard Hiroki knowing so much about them.

"If I'm not wrong, you guys are the children of Rasa, correct? Unlike Konoha, the Kakage from Suna come from a single family and only those that have magnet release can become a Kage." Hiroli said.

"So he's the son of the Kazekage. No wonder he's strong." Sasuke said.

"Not only that. He has some other secret as well." Hiroki said.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Naruto asked.

"He's much like you, Naruto. I can say that you two have worn each other's shoes." Hiroki said.

"What? I don't understand." Naruto said.

"It doesn't matter. You'll understand when the time comes." Hiroki said.

Kankuro hearing what Hiroki was saying, started to sweat nervously.

'Could it be that he knows what Gaara is? He said Gaara has another secret. Not to mention that he figured out that we are the children of the Kazekage just by the magnet release that Gaara has. If he knows about Gaara being a jinchuuriki, then I have to tell the others.' Kankuro thought.

On the stage, Lee started running towards Gaara again. The Suna genin started moving his sand as a blockade against each and every strike coming from Lee. The sand sped up and Lee had to grab a Kunai to cut the sand from reaching him. He then saw that it was coming from above. Lee had no other choice, but to leap away and throw some shuriken at Gaara to make some space between them. The shuriken he threw were blocked by the sand, but he was able to make space between them.

"Even those fast attacks from Lee have no effect." Sakura said.

"What is going on?" Naruto asked as he saw that no matter how much Lee struck, the attacks wouldn't get past the sand.

"No physical strike is going to have any effect on him. The sand shield's and protects Gaara on it's own accord, independently of any intent on Gaara's part. That's why... no one has been able to do it so far. Injure Gaara, that is." Kankuro said.

'Damn it! He's not moving a muscle and still...!' Lee thought in frustration.

"Is that it? Entertain me a bit more. There's not enough, yet! Blood!" Gaara said.

Lee was surprised hearing those words and didn't notice Gaara's sand moving fast under him. Lee jumped, but it was too late as Gaara's sand grabbed his right leg and swung him towards a wall.

"Uargh!" Lee let out a cry from the heavy impact.

Gaara didn't let up and sent more sand towards Lee, who saw it coming and dodged while speeding towards Gaara and started striking again and again as the sand was blocking him.

"Why is Lee only using Taijutsu? He'll never be able to get close enough for that. Why doesn't he step back a bit and use ninjutsu or something?" Sakura asked.

"It's not that he doesn't use it. He can't use it. Lee has almost no ninjutsu or genjutsu skills." Gai said.

"N-No way!" Sakura said surprised.

"When I first met Lee, he was completely inept. He had no talent whatsoever."

"What? I can't believe that." Sakura said.

On the stage, Gaara's sand was moving closer and closer to Lee. The leaf genin started doing back flips fast as a means to get away, but he tripped thanks to the sand under him. Gaara used this opportunity to send a large amount of sand to bury and crush Lee under it. Everyone had their eyes opened thinking that Lee was buried under the Sand, but to everyone's surprised, he was flipping in midair as he got away. He then landed on the fingers of the big stone arms doing a hand seal.

"Certainly, a shinobi without ninjutsu and genjutsu is a rarity. That's why the only path open to Lee as a shinobi was taijutsu. But that's precisely what makes him a winner!" Gai said as he looked at Sakura. He then looked at Lee and gave him a thumbs up.

"Lee, take them off!"

"B-But Gai-sensei, you told me only to do to protect a large group of very important people." Lee questioned.

"It's alright. I give you permission!" Gai said as he continued with his thumb up and winked at Lee.

"Naruto, Sasuke, this is what I've been saying. There's no amount of genius that can beat effort. A genius without effort will only grow to a certain point, but someone weak who puts in effort, they will grow limitless." Hiroki said.

Naruto and Sasuke looked at him as they understood the logic behind Hiroki's words.

Lee sat down and started taking off the orange leg warmers he always wore.

"Are those weight?" Everyone in the gymnasium asked as they saw what was under Lee's leg warmers.

"Oooooooh! Now I can move easily!" Lee said as he took out the weights and held them. He then let them go.

"Hmph! Does he think that some measly little weights is going to enable him to outmaneuver Gaara's sand?" Temari asked in mockery.

*Baaaaaaaaam*

The weights fell down and a large dust cloud rose up. The ones in the gymnasium even felt the place shake a bit as the ground rumbled.

"Coooool." Naruto said.

"That amount..." Sasuke tried saying, but no words came out.

"That's why I said that even if you lifted the seals, you wouldn't be able to beat him when you first fought him, Sasuke. That amount of weight is equal to the tenth level of the seals." Hiroki explained. Sasuke hearing Hiroki, knew that that amount of weight was something that he couldn't take at the moment. Right now, his seals were on the fourth level and the pressure on his body was already strong enough. Imagining it on the tenth level would be like his body being crushed.

"Go, Lee!" Gai said as he gave Lee the signal.

"Haaaaai!" Lee said as he jumped from the stone arms, disappearing from everyone's view. Lee appeared behind Gaara and punched as the sand could barely keep up. He then started moving around and striking. In the middle of it all, Gaara stood there as his eyes couldn't keep up with Lee's speed at all. He could only feel the air brushing past his face with every move Lee made. If it wasn't for the sand moving to protect him regardless of his will, Gaara would already have been punched and kicked over ten times. Lee's speed continued to increase as his strikes started to penetrate Gaara's defense.

"Because Lee can't use ninjutsu and genjutsu, he poured all his time, all of his energy and all of his being into taijutsu. Though he can't do any jutsu, he won't lose to anyone. He's a taijutsu specialist." Gai said.

Lee speed increased by the second and he started going circles around Gaara and striking the genin from Suna. Lee then leapt into the air and kicked with his heel down at Gaara's face, making a cut on him. Lee skidded backwards after getting a blow on Gaara.

"Lee is even faster than before. Was he this strong?" Naruto said as he was surprised.

"Tsk." Sasuke clicked his tongue as he remembered how cocky and overconfident he was in their first fight. He felt that he still had a long way to go.

"To be strong like that, it takes effort and time. No one can become super strong in an instant. We all have potential to be stronger, but if we don't work hard for it, we will never move forward." Hiroki said. He then looked at Sasuke and he knew what he was thinking.

"Sasuke, take this not as something to question your self for what you've been doing until now, but see it as inspiration to getting stronger with the effort you put in." Hiroki said.

Sasuke balled his fists as he felt frustration, but he then calmed down as he took a deep breath. Hiroki smiled seeing Sasuke's reaction.

'Very good. Let's see what this Sasuke has to show in the future. At least he won't seem to be power crazy as in the original. Not to mention that his heart as an avenger is slowly changing.' Hiroki thought as he smiled.

Lee sped straight towards Gaara. Gaara saw him coming and made a sand barrier in advance to stop Lee's advance. Lee on the other hand started striking again as he speed increased again and again after each strike.

"I'm over here." Lee said as he punched Gaara on the face.

"Wow."

"He's so fast."

"My eyes can't keep up with his speed."

"His attacks are lightening fast."

These were some comments from the one watching the fight.

"Uh-oh." Kankuro said.

"Damn right. Gaara is taking some serious blows." Naruto said to Kankuro.

"That's not what I meant." Kankuro said.

"Huh?" Lee was startled as he saw Gaara's face peeling off. Once it hit the floor, it became sand.

"His face is crumbling." Naruto said.

"His whole body is covered in sand." Kakashi said.

"There's not even a scratch on him!" Shikamaru was surprised.

"What is happening to him? That protected him from Lee's blows?" Naruto asked as he looked at Kankuro.

"Yes. It's sand armor. Ordinarily, the sand shield functions to protect him automatically, but, if by chance, the shield is penetrated, the sand armor functions as a second layer. That's Gaara's absolute defense."

"Then that means there's no way to getting to him. He doesn't have any weak points." Naruto said.

"Not really. I can see that he has to use a lot of chakra to keep that sand armor stuck to himself. It's also less effective than the sand shield because it's only a thin layer of sand, but it takes a great amount of physical energy to keep it clinging to the body like that. Taijutsu might not work, but if someone uses a powerful jutsu, that sand armor won't stand long in the way." Hiroki said.

Kankuro hearing Hiroki's words got startled once again. He felt that the leaf genin could see everything and it seemed that he also knew everything. He wasn't wrong thinking that.

"Is that all?!" Gaara asked as he was still with his arms crossed and his sand was dancing around him.

Lee had a thin smile on his face and started untying part of the bandage off from his arms. He then crossed both arms in front of his face and fiercely looked at Gaara.

"Be ready!" Lee said as he increased his speed once more and got even faster. He then started going circles around Gaara as a dust trail was left behind every step Lee took.

"Hurry up and bring it on." Gaara said as he didn't even pay attention to Lee.

"You asked for it!" Lee said as he blurred. He then appeared in front of Gaara as he crouched down and kicked Gaara upwards. This being said didn't seem impressive, but Gaara didn't sand didn't even put up a barrier since it wasn't able to follow Lee's speed.

'He didn't float.' Lee thought as he saw Gaara not going up. He felt that the Suna genin was heavier than he looked. He guessed it must be because of the sand armor. He then started kicking Gaara again and again as each kick sent him higher into the air. Gaara's sand followed under them, but it wasn't able to reach him yet. Lee gave the last kick and he felt pain as the strain of the technique on his body wasn't light, but ,even still, he didn't stop. The bandages on his arms went around Gaara as it tied him tightly like a snake on it's prey. Lee grabbed Gaara and the two started spinning as the went upside down.

"Omote Renge." Lee said as the two propelled headfirst towards the ground very fast.

*Baaaaaaam*

They made impact on the ground as the floor of the gymnasium where they hit, crumbled and broke and dust rose up. Just from that, it could be seen that the force of the technique was something to fear. Out of the dust came Lee as he spun midair and landed on the ground as he started breathing heavily.

"I've got him." Lee said.

"Yoshaaaa!" Gai yelled loudly with youth.

"It's over." Naruto said

"W-What? This can't be!" Kankuro said in disbelief.

"Yata! Lee has won." Sakura cheered.

"Oy, he isn't dead, is he?" Shikamaru asked as he saw Gaara wasn't even moving as he was still inside the hole.

Hayate moved closer to check Gaara's condition and as he did so, he saw that more cracks started to appear on Gaara's body.

"What?" Lee asked as he heard and saw the cracking. Everyone was surprised to see that the Gaara in the hole was turning into sand as his body became a shell and cracked.

"When did that happen?" Gai asked.

"It was when you closed your eyes and prayed. Lee had stopped for a moment because of the pain in his body. Gaara used that moment." Kakashi said.

A large amount of sand suddenly appeared behind Lee. Lee turned and saw Gaara, who had cracks all over his sand armor. He had a wicked expression as he looked at Lee. Gaara made a hand seal and the sand around him started becoming unsettled. It then went towards Lee as it hit him once. Lee was able to send it away, but the second blow came and made Lee fall. Lee felt pin as his legs didn't have strength to move around. Gaara used that opportunity to add wood to the fire and strike Lee a few more times. A large dust cloud then rose after Gaara stopped.

"Why isn't he dodging?" Sakura asked as she looked at Gai.

"It's not that he is not dodging, he can't dodge." Gai said.

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked again.

"The Lotus is like a double-edged sword. It's a forbidden jutsu because it puts a load on the user's body that is beyond imagination. Lee's entire body is in so much pain right now that even moving is out of the question." Kakashi explained.

"The match is over." Sasuke said as he looked at the stage.

"Not yet. Lee still has something else to show." Hiroki said.

"What? How do you know?" Sasuke asked.

"Did the academy teach you guys what happened in the third shinobi world war? About how a single genin from Konoha was able to kill four of the seven swordsmen of the mist?" Hiroki asked while looking at both Naruto and Sasuke as he already knew the answer.

"I guess they didn't teach you. That genin was no one other than Gai's father. He used a forbidden jutsu and I'm pretty sure that Gai knows it as well and he taught it to Lee." Hiroki said.

Down at the stage, Lee had his back against the wall as it was full of cracks and sand falling. Gaara didn't give Lee any space as he sent more sand to attack him. Lee dodged the incoming attacks a few more times, but it was clear that he was spent. Gaara made another hand seal and Lee prepared to block the possible next attack. Gaara kept sending wave after wave of sand and Lee was barely able to dodge them as he ran.

"At this rate he will die with Gaara just toying with him." Kankuro said.

"Hehe. I guess you didn't hear what I said." Hiroki said as he laughed.

Gaara gathered up a large amount of sand and he sent it towards Lee once again. The leaf genin wasn't able to dodge and the sand hit him, sending him at a distance. Gaara continued sending sand blows after sand blows as Lee was hit by them. He felt his body tired to the extreme as his eyes started losing strength. He then looked at Gai and saw that his sensei was smiling at him.

'Thank you, Gai sensei.' Lee thought as his eyes shined once again. Gaara gathered more sand to attack Lee, but this time, Lee dodged as he regained his fast speed. Gaara kept attacking without stopping and Lee dodged with ease.

"His movements returned." Gaara said as he continued attacking.

Lee stopped after some time as Gaara stopped attacking. He used the opportunity to gather chakra as he closed his eyes. A strong pressure then surrounded him

"I don't know what you are trying to do, but this is the end of you." Gaara said as he made a hand seal.

"That's true. In any case, it will be the end with the next move." Lee said as the pressure became stronger, his hair started floating, his skin became a shade of red and chakra was surrounding his whole body.

"Third Gate, Seimon, Kai! (Third Gate of Life ope!)" Lee said. Everyone on the gymnasium could feel the pressure coming from him. They also noticed his skin becoming red and a green glow start surrounding his body.

"What's with him?" Kankuro asked.

"That's the forbidden jutsu I told you about." Hiroki said as his sharingan captured every chakra movement from the beginning of Lee opening the third inner gate.

"That's the same technique used against the seven swordsmen of the mist in the third shinobi world war." Zabuza said as he was surprised seeing it. The old swordsmen of kirigakure told the tale to their apprentices of how one person was able to kill four of them and badly injure the other three. Zabuza had that tale engraved in his memory even though he wasn't a direct apprentice of any of the swordsmen.

"He's going to make his move." Kakashi said.

"Not yet." Gai said.

"Fourth Gate, Shomon, Kai!" Lee said as the power and pressure coming from him increased even more to and incomparable extent.

"Naruto, Sasuke, what Lee is doing can't only be achieved through effort alone. He is in fact a genius. A taijutsu genius." Hiroki said to the blond and raven haired.

Lee instantly appeared in front of Gaara and kicked him into the air. The strike was so strong that it created large amounts of air pressure that blew all over the place and dust rose. This time, Gaara was instantly sent high into the air and his sand armor started cracking very quickly. Gaara's sand went up, but it was no use because it wasn't able to catch up. Lee instantly appeared in front of Gaara as he saw the sand armor and kicked him downwards. Before Gaara could touch the ground, Lee was already behind, delivering the next blow. Lee repeated this many times as if Gaara was a pinball, going around and around after each blow from Lee. The sand armor was no longer able to keep itself on Gaara and it started being peeled away. Lee jumped up as he was about to land the last blow on Gaara. Lee felt pain all over his body and his nose started bleeding, but he still went forwards with his attack.

"His muscles have torn!" Sasuke said as he used his sharingan to see it.

"This is the end! Fifth Gate, Tomon, Kai!" Lee said as he punched Gaara downwards to the ground. Though, before Gaara hit the ground, he was pulled back up as Lee held onto the cloth tied around Gaara's waist and pulled him back up. The sand shield tried catching up to Gaara and protect him, but it was completely useless at the moment.

"Ura Renge!" Lee shouts out as he delivered the finishing blow on Gaara using both right hand and foot, sending the Suna genin to the ground. The impact was so big that it created an immense air pressure along with the dust rising. Everyone protected their faces as some small debris was blown as well.

At that instant, Lee cried out as he felt his right leg and arm become fractured. As Gaara fell down, Lee also fell as he rolled on the ground a few times. After the dust cleared, everyone saw Gaara was hurt, but still able to barely move.

"How?" Many asked as they saw this.

"The gourd on Gaara's back is made of sand. He protected himself before hitting the ground. If not for that, things would get ugly." Hiroki said.

Gaara saw Lee from the hole he had in and move his hand with a lot of difficulty. He controlled the sand around him and sent it in the form of a large hand to grab Lee, who saw it coming and tried to get up and run away from it. He only tried because his body didn't respond to him at all as he felt incomparable amounts of pain.

"Gai, stop the match. Stop or you will regret it!" Hiroki shouted as he looked at Gai.

The sand went closer and closer to Lee and Gai didn't move to step in. Lee tried getting away from the sand as he used only his one good arm, but the sand was getting closer to him. Hiroki watched as Gai still didn't interfere in the match and he grit his teeth. The sand got Lee's left arm and leg as it encased both limbs inside. Lee made a last effort of pulling himself out of the sand, but failed.

"Sabaku Kyu!" Gaara said as he motioned his hand in a crushing motion and the sand copied it, crushing Lee's left arm and leg. But as the sand was about to do so, Gaara saw a black blur appear in between the sand and him and blow the sand, completely getting rid of it as a strong burst of wind blew all over the gymnasium.

"You. Why are you saving him?" Gaara asked as he looked towards the person that intervened in the attack.

"Because he is someone I call a friend, even though we met each other not a week ago. I can't see my friends suffering and not do anything about it, regardless of rules and other things like that." Hiroki said as his sharingan eyes looked in Gaara's eyes.

After listening to Hiroki's words, Gaara felt some headache as he grabbed his head. Hiroki didn't put him in a genjutsu or anything like that. It was Gaara's memories of his childhood doing the work.

"Lee." Gai said as he arrived beside Hiroki and checked Lee's condition. His student was already unconscious.

"Hiroki, sorry for not interfering when you told me. I wanted Lee to win no matter what and I didn't account for the possibilities. Thank you for stopping the match." Gai said.

"If I didn't, you would regret it, Gai. Lee would have his left arm and leg broken. That being over the injuries he already accumulated because of the hidden lotus. If that happened, his career as a shinobi would have probably ended." Hiroki said.

Gaara got up from the ground as sand surrounded him and started walking away.

"I quit." He said.

"He quit?" Sakura questioned as she saw everything happening.

"The moment Hiroki jumped in and interfered in Lee's favor, Lee lost." Kakashi said.

"The winner is, Subaku no Gaara." Hayate said, declaring Gaara the winner of the tenth match.

Hiroki jumped back to the upper area and the medics then came in and took him away. The head doctor talked to Gai and told him that if the injuries were just a bit more severe, Lee would have to retire from being a shinobi.

Gai stood where he was for a moment until Kakashi arrived next to him and talked to him for a bit. Kakashi then jumped back and Gai did the same.

"Now then, let's begin the eleventh match." Hayate said and the screen brightened once again as the last four names flashed randomly.

"Haku, Chojuro, there's a fifty percent chance that you will fight one another. You two can decide what you will do if it happens. You can either fight it out or withdraw. Don't care about what the other say or think. Just do what you believe is right. Now, if you are to fight the other two, don't lose." Zabuza said.

"Hai, Zabuza-sama." Haku said.

"H-Hai, Zabuza-sensei." Chojuro said shyly.

"The eleventh battle is between Choji Akimichi and Dosu Kinuta. Please come down and face each other." Hayate said as the names appeared on the screen.

"It's finally my turn." Dosu said as he faced Choji.

"Do your best, Choji." Shikamaru cheered.

"Fatso!" Ino shouted.

"Damn it! Those two better watch out! I'll end this match quickly and turn you into mincemeat!" Choji said as a vein popped on the side of his head.

"Then, let's not play around. I'll finish you off quickly, Mr. Fatso." Dosu said in a mocking tone.

Chiji turned towards Dosu as another vein popped up on the other side of his head as he became even angrier. His eyes had fire in them.

"You bandaged cucumber roll! Choji said angrily.

'I know that those holes on his arm emits a pulsing sound, so...'

"Ninpo: Baika no Jutsu!" Choji shouted as his body expended and turned into a ball.

"Followed by the Konoha style taijutsu." Choji shouted again as he became like a turtle and tuck in his head, arms and legs inside.

'All I have to do is to prevent him from aiming at my ears.' Choji thought. He then jumped and started spinning violently.

"Nikudan Senshan."

Choji rolled towards Dosu just like a steam roller.

Dosu kept dodging and getting out of the way that Choji rolled, but Choji still turned towards him once more to try and roll over him. Dosu stood in front of a wall while waiting for Choji to come after him. Choji kept going after Dosu and as he was about to hit him, Dosu dodged and Choji hit the wall, getting stuck.

"The way you're stuck right now. That's where I attack." Dosu said as he jumped and punched Choji. His hand got stuck in the softness of Choji's body.

"It's no use. I'm wearing ear plugs." Choji said.

"No, this is the end! Dosu said as he flicked his gauntlet and a sound wave transmitted all over Choji's body. Choji shrunk and fell on the floor, unconscious.

"The human body is made up of 70% water, and water is able to transmit sound waves. In other words, your whole body is like one big ear." Dosu said as he looked down at Choji.

"And the winner is, Dosu Kinuta!" Hayate said.

Dosu then started walking back to the upper area as he was thinking about the mission that Orochimaru had given him and his team. He looked up and saw that Orochimaru wasn't there anymore.

The medics came and checked Choji's condition. They asked him if he was alright and he said he wanted to eat meat.

"Alright then, the last two, Chojuro and Haku, please get down here." Hayate said.

"Man, it must be hard to face a team member in this situation." Naruto said.

"Yeah. Unless they have a rivalry between them like you and Sasuke have. But from what I see, they don't have that. My guess is that they will fight without giving their all or not fight at all." Hiroki said.

Haku and Chojuro looked at each other and walked down the stairs. Chojuro had a shy expression on his face. He looked just like Hinata usually does.

"May the last round begin!" Hayate said.

"I give up. There's no need fighting against Haku-chan. I won't be able to win." Chojuro said as he raised his hand.

Hayate looked at Chojuro and sighed.

"Due to one of the participants giving up, the winner of the final round is Haku Yuki. Since it's finally over, with this, the preliminaries of the third exam is completed." Hayate said. For the next minutes, everyone of those that advance to the final round gathered at the now completely destroyed stage thanks to Gaara's and Lee's fight. The Hokage stood in the highest position while Ibiki, Hayate and Anko were at the same level as the participants that advanced while facing them. There were a total of twelve genin as they were the ones to get through.

"To everyone who had advanced to the final round of the third test of the chunin exams, Congratulations." Hayate said.

"Well, I will begin the explanation of the Final Round." Hiruzen as he analyzed every genin. He felt proud as the total amount from Konoha was over half the total number. There were the three from Suna, one from Kiri and one from Otogakure.

"The final round is where each one of you will show off your battle skills in front of everyone. I want you to satisfactorily demonstrate and show off your ability as representative battle forces of your respective lands. Accordingly, the final round will commence one month from now." Hiruzen explained.

"We're not gonna do it right now? Here?" Naruto asked.

"This is so that there's a suitable period of preparation. That is to say, along with the announcement of the conclusion of the preliminary match to each country's Daimyo and Shinobi leaders readying the summons for final round requires preparation time, not to mention the time it takes for you examinees to prepare." Hiruzen explained.

"I don't quite get what you're trying to say. What do you mean?" Kankuro asked.

"In other words, in order to know your adversary, in order to prepare yourself, time is necessary. Time to analyze what you learned about the adversaries in the preliminaries, time to take stock of your successes. The battles until now were like actual battles. It proposed situations in which you can't know your adversary." Hiruzen clarified.

The genin all understood what he meant as they all thought to themselves in silence.

"However, this is not the case in the final round. Some of you might have already revealed everything in front of your rivals. In the spirit of fairness and equality, you will have a month to train yourself to further your skills. Now that that's done, I'll let you take your leave. But first, for the final round, there is one more important matter to take care of." Hiruzen said.

"Let's get on with it, so we can get to training!" Naruto said impatiently. He then got a slap at the back of his head from Hiroki.

"Be more respective, Naruto. Otherwise I won't train with you." Hiroki said.

"Now, now. I want you all to calmly take one slip of paper from the box that Anko is holding." Hiruzen said.

"I'm going to go around in order. Take only one." Anko said as she walked up to the first person in line. Everyone then took a number.

"Alright, listen up. From left to right, tell me the number on your slip of paper." Ibiki said to the genin.

Dosu: 8

Naruto: 1

Sasuke: 4

Sakura:10

Hiroki: 12

Temari: 7

Kankuro: 5

Gaara: 3

Shikamaru : 9

Neji: 2

Shino:6

Haku: 11

"Now then. I'll now explain how the final round tournament will work." Hiruzen said.

"Eeeh!" Naruto exclaimed in surprise.

"Is that how the pairings are going to work?" Shikamaru asked as he already deduced it from the numbers each one got.

"Ibiki, bring forth the pairings." Hiruzen said

"Hai." Ibiki said as he showed everyone the pairings.

Naruto vs Neji

Sasuke vs Gaara

Kankuro vs Shino

Temari vs Dosu

Shikamaru vs Sakura

Hiroki vs Haku

"Hehe. Looks like our students are going to fight it off with one another. I'll take special care of Haku's training so she can beat that little demon of yours." Zabuza said to Kakashi.

"Huh? Did you say something?" Kakashi asked as he looked up from his book.

"Damn you, Kakashi." Zabuza grumbled.

"HAHA! That's how my rival has always been like. Don't let it get to you." Gai said to Zabuza.

"Excuse me, I have a question. I see from the grid that there will only be one champion. Does that mean that only one of us will be able to become a chunin?" Shikamaru asked as he raised his hand.

"No. On the contrary. The judges of the final round, of which I am one, will be made up of the Kazekage, Mizukage, the Damyos of various countries who will assign you your missions, and the shinobi leaders. Through this tournament, these judges will be able to make thorough evaluation, and come to a decision as to whether each one of you possesses the qualities incumbent of a chunin. Even if someone loses the first round, they can still become a chunin." Hiruzen answered Shikamaru's question.

"So there's a chance that all of us will become chunin?" Temari asked.

"Correct, but conversely, there's also a chance that none of you will. To "advance" in the tournament means maximizing chances to appeal yourselves to the judges. Understood, Shikamaru?" Hiroki said directly to Shikamaru as he understood the thinking process of the lazy shinobi of the Nara clan.

"Thank you for your patience. We will adjourn until next month." Hiruzen said. He along with the other proctors started leaving the gymnasium. Hiroki noticed this and called to him.

"Hokage-sama, could you give us a minute to talk to you?" Hiroki asked.

"Ah. Hiroki-kun. Is everything fine? Do you have a question about the finals?" Hiruzen asked.

"Not really. It's just that Naruto and I have a favor to ask from you. It's unrelated to the chunin exams. It's more personal." Hiroki said.

"I see. Come to my office and we'll talk then." Hiruzen said.

"Hai. Thank you, Hokage-sama." Hiroki said as he saw Hiruzen leaving. He then told Naruto to go get Karin so they could go talk to Hiruzen.