Preliminaries Continue

"Shino Aberame is the winner of this round," said Hayate with a sign. Zaku clutched both of his arms in agony, nearly a dozen holes in each of them. Talk about bloody and gruesome, the kid kinda deserved it though. Naruto and several other of the Hidden Leaf genin were talking loudly about Shino nearby.

"That kid sure is creepy," said Temari with a shiver.

"He doesn't look that tough. I doubt those insects would protect him from Crow," said Kankuro smugly. I glanced at Kankuro, wondering if he would turn out to be right. Unlike in the anime, Kankuro might actually fight Shino in the final exam. They had of course fought in the forest during the Konoha Crush in the anime. Still, this would be a different setting than the forest. Kankuro also wasn't the same as in the anime, I personally thought he was stronger. Shino creepily walked back up the stairs, to where Kiba and Hinata stood.

"Insect users are a unique kind of shinobi. It would be best not to underestimate them," said Baki. We swiveled around, all of us having forgotten he was standing there due to his silence.

"We've lost too many battles from lack of understanding their power," continued Baki spitefully.

"Does the Hidden Sand have any insect users," asked Temari curiously. I also wanted to know, it had never been mentioned if the Hidden Sand had any. I also didn't have any memory of insect users from when I was younger. Baki shook his head and sighed.

"We only have two or three, none of them very strong," said Baki. I turned and looked at Shino to find him staring in our direction. Such an unsettling gaze, even with those glasses of his covering his eyes. I wondered if I wondered if I would have any trouble fighting insects, they were quite small after all.

"Looks like your up Kankuro," remarked Temari. I turned back to find that Kankuro's name and Misumi's name were displayed on the screen. Kankuro had a nice grin on his face, happy to finally get his turn.

"Good luck Kankuro," I told him.

"Thanks, Gaara," he said. Kankuro then leaped down to stand in the middle of the arena. His opponent Misumi took his time and walked down the stairs instead of leaping off the balcony. Then stood opposite each other just as everyone else had before them.

"Begin," said Hayate. Kankuro threw his cloth bundle off of his back but he was too late. Misumi was already upon him, wrapping himself around Kankuro's body like a snake.

"I can dislocate every bone in my body," boasted Misumi. Fake Kankuro looked worried and seemed to struggle against the bending ninja.

"Yield or I break your neck," threatened Misumi.

"Don't think you've won just yet," said fake Kankuro. An audible snap was heard and fake Kankuro's head went limp. Temari and I simply stared forward but everyone else gasped in shock. This had seemingly been the first death of the preliminary in their eyes.

"Did he kill him," asked Naruto numbly. I shook my head which caught Naruto's eye, making him turn his gaze towards me.

"Watch closely," I simply told him. Naruto looked confused for a moment but listened and turned his eyes back to the match. Misumi gasped suddenly, seeing something we in the stands couldn't see. Fake Kankuro's appearance crumbled to reveal a heavily damaged Crow. I frowned at its appearance, I was amazed it could even function.

"A puppet? Where's the real one," yelled Misumi as Crow wrapped its arms around him. Kankuro's bundle that had been slung over his back suddenly unraveled to reveal the real Kankuro. Same trick as in the anime, but with Crow this damaged I was a little concerned.

"It's best not to be so close to my friend the Crow," said Kankuro smugly. With a flick of his fingers, Crow began to tighten around Misumi.

"Stop, please stop," cried Misumi as Crow's arms tightened around him even more.

"If all your bones break then you'll be even more flexible though," laughed Kankuro.

Suddenly, a piercing crack rang out through the air. Everyone froze in place, even Kankuro.

"Did he break his back," asked Temari uneasily. She seemed quite nervous at the prospect of Kankuro being the first person to kill someone during this section of the exams. Fortunately for her, Misumi shifted around in Crow's grip to prove he was still alive. Then, Crow crumbled into pieces on the ground. Misumi stood there looking quite unsure of what had just happened. Kankuro took a few steps back, his expression looking worried. This wasn't part of his plan, Crow had failed due to its damage while fighting Isori in the forest.

"Looks like your puppet wasn't too strong," said Misumi as he regained some of his composure. It was just as I had feared, Kankuro's attachment to Crow had come back to bite him. Mizumi lunged forward at Kankuro, who quickly evaded him by leaping away. Kankuro drew a kunai and winged it at Misumi. He easily dodged the kunai while Kankuro yanked a scroll out of his pocket. I recognized it as the scroll that contained Sparrow, the bird puppet that Omada had gifted him. Kankuro hurriedly unraveled it and with a puff of smoke, the bird puppet sat on the ground. It went up to about his waist and was only about two feet across. Kankuro launched chakra threads from his fingertips and latched them onto the puppet. The bird puppet flared to life, launching into the air. It flapped its wings and I could actually feel gusts of wind from the motions.

"Whats going on with the wind? Is Kankuro's puppet doing that," questioned Temari.

"Look closely on the underside of the wings and tell me what you see," said Baki. I followed his instructions and squinted to see the bottom of the wings. I then noticed some strange engravings on the feathers, similar to that of a sealing Jutsu but not the same.

"Are they some kind of sealing Jutsu," asked Temari. Baki shook his head.

"The marks inscribed in the underside of the wings are a special Jutsu. It is known as Chakra Conversion Jutsu. It uses your chakra and outputs whatever element it was designed for," explained Baki. I realized Kankuro must have used the same Jutsu when creating Oasis. Oasis had been the puppet used to supply water to Riptide, which had a seemingly endless supply of water. Now I understood it hadn't just been a storage tank, he had been using this Jutsu to create water inside.

"What is wrong with Sparrow? It's all over the place," said Temari worriedly. I brought myself out of my thoughts to find that she was correct, Sparrow was flying like it was drunk. Misumi was also staring at the puppet, unsure if Kankuro was doing this on purpose and what he should do to stop it.

"Kankuro only received this puppet from the Hidden Artisan a short while ago. Have either of you two seen him use it or practice with it," asked Baki with concern. Temari and I both shook our heads, resulting in a disappointed sigh from Baki.

"His own pride wouldn't allow him to use a puppet, not from the Hidden Sand. Now, it's his only chance with Crow in pieces," I said solemnly. Kankuro struggled further with Sparrow until it finally crashed into the ground. Misumi burst out laughing, the ninja unable to contain chuckling at Kankuro's failure.

"I can't believe a weak puppet master like you made it this far. Your first puppet fell apart and you can't even control your second puppet, can you? What a disgrace," said Misumi harshly. Kankuro gritted his teeth at the insult and bowed his head. I could see it in his posture, he was going to give up. All because he was out of his comfort zone, using a puppet he was unfamiliar with. Something needed to be done.

"I wouldn't underestimate him, he's no disgrace and he doesn't give up," I said to Misumi loudly. Everyone turned to look at me, even Kankuro. Great, now I had to talk with everyone staring.

"Kankuro will be the greatest puppet master you've ever seen. So don't go thinking you've seen him at his best when he's always getting started," I continued. Silence enveloped the arena until Misumi let out another chuckle.

"Yout faith is misplaced, sand rat," said Misumi. Those words didn't hurt me too much though because Sparrow then slammed into Misumi's face. He fell backward as the puppet pecked and clawed him just like a real bird. Kankuro now had a mask of determination on his face, his fingers a blur over movement. Looking closer I could see that Sparrow still had a lot of irregular movements but they were always corrected right away. Kankuro had his eyes glued to the puppet, he must be learning how to control it while fighting.

"Looks like you inspired him," commented Baki with a smile. I shook my head in disagreement, that wasn't it.

"All I did was give him a wake-up call," I said humbly. Baki merely smiled, as did Temari.

Kankuro was on a roll now, Misumi wasn't able to gain any footing at all. Kankuro flicked his wrist and Sparrow unexpectedly unleashed blades from the tips of its feathers. Blood splattered the ground as the razor-sharp metal sunk into Misumi.

"Did he mean to do that," asked Temari.

"Probably not," I replied with a smile. Kankuro grinned, finally getting Sparrow's movements down correctly. Misumi finally managed to swat the puppet away for a moment. He then made a break for Kankuro, probably since his Jutsu was a close-range one. He didn't even make it halfway there be Sparrow appeared in front of him. This time, the Jutsu marks on the underside of its wings glowed blue with chakra. A massive gust of wind slammed into Misumi with a flap of Sparrow's wings, sending him flying backward. The poor Leaf ninja hit the back wall with a crunch. Misumi then fell to the ground with a thud. Hayate didn't even walk over to check him, he simply stepped forward.

"Kankuro is the winner," he said with yet another cough. Someone should get him a cough drop or something, hearing him cough was getting old. Kankuro recalled Sparrow to its scroll and then went over to start picking up the pieces of Crow. Kankuro managed to barely wrap the remains of the poor puppet back into his bundle before rejoining us on the balcony.

"Nice job," I said briefly. Kankuro gave me a long glance before turning to Temari and Baki. We were both smiling at each other, probably thinking of the same thing.

"You did exceptionally well for not training with that puppet before today," said Baki with an edge to his voice. He obviously wasn't happy about Kankuro neglecting a weapon that had turned out to be his only hope after Crow.

"Oh yeah, I did do pretty good," said Kankuro nervously. Baki's eyes narrowed and Kankuro flinched. Instead of yelling at him though, he sighed.

"You did well Kankuro, just make sure that next time you are prepared for possible failures," said Baki. Kankuro let out a groan of relief, glad Baki wasn't going to chew him out.

"You're a real idiot you know," said Temari with a shake of her head.

"Hey! Just wait until your turn and we will see how you do," growled Kankuro with a slight hint of embarrassment. Temari grinned at his shame, more than happy to tease her brother.

"Looks like two Hidden Leaf kunoichi is up next," said Baki with boredom. I glanced at the board and found Ino and Sakura's names. Great, this battle would certainly be boring. Both girls were obsessed with Sasuke at this point and time, and only Ino possessed any unique Jutsu. Still, her Mind Transfer Jutsu was shaky at best with her current skill. Sakura on the other hand only knew the Shadow Clone and Substitution Jutsu.

"This match probably won't be too interesting," said Kankuro. I nodded in agreement, noticing several Hidden Lead ninjas scowl at Kankuro and me.

"I haven't heard anything about these two. Do you know what kind of Jutsu they have," Temari asked. I shook my head, I couldn't tell them because that would be suspicious.

"The blonde girl is from the Yamanaka clan, their Jutsu is the Mind Transfer Jutsu, it's a Jutsu where the user puts their soul into another person's body. They then have control over that person, though any damage to the body of the one being controlled will happen to the Jutsu caster," responded Baki.

Temari and Kankuro listened carefully while I simply stared down at the two girls. Neither of them was exactly very good looking in my opinion. Their attitudes certainly didn't make up for it either.

"Begin," said Hayate.

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"It's a draw, both of them lose the fight," said Hayate. Kakashi stood over Sakura while Asuma stood by Ino. Both picked up their students and carried them off the arena floor. The fight had been just as drawn out and boring as in the anime, no emotional flashbacks of course but still boring.

"Look who was right," said Kankuro smugly. Temari rolled her eyes but then smiled when she looked at the screen on the wall. Tenten and Temari's names were now displayed on the wall. At least this fight would be quick. Poor Tenten began to make her way down to the arena floor, not realizing how badly matched she was against Temari. Temari moved to go past me but I grabbed her lightly. She turned back in surprise and curiosity.

"What is it Gaara?"

"Take it easy, you're only just getting back to full strength. You'll get to show off in the finals," I told her. Temari paused for a moment before begrudgingly nodding.

"Fine, but I'm not taking it easy on her," she said sternly. Temari then continued on her way down to the arena floor. The two kunoichis lined up opposite each other, both looking quite determined.

"This girl doesn't look too impressive," commented Kankuro. He sure was on a mean streak by judging everyone on appearances. Tenten's move set was pretty good for someone her age, she would have easily won against other opponents in the anime.

"You may start the match," said Hayate.

Neither Temari nor Tenten moved an inch. They were both waiting on the other to make a move. Temari then smiled evilly and laughed.

"You're waiting on me to make the first move? I wouldn't do that if I were you," said Temari confidently. Tenten frowned and then sent four shurikens flying towards Temari. Temari seemed to go blurry for a moment, then the three shuriken's harmlessly soared past her. Tenten widened her eyes in shock, it must be quite jarring for her to see her shuriken's miss.

"What happened? There's no way I could have missed," said Tenten. Rock Lee, Neiji, and Guy all were talking quite animatedly.

"I thought this would be interesting but I won't even break a sweat fighting you," said Temari.

"Another win for the Hidden Sand," mumbled Shikamaru distastefully. I smiled, something that didn't do unnoticed by Shikamaru. He narrowed his eyes at me but I didn't change my expression. Tenten stood there for several moments before sprinting around Temari and leaping into the air. Two scrolls unraveled in her hands, twirling quite beautifully in the air. Small puffs of smoke erupted throughout the scroll as Tenten pulled dozens of ninja tools out of it. A shower is the weapons rained down towards Temari but of course, it was pointless. Temari swung her iron fan off of her back and with a gust of wind all the ninja tools clattered to the ground.

"What is going on," said Tenten in disbelief. I sighed, the poor girl didn't even understand what was happening. I hoped Temari wouldn't play with her like in the anime. Temari grinned widely, fully opening her iron fan. What was she doing now?

"Wind Scythe Jutsu," she shouted as she quickly swung her fan. A vortex of wind formed and slammed into Tenten. It drove her straight up into the air, dozens of feet off the ground. This was different than the anime, Temari was actually heeding my advice to finish the match quickly. Tenten lay suspended in the air, getting gashed and sliced left and right by the Jutsu. Right as Tenten fell to the ground, Temari leaped up and swung her fan again.

"Wind Scythe Jutsu," she said with a wicked grin. Temari just couldn't help herself could she? Tenten flew horizontally through the air, straight for where Kankuro and I were standing actually. I realized just in time that she was going too fast to not hit the wall. Sand shot out of my gourd to form a hand, which I then used to gently snatch Tenten from the air. I gently brought her down, not wanting to think about how badly she would have been injured if she had hit the wall going that fast.

"Nice catch Gaara," said Kankuro.

"It wouldn't look very good if I just stood there and watched. Besides, some of the wall would've crumbled down on us if she hit it," I told him. I was doing my best not to sound like I cared or that I was worried about Tenten. Temari had gone a little overboard.

"Tenten is unconscious and out of bounds, Temari is the winner," said Hayate.

I carefully unwrapped my sand that had coiled around her to reveal Tenten. She had cuts and scrapes all over her, not to mention her clothes had also been slashed in several areas. I quickly averted my gaze and looked at Kankuro. He was also starting a little too but after a glare from me, he stopped.

"Give me some of your extra bandaging wraps, I know you always carry extra to haul Crow around in," I said to him. Kankuro hesitated before handing over two rolls of bandage wraps. Tenten shifted her head and I quickly handed her the wraps. She looked at them very confusedly for a moment before glancing down at herself. Her cheeks reddened and she shot up to take the bandages only to wince in pain.

"Your injuries are quite severe, don't move too much," I mumbled. Tenten looked up at me uncertainly before nodding. Two medical ninjas rushed up the stairs with a stretcher, which I quickly moved Tenten onto with my sand. Rock Lee and Might Guy leaped up to stand next to me, both looking quite worried.

"Is she alright? What did you do to her," asked Rock Lee while getting up in my face. I sighed internally, good deeds never went unpunished.

"Get out of Gaara's face," said Kankuro as he stepped in front of Lee menacingly. Lee and Kankuro glared at each other and I could tell this was getting way out of hand. Lee's fist was tightening, he was about to go off.

"That's enough Lee, Tenten is in stable condition thanks to that Sand ninja," said Guy sternly. At least he was experienced enough to understand what had actually occurred.

"Sorry, Guy sensei," said Lee regrettably. Both of them followed the medical ninjas as they carried Tenten away. Temari then waltzed up behind us, a smile on her face.

"I kept it nice and short just like you asked Gaara," she said while feigning innocence. I gritted my teeth a little which Temari smiled at, she was obviously messing with me.

"Good job," I said forcefully. Temari dropped the smirk and nodded.

"Thank you," she replied kindly. She certainly was strange beating up Tenten one moment, then politely thanking me the next.

"Next is Shikamaru Nara and Kin Tsuchi," said Hayate already. He certainly wasn't wasting any time. Shikamaru and Kin both walked down to the training floor, with both looking pretty rough. I gritted my teeth, these fights were so boring when you already knew the outcome.

"How long do we have to sit through these stupid little fights," said Shukaku. He sounded just as annoyed as I was.

"Until it's my turn, then I will get to fight," I told him.

"How long will that take?"

"I'm not sure, I can't predict the future," I answered.

"This whole thing seems very poorly thought out," he grumbled.

"You're telling me."

———————————————————————

Both Shikamaru's match and Naruto's after him went ridiculously slow. Especially with all the babbling Naruto did throughout the fight against Kiba, it was just dumb. I honestly couldn't believe Naruto beat Kiba in this world too, even though Naruto only really used the Shadow Clone Jutsu. It was still quite a funny match, Naruto certainly knew how to keep it interesting. Hinata and Neji's match didn't last too long thankfully, the poor girl only lasted a little while against Neji.The fight had gone the exact same as in the anime, with the jonin stopping Neji from killing Hinata and Naruto vowing to defeat Neji. Naruto had been quite enraged during the match, he had barely stood still. Hinata had offered the healing cream just as nervously as in the anime. The girl had of course almost passed out from nervousness of doing it but still got the job done. It was kinda cute to watch, poor Naruto was so clueless. Hinata had been rushed off the arena floor with critical injuries, while Naruto had barely been stopped from attacking Neji. Now we all sat watching the screen flicker through names, I smiled knowing I would be next. Using my Sand Particle Conversion, I quickly appeared down on the arena floor. I heard Rock Lee yell in excitement, clueless about how outmatched he was. Might Guy and Lee started muttering excitedly as well as nervously.

"Watch out for his gourd," said Might Guy, with Lee jotting that down on a notepad. These two were such clowns, they barely had a brain between them. Their silly outfits also weren't any better than the anime. Lee launched himself off the balcony and landed a few yards from me. He got into his normal stance, a fire burning in his eyes. Talk about excited, he was definitely raring to go.

"I knew we would have to fight eventually, now at least we will get it out of the way," said Lee with a grin. I smiled as well, it would be nice to challenge myself.

"Don't get too confident," I warned him.

"Begin," said Hayate. Lee launched himself up into the air, flying towards me. I didn't even move a muscle, I already knew what he was doing.

"Leaf Hurricane," he shouted right before my sand stopped his kick. He tumbled back down to the ground and I sent my sand after him. He easily dodged, his speed much greater than I remember it being. Lee paused for a moment, which gave me the opportunity to start unraveling my scrolls. Once he saw that, he raced towards and and unleashed a flurry of attacks that were all easily stopped by my sand shield. I summoned both my regular sand and iron sand, ready to go on the offensive.

"Sand Shuriken," I said. Dozens of shurikens erupted from my sand and flew toward Lee. He narrowly dodged them even with his amazing speed. I formed two arms about the size of cars, one on each side of me. Lee seemed very apprehensive now, he was looking as excited as he was a few minutes ago.

"Scared? I didn't think it would take this little to frighten you," I said, trying to goad him into attacking me. It worked, Lee gritted his teeth and flew straight for me. I smiled as the sand arms snatched him out of the air and held him tightly. I spun him around before reading him, sending him crashing into a wall. Lee stumbled upright but I wasn't going to let him off the hook yet. I hadn't even used my iron sand yet, I wanted a challenge. Dozens of sand whips raced towards him, ready to pummel him. He disappeared right before they got there, reappearing on top of the fingertips of the statue. So it was finally time for him to take off the weights.

"I'm getting bored," I told him with a smile. Lee grimaced and moved to attack again but Might Guy easing his hand made him stop.

"You can take them off Lee, you have my permission," said Guy with a thumbs up.

"But Guy sensei, you said that was only as a last resort when the lives of many people were in danger," Lee said with confusion.

"That's alright Lee, I'll allow it for this fight," said Guy with another dumb grin. Lee smiled widely and eagerly began to take off his weights. Everyone else looked on in curiosity while I had a knowing smile on my face. I was witnessing a legendary moment in person.

"Ahhh, that is much better. Now I will be able to move much more freely," said Lee with a sigh. Any second now he would be upon me and the real challenge would begin. He dropped the weights from his hand and they dropped to the ground. They slammed into the ground with a huge crunch, the floor breaking and cracking. Dust shot up into the air, with genin around the room gasping. Even now I wondered how it was humanly possible for someone to fight with weights like that on your legs.

"Now go Lee," roared Guy. Lee literally disappeared from where he was standing, reappearing behind my back. My sand shield shot up to protect me but it just barely managed to keep up with the punches and kicks. I knew what came next and prepared myself. Iron sand shot up around my body, covering my arms, legs, and torso. Lee folded up into a ball and spun at breathtaking speed towards me. He then I curled himself to deliver a crushing kick to my face. It didn't connect though since I already had both of my arms up in front of my face. Lee's foot slammed into my iron sand armor and sent me flying backward. Pain echoed throughout my forearms from the force of the kick.

"Now this is more like it," I said. My iron sand armor had been an idea I had thought of a while back but hadn't put into place due to concerns of it being too heavy. I had been correct, it weighed down white heavily on my body but had saved me from most of Lee's kick.

"You are just as strong as I thought you would be," complimented Lee.

"Your pretty alright," I told him smugly. Lee's veins twitched at that and he disappeared again. He reappeared behind me with his right arm cocked back for a punch. My sand shield attempted to stop the punch but it came at me too fast. His fist slammed into my chest, sending me soaring back once again. Thanks to the heaviness of the iron sand armor, my feet never even left the ground. This attack didn't even hurt, my iron sand taking all of the force.

"My turn," I said. A huge pile of sand that I had left sitting on the ground suddenly jumped to life, surrounding my body and developing me even further. It lifted me up off the ground, making a human figure about fifteen feet tall.

"Sand Giant," I said from atop its head.