Matchups

"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 of your respective lands. Accordingly, the Final Round will commence one month from now. 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 feudal lords and ninja leaders, Readying the summons for the Final Round requires preparation time. Not to mention the time it takes for you examinees to prepare."

'This old man always has such a roundabout way of saying things.' Kankuro thought as he interrupted Hiruzen. "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 simulated situations in which you can't know your adversary, However this is not the case in the Final Round. Some of you might have already revealed everything in front of your rivals. So 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'd like to let you take your leave. However there is one more important matter to take care of."

'This geezer' Kankuro felt impatient. At this moment, Anko approached in front of the Genins.

"I want you all to calmly take one slip of paper from the box that Anko is holding." Hiruzen concluded. "I'm going to go around in order…take only one" Anko said after which she walked towards all the ten contestants one by one. Soon she had finished distributing the numbers. "Good, everyone has taken a number. Then, from left to right, tell me the number on your slip of paper," Ibiki asked. "I'm Eight!" Dosu said. "I'm One!" Naruto said. "I'm Four!" I said. "I'm Ten!" Sakura said. "I'm Seven!" Temari said. "I'm Five!" Kankuro said. "I'm Three!" Gaara said. "I'm Nine!" Shikamaru said. "I'm Two!" Neji said. "I'm Six!" Shino said. "Very Well, I will tell you about how the Final Round Tournament will work!" Hiruzen said after which he turned towards Ibiki. "Ibiki, bring forth the pairings." Ibiki walked to the front and displayed the pairings.

1st match - Naruto vs. Neji.

2nd match - Sasuke vs. Gaara.

3rd match - Kankuro vs. Shino.

4th match - Temari vs. Dosu.

5th match - Shikamaru vs. Sakura.

"The pairings indicate a chance of five Contenders surviving, in the case they survive, the remaining five will be made to draw lots again in which, the unlucky player would be made to fight another extra match." Shikamaru thought

'This is going to be troublesome, I have to fight a kunoichi; moreover, it is Sakura, and I thought Ino was a headache enough. It is such a drag'

'I'm so relieved to know that won't be in the same section as Gaara.' Kankuro thought.

"Could I ask a question?" Shikamaru raised his hand. "Go ahead," Hiruzen said. "Does this mean that there will only be one winner of the tournament? That only one of us will be able to become a chuunin?" Shikamaru asked. "The judges of the Final Round of which I am one will be made of the Kazekage, the Daimyo from various countries who will assign you your missions, and the Ninja Leaders. These judges will be able to make a thorough evaluation, and come to a decision as to whether each one of you possesses the qualities inc.u.mbent of a Chuunin. Even if someone loses the first round, they can still become a Chuunin," Hiruzen said.

"So there's a chance that all of us will become Chuunin?" Temari asked. "Correct, but conversely there's also a chance that none of you will," Hiruzen replied. "To 'advance' in the tournament, means maximizing chances to appeal yourselves to the judges.Hope, you've all understood the concept behind the final stage," Hiruzen asked as he looked towards all the Genin below. Seeing no doubts across their faces, Hiruzen smiled. "Thank You for your patience. We will adjourn until next month," Hiruzen concluded as he left the stage.

Everyone started leaving the building and Kakashi came towards us and said we need to talk. I nodded towards him and turned to Naruto and Sakura and said " You guys go and rest. We will meet later" and turned towards Kakashi and asked. " Kakashi sensei what do you want to talk about?" Kakashi then said "About Orochimaru, and regarding your training." I looked at Kakashi and said " Kakashi sensei, about Orochimaru, I actually saw him keeping an eye on me even since the start of the chunin exams. I detected his disguise since the begining using my sharingan. So i concluded that he might be after my eyes and created a blood clone which he attacked and gave a curse mark to. Thats how I escaped him."

Kakashi thought for a moment and nodded then he asked "What about the jutsus Naruto and Sakura used?" I replied "Oh that, That's something my father left for me. It pertains uchiha secrets. I just thought Naruto as I was not able to use wind jutsus." Kakashi hesitated and then asked "When did you guys actually trained?"

I smiled and said, During the time we were doing that D rank missions, most of the times we sent clones. You did not notice because you were busy with your book." Kakashi raised a brow and shook his head and sighed.

Finally Kakashi said "I'll ask this straight. Why do you want to become strong Sasuke? Is it for revenge on your brother?". I Looked at his face and shook my head and said "Kakashi sensei, I don't want revenge. Revenge only brings endless cycle of hatred". Kakashi looked happy and said "Meet me at the training ground tomorrow morning and flickered away. I returned home, pulled Karin from my Kamui dimension, put a chakra supression seal on her so she will not be detected and told her to stay inside the house and never to go out till I say so. Then I took a shower and went to sleep.