Re: Akimichi

A month passed and the date of the third exam finally arrived.

At the dawn before the third phase of the exam begin, the road in Konoha was already packed. In one corner of the road, Chouji could be seen walking through the crowd with a box of chicken porridge on his hand. He took a long way around the crowd and went to the hospital to talk to his friend, Lee, to cheer him up before the exam.

"Get well soon, Lee! We'll spar soon after, and I bet you're gonna be impressed with the new trick I learned!"

They exchanged more talks and pleasantries before Chuoji took his leave and flickered through the roof straight toward the arena. Along the way, he saw Hinata and Naruto in the training ground, he let them be because it's rare for Hinata to muster up her courage to talk to her crush.

Minutes after, he arrived at the arena and stood along with all seven other remaining participants.

On a risen platform, the third Hokage of Konoha was seated along with the Kazekage of the Suna. Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Third Hokage stood with his hand clasped on his back and announced the start of the third exam with a loud exclamation.

"I thank everyone for coming to the chunin selection exam that holds in Konoha! We will now start the main tournament matches between the eight remaining participants who made it through the preliminaries! Please stay, and watch until the end!"

With that, the first match of the tournament was announced. The referee stepped into the arena, and two participants were left on it.

"Go, Ino!"

One of the participants, a lean young man with brownish hair cheered from the spectator area. He waved his hand as he focused on one of the fighter on the arena.

[Yamanaka Ino v.s Uchiha Sasuke]

---

-Ino POV-

Today is the day!

I stood amongst the other participants, and silently shivered when staring at them.

Focus, Ino! Focus!

You have already trained hard!

Even if you don't believe in yourself, then believe in your training!

The Hokage declared that the tournament round to start, and I was the first! Just why oh why...

And finally the others left the arena and the participants that left on the arena were only I and Sasuke. I saw his menacing gaze and couldn't help but doubt myself once again, can I do it?

I used to like Sasuke not only because of his handsome appearance and the mysterious air he exuded, but he was a genius and a hard-working boy. He was strong and always getting stronger...

"Go, Ino!"

I glanced at the crowd, and spotted Chouji among them. He grinned foolishly as he cheered for me, his loud shout attracted many attention from the crowd but he didn't seemed to care.

Seeing him so spirited, I can't help but let out a chuckle. He's one goofy idiot, alright. But he's my goofy idiot...

Wa- Wait, what am I thinking?

Focus, Ino! Focus!

Unconsciously I was comparing Chouji and Sasuke, and I now sure that which one was more important to me...

I- I will talk to him after this...

For now, I have to give my all to be able to stand proudly beside him! Yes, I won't be a burden!

Fight, Ino! Fight!

For your future!

---

-Third POV-

"The first match, Yamanaka Ino of the Konoha fighting against Uchiha Sasuke of the Konoha, the rules are the same as before. Now get into position, get ready..."

"FIGHT!"

Ino stood a few feets from Sasuke, they stared at each other in the eyes. As the referee gave them the signal to start, Ino threw four smoke bombs while Sasuke immediately formed a hand seal and launched a fireball toward her.

The fight mostly happened inside the smokescreen and frequently flashes of Jutsus could be seen from it, minutes passed before the smokes recede and the arena was clear for everyone to see. On one side, Ino looked bruised and blood could be seen on the corner of her mouth. Her nose also slightly bent in an unnatural way, clearly broken from a hit.

"YOU COWARD! WAIT 'TILL I SHOVE A GINGER IN YOUR A.S.S!" The same young man that cheered for Ino shouted hatefully at Sasuke as fire ignited in his eyes, literally.

Meanwhile, several exchanges later. Ino was seen half-kneeled on the arena, behind her, Sasuke's left hand was seen dangled, his elbow joint was dislocated and it's slightly swollen. His eyes were red with two magatamas were seen slowly spun in his eyes, his right hand was holding a shuriken that he held close to Ino's neck.

"I give up..."

Ino reluctantly gave up as she was bitterly clear that although she trained hard, she saw with her own eyes that this heir of the Uchiha trained like he tried to kill himself. She tried her best, and this was the best that she could muster in a competition. She can't use her clan's technique as Sasuke was too swift for her as her technique need a second at least for her to concentrate fully. And Sasuke with his Sharingan did not let her got that second to unleash her technique, he threw a shuriken, kunai, and Jutsu to harass her.

To put it simply, he was a bad match up for her.

"The winner is Uchiha Sasuke!"

As Sasuke declared as the winner, both of the participants were taken by the medic to be healed. As the reparation team restores the arena to its former state, the replay of the fight played on a big screen on the side of the arena.

The audiences were full of admiration for both Ino and Sasuke, as their fight was so intense and filled with some cool looking technique. Especially Sasuke's flashy fire technique which earned many gasps from the spectators, coupled with Ino's pretty appearance, the replay was attracted the attention of many eyes amongst the crowd.

The tournament went on, with the next match was announced by the referee and the participants stepped into the arena.

[Gaara v.s Akimichi Chouji]

The eyes of the spectators were again glued on the screen as the name of the next fighters were shown on it.

"The second match, Gaara of the Suna versus Akimichi Chouji of the Konoha. Get in position, get ready..."

"FIGHT!"

---

"How's the preparation?"

"Everything is already set, when that sand monster starts his rampage is when we start our operation..."

Two masked figures nodded at each other before silently blending into the crowd of spectators

---

-Chouji POV-

Ino's fight was intense, although it's a shame that she lost, her performance was still exceptional. Though after I win this fight, I'll kick that emo's a.s.s for breaking her nose. Ah, dang it, my jaw still hurt from cursing out loud at him during the match.

Not long after Ino's fight, I was called into the arena. I took a deep breath as I prepared myself, looking at the bustling crowd somehow made me feel nostalgic. I felt like I was back in the iron fist tournament, except this tournament was not as bloodthirsty as it was.

I stepped into the arena and showed a tiger hand-seal to show respect for my opponent then took a low stance to prepare an assault.

"Have you find someone to call a friend?" I asked him as I remembered his question a month ago.

Gaara nodded at me and said with a stoic expression. "Yes, mother is my only friend..."

I wondered what he really meant by that, but I just shrugged it off as I focused on the current task at hand. Win!

"FIGHT!"

As the referee declared the start of the fight, I flickered in front of my opponent. My fist was swung before it stopped an inch in front of Gaara's face with a sand shield. Retracting my fist, I followed with a roundhouse kick onto his stomach.

Surprised with my sudden burst of speed, Gaara launched himself backward as his sand absorbed most of the impact.

"[Sabaku no Yari]!"

Gaara countered with an attack of his own, he waved his hand as soon as my kick connected with his sand shield and formed a sand spike below me that intend to impale me down. Not stopped at that, as I jumped to dodge the spike, a sand twister formed and bellowed on the field.

'[Katon: Kaen Senpū]!'

I formed several hand-seals and released an attack of my own. A fire then erupts around my body in a spiraling manner which is then launched towards Gaara like a tornado. The arena turned chaotic as sands and fires danced on it with great fervor, my sight was slightly affected but soon I stopped to focus on it as I felt the ground below me turned soft as it turned into sands and tried to trap me in it.

Nope, I won't fell for this kind of trick.

As soon as I felt it, I flickered my way out of it and jumped high up in the air. I somersaulting and launched a kick downward onto Gaara, as the momentum carried me down, I enlarged myself into a fifteen feet giant. The fire and sand hail was dispersed before a cloud of dust risen after my foot crashed into the arena and stomped Gaara down.

*Boom*

From his fight with Lee, I speculated that his sand also had a limit. So, if his sand can cope with his speed... What about my weight?

Through the screen on the side of the arena, I saw a dome made from sand stood solidly shielding him from my attack. I shrank myself into my normal size then keep a few feet distance from him. I stared at the sand dome, a few spider crack was formed from my attack but was quickly mended.

Hmm, not enough, huh?

A ball of sand that looked like an eyeball floated near the dome, I threw a Kunai to it as I guess that was a sort of reconnaissance technique. I took a glance at the audience and saw that they were jaw agape, including the Hokage himself. I chuckled internally at that.

All of the spectators fell into stupor as the fight escalated so quickly, the examiners were all stood guard and already erected an extra barrier to protect the audiences, the referee also went to the side as the fight was too intense and dangerous.

*Crack*

"Huehehe..."

The dome cracked and revealed Gaara and his maddened face, his eyes reddened and he grinned like a psycho.

"Heahahahaha! Mother wants your blood!"

Oh no...

Did I hit his head too hard?