Re: Akimichi

The tournament continued after Shino surrendered and Shikamaru declared as the winner.

The arena was once again fixed. Meanwhile, in the spectator area, many of the audiences were still giddy and talked about the previous fights. As most of the spectators were just non-shinobi nobles and merchants, all they knew was Konoha was stronger than before with their genins able to do what they did in the arena.

They did not entirely wrong, but no one was bored enough to correct their assumption as their goal was to showcase their strength to attract more clients.

[Hyuga Neji v.s Uzumaki Naruto]

After the arena was once again fixed, the fighters of the next match were called to the arena.

"Hyuga Neji of the Konoha versus Uzumaki Naruto of the Konoha, get ready..."

"FIGHT!"

The fight went on mostly like it was in the canon except it was clear that Naruto's movement was more smooth and his assaults were more intense than it should, it's clear to everyone that knew him before that Naruto became a bit stronger than before.

---

As Naruto and Neji's fight was ongoing, Chouji was on his way to the medical ward with Shikamaru to see Ino.

When they were on their way, they came across a man with a bandage covering half of his face and the mark of Sunagakure on his forehead protector. That bandaged man was also on his way to another ward, probably visiting someone in there.

Minutes passed and they arrived at the medical ward, there they saw Ino and two peoples that they did not expect to see. Beside Ino's bed was Lee in his wheelchair together with Sakura behind him, they were having a nice conversation until they noticed the duo's arrival.

"Hoho~ what we have here, Lee? Good job my friend to get a girlfriend." Chouji smiled teasingly at Lee and Sakura while Shikamaru just letting out a chuckle. Hearing Chouji's teasing, Lee was grinned and gave him his trademark smile and a thumbs up.

"IT'S NOT LIKE THAT!" As for Sakura, like a banshee she was, screamed out of shame in the medical ward.

"Looks like the Emosuke already lost his two top fangirls." Shikamaru whistled as he teased everyone in the room. Lee and Sakura snapped their neck to see Ino, Sakura then grabbed Ino's hand excitedly asked.

"Who? tell me! tell me! tell me!" With a star in her eyes, Sakura flailed Ino's arms, totally forgetting that Ino still had her wound. Fortunately, she was already healed and just need a rest for a while.

Seeing Ino blushing at her question, Sakura's brain immediately processed as she readily pointed her finger at Chouji. "It's you, isn't it? Are you Ino's boyfriend?"

Chouji confidently nodded, he crossed his arms in front of his c.h.e.s.t. "Well, She's the moon and I'm the Sun. We're made for each other!" feeling proud with his words, Chouji sagely nodded.

"But, aren't sun and moon were never get together? One shone in the day, and one in the night. But, it's true that they're complemented each other..." Shikamaru mocked Chouji for his words. "Are you saying that you and Ino will not get together?"

"Ah!" A hand suddenly flashed and smacked Shikamaru's head. "Don't make me look stupid, okay? Well, you got my point. She's mine, yes."

Then Chouji and Shikamaru exchanged more banter while the rest just laughed them off.

Chouji then took two scrolls from his pocket and handed them to Shikamaru and Ino.

"Huh?"

"What is this?"

Chouji looked at them in wonder, "Has the training make you silly? That's your birthday present. Yesterday was the birthday of Shikamaru's, and today is Ino's. They are storage scroll, your gifts are inside. Take a look."

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!"

They then remembered it's September 23rd.

---

At the other ward, the man that crossed with Chouji and Shikamaru before was seen in front of Sasuke. He knocked the Anbus that stood guard in that ward and revealed his true face as Kabuto to Sasuke and offered him 'power' to avenge his brother, he then tweaked with his cursed seal to let Sasuke taste the 'power' he mentioned before. Though after that he put Sasuke unconscious, Orochimaru needed him to come of his own accord, though he did not care about Sasuke as much as before.

Then Kabuto put his disguise once again before he went to Gaara's ward. In there, he saw Gaara watching birds through the window. Kabuto then asked him about Shukaku, then put him sleep then invoke Shukaku to take over. Sands started to gather slowly in Gaara's ward and converged in his body.

Seeing that the plan worked just fine, Kabuto went back to report to his leader, Orochimaru. Before that though, he handed the snake summoning scroll to two operatives from Sunagakure and instruct them to invoke the scroll near the Konoha's south gate and the north gate respectively.

Each of the operatives then immediately went to their respective assigned place. Unknown to them, the scroll not only would summon a snake, but will also reverse summon them to the said snake's place, Ryuchi cave, as an offering.

---

"How's the preparation, Guy?"

"The schools, hospital, and various vital places already protected. The civilians' evacuation already underway, though it went slowly because of a few issues."

Kakashi was giving various commands to a few Jounin, they were the ones that Kakashi choose to be the core of the operation to intercept the joint attack of the sand and sound. Unlike his usual self, Guy was serious, and his face was stoic. To others though, this was the usual Guy they knew when he was in an important mission.

"Asuma?"

"All the Chunin already told to guard the perimeter of the Arena, some squad already tasked to be the line to connect the outer and inner defending forces. The trap already set, we're waiting for the rats to show their ugly heads."

Asuma twirled his trench knife on his right hand, he was a bit too eager to intercept their attackers and show them who is the boss.

"Yamato?"

"All marked."

Yamato cracked his fists, he too was eager to beat their enemies. On top of their objective, Yamato got a personal beef with Orochimaru, as he was the reason for him went through various tortures in the past. Yes, it was stated that root was the one held accountable, but he was not stupid enough to not know the dealings between Orochimaru and Danzo. And if he knew that, the Hokage surely know what he knows.

"Good, everything already went as planned. All back to the position, our targets are the Kazekage's retainers.."

As Tenzo was Orochimaru's left hand, he knew almost all of his deed in the past year and his plans in this attack, including him replacing the Kazekage. Thus, Konoha was not in the dark about that.

---

In Ino's medical ward, after they finished their talking, the trio Ino-Shika-Cho plus Lee and Sakura decided to watch the fight and cheer for Naruto.

On their way through, they bump with a man from Sunagakure. And by the twist of luck, three almost identical scrolls fell. Ino then hastily bent and took one of the scrolls and hugged it, she loves Chouji's gift, and she's gonna treasure it.

Ino then opened the scroll to check whether it's really her or not, she did not want it to be swapped with Shikamaru's, or worse, with this unknown man.

---

"The winner is Uzumaki Naruto!"

After the grueling dozens of minutes, Naruto finally won after Neji admitted his defeat. Yes, Naruto won mostly because of his talk no Jutsu.

Although he lost, Neji smiled as Naruto did change the way he saw the world and inspired him to forge his own fate.

The referee then declared the first phase of the tournament has already ended, and there will be half an hour rest before the second phase will begin. Together with the few dispersed crowd, some of the sand and sound operatives were blended to go to their own assigned place before their operation started.

Though, before they were able to get far, an explosion occurred. Surprising everyone, Konoha and their attackers alike. On the north-western of the arena, the place where the medical wards built was mostly devastated, and on it was a large brown snake with hundreds of feet long.

Following the appearance of the snake were the screams of panic from the villager followed by a deafening beastly roar that echoed through the village.

"IIIIIIINNOOOOOOO!!!"