As soon as Hayate finished his sentence, Hinata stepped forward and went in for the first attack. This caught Sakura off-guard, as Hinata's fighting strategy has never consisted of making the first move. Sakura had never been paired with her for sparring back when they were in the academy, but Sakura was always a major analyst. The timid Hyuuga's fighting style consisted of none other than one of Konoha's most renowned taijutsu style, The Gentle Fist. Unlike her cousin Neji, she usually relied more on using her defense as an offense. She would dodge and parry attacks until she found an opening and capitalized on waiting for the perfect moment to strike. And even then, Hinata was still hesitant to put forth an attack.

So for Hinata to set the pace of the fight like this was something that shocked pretty much anyone that knew her.

Team Seven's female member barely managed to avoid the said attack and was forced to move to avoid an open palm to her chest right after. Thinking quickly, Sakura moved in before Hinata could follow up with a third attack, and shoved her to form some space in between them. The two girls were now a few feet away, and Sakura looked at Hinata's Byakugan activated eyes. She was determined. Determined to win.

"I've never seen Hinata like this before..." Thought Sakura, getting herself back into battle position, "She's like the complete opposite of how I remember her in the academy."

As much as she didn't want to admit it, Sakura was hoping that Hinata's timidness and lack of fighting spirit would hinder her enough to give her the upper hand. But it didn't seem like that was going to be the case. And considering how Sakura was not a hand-to-hand combat kind of kunoichi like Hinata was, both girls knew that she was at a disadvantage.

Just as Sakura concluded that staying out of Hinata's reach would be the best plan for her, Hinata stepped forward again, lunging her palms at Sakura's torso. Sakura drew a kunai and did her best to avoid these attacks and counterattack with the sharp blade.

Tenten, who stood next to her two teammates upon the stands, watched on with intrigue, "Whoa. I thought you said that your cousin was a pushover, Neji."

Neji admitted to being a bit surprised to see Hinata's forwardness in the fight as well, "Perhaps she's finally learning what it means to take her Hyuuga heritage seriously."

On the other side of the room, Yugito and Naruto watched as Sakura did everything to avoid Hinata's attacks, even being forced to use Bunshins in a feeble attempt to confuse her.

"Not to be a downer, but I don't think your teammate is gonna win this one." Yugito told him. To her surprise, Naruto shook his head.

"No way! I believe in her." Naruto stated. His fellow Jinchuuriki eyed him down with a curious gaze. Surely he knew that Sakura didn't particularly have any sets of skills that can land her a win in the match she was in, right? Yugito doubted she would have even made it through the Forest of Death if Yugito chose to be her enemy, instead of lending her a helping hand while her teammates were out of commission.

Hinata then landed her first strike, sending a small chakra blast to one of the chakra points in Sakura's shoulder. This further proved Yugito's concerns, "I'm all for believing in your friends and comrades, but Sakura isn't doing too hot. She's pretty much against the ropes at this point."

Naruto watched as Hinata landed two more strikes onto her torso, causing the pinkette to stagger back. With Hinata striking her chakra points, it made it harder for her to use basic ninjutsu, which was the only way Sakura could pull a win against an opponent like her.

"She's right, Naruto." Said Kakashi from behind him, "One of the biggest things Sakura lacked was her means of offense. She's not adept in Taijutsu or Ninjutsu like you and Sasuke. So going against a member of the Hyuuga clan, a clan proficient in Taijutsu, Sakura won't be winning the match."

Naruto whipped his head around to his sensei, "Are you saying you don't believe in her?!"

"I'm saying that from a practical standpoint, Sakura is at a major disadvantage. It was never to say that she had no possibility in winning, but after the hits that she's taken and is currently taking, it's only making that possibility slimmer and slimmer. Especially since Hinata's Byakugan can see though most of her counters."

Naruto grunted and turned his head to see Hinata connect a four-hit combo on Sakura that sent her onto her back. His teammate's back and head hit the ground hard, and it was clear that she wasn't getting back up.

Hinata stepped out of her fighting form and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. She'd been training for this day. Training so hard that her hands will be permanently scarred from the days she'd spend practicing her Taijutsu on a wooden post until her hands bled.

Sakura lied there with the taste of blood in her mouth. It was strange being attacked by The Gentle Fist. It literally made her feel as though Hinata had mechanically shut down her body movements. No matter how hard she fought to stand up, her body just wouldn't obey.

Hayate looked at the pinkette dejectedly, "Sakura Haruno is physically unable to continue, therefore, Hinata Hyuuga is declared the victor of the fourth match."

"Man..." Naruto sighed, looking at the grunting Sakura with sad eyes. He had always pictured Team Seven as a team that would all become Chuunin together. Sakura's defeat had made the possibility impossible now. He was still proud of his teammate for the effort she'd put in, though. He respected her a lot more than he already had.

Yugito watched the boy and started to feel bad, not only for him but for Sakura as well. She made a quick decision and reached over to him.

"Hey." She said in a low voice, as to not attract the attention of her teammates talking amongst themselves beside her, "I gotta tell you something."

Hinata watched as Naruto was lead further down the stands by some woman with blonde hair. Her attention was then grabbed by Sakura, who had suddenly coughed up a wad of blood, spitting it out onto the floor.

"Um, she needs a medic." Hinata told Hayate with a low voice. She hadn't really planned to go all out on Sakura like that. Hinata knew she had the advantage. She knew that she could have KO'd Sakura in a more delicate manner. But when she heard Naruto cheer for her... that changed.

Guilt ran in through Hinata's core as she watched medic-nins take Sakura away. Her victory didn't feel as invigorating as she had anticipated. Sakura wasn't her enemy. She may have been her opponent, but she was never her enemy.

Naruto and Yugito stopped once they felt they were out of earshot from their teammates, "What is it?" Asked Naruto.

"I just wanted to tell you that Sakura has a lot more guts than you think." She informed him, "After you got knocked out by that Grass-nin, Sakura stepped up and did everything she could to protect you and your other teammate. And I helped."

Naruto rose his eyebrow suspiciously, "Well, from what I recall, before I had even fought that snake lady, you threatened to kill me and take my scroll!" He pointed a finger at her, "So why would I believe that?!"

"Well, yeah." Yugito said with an eye-roll, "That's the whole point of that part of the exam. Were you not listening to that Anko lady before we went in? Besides, if I really was intent on going against you, I'd have just taken the scroll from Sakura and left you all to die. But I didn't."

Naruto looked down in thought before connecting his gaze with hers, "Why would you help us then?" He asked, genuinely curious, "And why are you telling me this?"

"For starters, I just wanted to tell you that I helped you because I have respect for you and your team. You all are very noble shinobi, even if you guys aren't the most skilled." She admitted. She then grabbed a handful of the centermost part of her shirt, "And as for your other question..."

Once Hinata was back up on the stands, Kurenai held her by the shoulders and congratulated her for a job well done. Shino had even sent his own words of praise, even if they were still stoic. Fortunately, Kiba was getting medical attention from his fight, otherwise, he'd have been just as obnoxious as Naruto when expressing the joy of her victory.

But all of that went unheard as her eyes scanned the blonde woman further down the stand she stood on, talking to Naruto. She noted the kunoichi's headband and was extremely curious as to why a woman from Kumo would be speaking to him so personally.

Kurenai had taken note of Hinata's distraction. The black-haired Jounin made a mental note to talk to Hinata at her earliest convenience.

"That's... kinda like the seal I have on my stomach..." Naruto mumbled as he analyzed the seal on Yugito's mid-center. Yugito pulled her shirt back down.

"I know, and I saw yours when you were fighting that Grass-nin." She looked him in his eyes, "You have a demon spirit sealed in you just like I do, right?"

Naruto looked off in thought, "Yeah... I didn't think that there were other people like me around..."

Yugito nodded, "There are more than you think. There's another Jinchuuriki in my village as well. He's older, though. And really strong, too."

"Really?"

"Yup. I also heard some Sound-nin talking earlier, and I think that red-headed kid is one, too." Yugito pointed to the boy with raccoon eyes and a gourd on his back.

Naruto stared at the boy for an extended period of time. This was the kid that was a part of the group of Suna kids that was bullying Konohamaru just before he found out about the Chuunin exams. He noted that he seemed untouched, in the same condition as he was the last time he saw him. Just who was that kid?

The names on the overhead screen began flickering again, gaining everyone's attention.

Tenten

vs.

Kin Tsuchi

"ALRIGHT, TENTEN!" Cheered an overly enthusiastic boy with a bowl cut, "You got this!"

The dual-bunned kunoichi rolled her eyes as she prepared to step into the arena, "I'm right next to you, Lee. Geez."

On the other side of the stand, Dosu looked over at Kin, who had bandaged her wounds inflicted on her by Sakura and Yugito.

"You sure you're up to it?" He asked, "You got roughed up a bit earlier."

Kin scoffed, "Since when do you care? You and Zaku are part of the reason why I got roughed up." She put a foot upon the railing of the stand to prepare herself to join her opponent in the arena before either of her teammates could reply, "Besides, you act as though I have a choice."

Hayate watched as the other girl dropped down in front of him. Tenten and Kin eyed each other fiercely.

"If neither combatant wishes to withdraw, then begin the match."

As soon as Hayate placed his hand down and backed away, Kin launched the first attack with senbon being thrown at the other girl's body. Tenten dodged the attack, and prepared a counter-attack using a scroll that had many different weapons sealed inside it.

Karui, who was not interested in watching some Konoha and Sound weaklings battle each other, looked over to Yugito's and Naruto's location. She squinted with suspicion as she saw the pair talking amongst themselves and decided to walk over to them.

"Yugito." The Cloud kunoichi called once she was a few feet away. This earned her Yugito's attention, "A word, please."

"Uh-oh." Yugito mumbled under her breath. Naruto watched as Yugito walked over to her teammate, and saw Karui motion for them to move away from earshot.

Once they found a spot that was a good distance away from everyone, Karui turned around to look at her friend with crossed her arms, "What's all this with you talking to that Konoha brat so much? We're not here to make friends, Yugito."

"You know I like to socialize." Yugito countered innocently, "Besides, he's harmless. He was just bugging me about how he thinks Konoha is better than Kumo."

The redhead narrowed her eyes at her.

"You're lying to me." She accused, staring right into her irises, "There's something you're not telling me, Yugito."

Yugito sighed, "Alright, you got me. The truth is... I think he's cute."

Karui raised an eyebrow. She could read Yugito's body language well enough to tell that what she said wasn't a lie like the statement prior, "Cute? That annoying runt?"

Yugito shrugged, "He is a little annoying, but you can't tell me that those whisker marks of his aren't adorable."

"To each their own, I guess." Karui replied dismissively. She always did find the young Jinchuuriki to be pretty strange, "In any case, it's like I said before, we're not here to make friends and we're damn sure not here to find boyfriends. You know the Raikage isn't particularly fond of Konoha-nin specifically, and it's probably for a good reason. I'd steer clear from him if I were you."

Karui was hit with another shrug from Yugito. The blonde then grinned, "For the record, just know that I saw you flirting with that Konoha-nin you fought earlier, so you may wanna take your own advice. I never would have thought you had a thing for bigger guys."

"Wh-What?!" Karui sputtered, "I was not flirting with him! He was flirting with me!"

"Right." Her comrade replied sarcastically, turning to walk away, "I saw you laughing down there. Sounds to me like his sense of humor was something that broke through your tough exterior."

Before Karui could refute anymore of those accusations, the events down below grabbed everyone's attention. Kin was down on the ground with kunai, shuriken, and other sharp bladed objects embedded in her flesh. Tenten stood before her, placing her scrolls away. She had a grin on her face that proudly displayed her satisfaction with her victory. She felt bad slightly, seeing as she had picked up on her earlier wounds before the fight. However, she knew that her wounds weren't very debilitating, and after all, the prelims pretty much put anyone who was not in top shape prior at a disadvantage. She had used a bit of her chakra in The Forest of Death, but not much. With two taijutsu geniuses on her team, she really didn't even have much of a chance to fight anyone to begin with.

Kin groaned in pain as the dozen or so weapons impaled her. Blood was spilling practically everywhere, but Tenten made sure to avoid any major vital spots.

"Just... kill me..." Kin choked out to her suddenly, "Please..."

Tenten approached the girl with a confused expression, "Why would I do that? You already lost, I'm not going to kill you if I don't have to."

"You don't... understand..." Before Kin could finish her sentence, her low-lidded eyes had shut and her mouth hung open slightly. She had passed out, probably from blood loss.

"Kin Tsuchi is currently incapacitated, leaving Tenten as the winner of the fifth match." Hayate declared, motioning for the medic team to take care of things. As they watched the men and women in hospital garbs assist the injured, Tenten wondered what her opponent could have meant. Her thoughts were quickly interrupted, however, by a certain spandex jumpsuit wearing boy.

"YOSH! YOU DID GREAT, TENTEN! YOU HAVE MADE SQUAD NINE PROUD! YOUR DISPLAY OF FIREY YOUTH HAS GOTTEN ME ALL RILED UP!"

Tenten sighed, but smiled. Lee always meant well. But the sooner she got back up there, the faster he'd shut his mouth.

Dosu and Zaku watched as Kin was carried away. Zaku still had his two arm injuries and glared at the Uchiha that inflected them to him. Dosu, however, had won his fight. The mummy-looking Sound-nin knew that the pressure to fight against Sasuke in the next stage of the exams would be all on him now, since Zaku was not likely to win against any of the remaining shinobi. He could feel Orochimaru's gaze bearing into him. The last thing he wanted was to be in Kin's shoes, not just for her injuries, but for the punishment that awaited her.

After the stage was cleared and cleaned up, the screen began flickering once again, causing tension within the remaining eleven genin who have yet to fight. Some of those individuals had specific people they wanted to be paired against, and to some, the time that the screen took to pick the next two contestants was taking longer than it was before.

Soon enough, the next two contestants were listed on the screen. The names selected earned quite a bit of shock from a majority of the surrounding shinobi, and light chatter grew from within the large spacious room they were in...

Sasuke Uchiha

vs.

Neji Hyuuga