Chapter 12 – Last fights

Sakura arrived in the main hall as Hinata was taken out of the it. Naruto and Neji were talking… kind of and Lee was standing between the two of them, just in case.

"What happened?" Sakura asked from Sasuke.

The raven haired boy looked away from the scene. "Hn."

"Well, that was really detailed. Thank you very much," Sakura said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"A lot of things happened," Sasuke finally said, as Sakura kept staring at him expectantly.

"Mm."

Sasuke stared now. Sakura raised an eyebrow. He continued to talk.

"Neji won…"

Sakura took a deep breath.

"Don't kill your team mate. Don't kill your team mate. Don't kill your team mate…"

"Can't you do the thing you did in the forest?"

At least a minute had passed and Sasuke hadn't spoken a single thing. So when he said that, Sakura was surprised. Actually she was surprised she hadn't thought of it herself.

"Give me your hand," she said. Sasuke hesitated.

"Oh come on, I don't have cooties or something," Sakura said, grabbing his hand. She concentrated and then found herself in a dark hallway. On the walls were lots and lots of little movies.

She concentrated the ones right in front of her. There was one with herself talking and another one with Kakashi jumping off the railing. She moved past them a bit and found the right memory. She saw the entire fight until the moment when Neji lunged at Hinata.

Since he had moved closer while he had talked to her, the jounins had been to far away to stop him.

Luckily for Hinata, Neji somehow stumbled on the stone floor, slipped and falled onto his sorry backside.

She withdrew herself and her physical body jerked a bit as she did that. Kakashi saw the movement and scratched his head. "Damn, this confusion is killing me!"

"Thanks," Sakura muttered.

"Hn."

"Do you have to do that?" she asked, "It's damn annoying."

Kakashi blinked. Did Sakura just tell Sasuke he was annoying? Really? What had he missed again?

Sasuke smirked. "Hn."

"You know what?" Sakura asked. "I don't care. You can be as annoying as you want to be. I'll just… ignore you."

Sasuke looked at her, leaned closer and said, "Hn."

Sakura didn't even blink. Instead she was now looking at Naruto who was walking towards them, looking a bit glum.

"Don't worry Naruto," she said, "You'll get to beat Neji up some day."

Naruto nodded slightly, "I will beat him one day. I'm not a failure!"

"Hn."

Sakura's eye twitched but she didn't let it show. Instead she just placed her hand on Naruto's shoulder and said, "Hinata will be fine."

"Yeah, she will be," Naruto agreed, "Right Sasuke?"

"Hn."

"Who's Sasuke?" Sakura asked, just to annoy the guy. Naruto blinked.

"The guy behind you?" he offered. Sakura turned around.

"There's nobody behind me," she said. Kakashi grinned under his mask. Sometimes his team was so childish…

"Yeah, there is," Naruto said, walking next to Sasuke, "See? Sasuke? Our team mate?"

"We have a team mate?" Sakura asked. "Wow, I didn't know that. Where is he?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes slightly. Then Naruto said, "HE'S HERE! SEE? S-A-S-U-K-E!"

"Sasuke?" Sakura asked, "What kind of name is that? We don't have a guy in our team with a name like that. Sasuke… reminds me of tomatoes being stomped on."

"Who is stomping on tomatoes?" Sasuke asked, his eyes wide. Kakashi wasn't even reading any more. This was almost as entertaining.

Of course, Sakura didn't answer Sasuke's question. It would've gone against her ignoring techniques. Right now, she was trying to annoy Sasuke. It was starting to work.

Naruto looked confused. "Am I the only one able to see Sasuke? Sasuke, are you dead? Am I dead? Is this a jutsu? Am I conscious?"

Sasuke rubbed his temples as he stared at Naruto.

"You can't speak?" Naruto asked. "What is going on with the world?!?"

"Naruto, are you alright?" Sakura asked. "What's wrong?"

Naruto laughed nervously, "You really can't see Sasuke?"

"Whose Sasuke?"

"Our team mate," Naruto said.

"We have a team mate?" Sakura asked.

"Yes, Sasuke!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Whose Sasuke?"

"Sasuke is our team mate!" Naruto yelled.

"Wait," Sakura stopped, blinking. Naruto sighed. She was going to be normal again. The she asked. "We have a team mate?"

Naruto growled out loud and turned his back towards her. Now he was staring at Sasuke.

"What's going on?" he asked. "Why are you acting all weird?"

"Hn."

"Sakura…" Naruto said, turning around again. He found Sakura. She wasn't smiling any more. Instead she was staring at the display.

Naruto looked up as well. "Gaara versus Rock Lee," he read out loud. Lee was cheering, since he finally had his turn. Pretty much everybody else… well… they were feeling sorry for him.

Temari looked at the guy in the green suit. He had no idea what was going to happen with him. Actually a small part of her felt sorry for him as well.

She looked at their sensei. The agreement with the sound was being cancelled. If their leader was taken out by mere genins, then they didn't want to know what even stronger ninjas could do. Maybe they could just wait until the Kazekage got back from the trip he went a week ago. Then they could discuss the peace treaty with the Fire Country.

Inside, Temari was happy. She had never gotten the reason why they should start a war with the Leaf Village. They had a peace treaty after all.

She was dragged out of her thoughts when Gaara disappeared in a whirl of sand and reappeared in the middle of the room below them. Lee also hurried there, anxious to start his fight.

He will not be the only one to lose here.

Gaara's head was still aching a bit for no obvious reason.

He also couldn't get the words that Sakura said out of his mind. Why did she say them? Just to make him more confused? Probably not, but that was the effect it had on him. He got into position and looked at her.

"It hurts, Gaara. It'd hurt me when someone from my team, some of my friends, like Lee or Ino, yeah her, or even you, gets hurt and it will hurt you, when people you care about get hurt."

So he just had to make sure that the boy standing there gave up and he'd be over with it. Easy. Right?

XxXxXxXxXx (No, It's not the end. I'm just showing that time passed) XxXxXxXxXx

Sakura couldn't watch.

"HIDDEN LOTUS!"

She heard the scream, but everything was happening so fast. Suddenly Gaara plunged into the ground. Sakura closed her eyes. She couldn't watch it.

She opened her eyes barely a half a second later. She had to know what was happening.

Kankuro, who had joined Naruto some time ago, kept talking how it had never happened before. But Lee's speed… It was inhuman. So somehow it explained why he was the first one to touch Gaara in battle.

But was it worth it. Sakura felt his chakra to some level and while it was humongous when he opened the gate, then now it was starting to fade quickly, leaving his chakra channels clogged. His muscles were already starting to rip from what she gathered from Kakashi.

And Gaara… That hit against the ground. Had he even survived?

He was breathing. The sand had protected him. Unknown to herself, Sakura breathed out in relief. Both of them were alive. But will it stay that way?

Lee couldn't take another hit or the damage could be permanent. But Gaara… Sakura had no idea how Gaara was faring. One of them had to win, but neither of them was going to give up.

Lee was out of chakra. He could barely move.

"Give up," Sakura muttered, "Give up, Lee."

Kakashi found himself agreeing with his student. If Lee didn't give up… he had no chance of winning anyways, since Gaara was still able to use chakra. But if he continued, the damage inflicted on him might be beyond repair later.

Sakura's eye caught a bit of movement. Gaara's hand was rising. Sand was starting to move to create a giant hand.

Shino had told them about that move. The move was made to kill. Sakura's breathing fastened as the hand started to move towards Lee, who tried to crawl away. He was unsuccessful.

The hand was closing in. Tears were starting to well in Sakura's eyes. Why didn't he listen? Lee, why aren't you giving up?

The hand was almost there, when Sakura couldn't take it anymore.

"Stop," She yelled, "Just… STOP!"

While Temari, Kankuro and their sensei were shocked that somebody thought that their command was going to stop Gaara, then it was nothing, nothing I tell you, compared to the shock they felt when the hand actually stopped in mid-motion.

Gaara stood up shakily, his sand armour crumbling away completely. "He keeps getting up," he muttered, "I have to make sure… he doesn't… get up again."

The hand moved a bit towards Lee. Sakura hurried to the railing.

"Don't do it," she yelled. Lee was still trying to crawl away.

"He doesn't stay down," Gaara muttered to himself, "I have to make him stay down."

"He'll give up," Sakura yelled, "Do you hear me, Gaara? He will give up. Just put the sand down!"

If the situation wouldn't have been so dire, Kakashi would've smiled at that. But right now, he was too damn confused about why Sakura seemed to have at least some control over the redheaded boy below them.

"Lee, give up!" Sakura yelled.

Lee looked at her. He didn't want to lose. He could collect himself.

"Lee you're hurting yourself," Sakura said her voice level lowering a bit. "You're hurting your friends, who're watching you like this. I know you want to prove yourself, but you already have. You're an exceptional ninja, Lee. One of the best taijutsu ninjas I know. But if you continue this fight, you might never train again. Is that what you want, Lee?" A tear fell down her cheek.

"Sakura," Lee breathed. Suddenly his eyes widened as a huge amount of dust appeared. He coughed.

Temari couldn't believe it. Through the whole time that girl had been speaking, Gaara's expression had gone back to how it was when he was in control. When he wasn't out for blood. The giant hand had been shaking for some time and finally, when the girl finished speaking, it had squeezed itself together and the sand had disappeared back to where it had came from – Gaara's gourd.

Gaara was breathing hard, but he wasn't attacking. He was just standing there, staring at Lee. Sakura was gripping the railing hard enough for her knuckles to go white. Everybody was staring in shock. Even Shikamaru didn't seem bored for once.

Slowly Lee raised his hand. "I… I want to withdraw."

The proctor nodded. "Due to withdrawal, the winner of the ninth round is Gaara!"

Sakura's breathing somewhat normalized. Her hands let go of the railing as she slid down. For a long moment she just sat there and stared at the railing. Then she jumped up, over the railing and landed on the first floor, next to Lee.

"How are you?" she asked, kneeling next to him. Lee, barely conscious, smiled,

"I'm going to work on my technique," he coughed, "And then, then I'm going… to show you what I can do, Sakura. I'm not a… failure like Neji says. I'm not. I just… need to… train harder… 2000 kicks a day…"

His eyes fell closed.

"How is he?" It was Guy's voice.

The medics looked grim. "He has some serious muscular damage and some broken bones, but luckily they should heal in time. He walked on a thin line today. If it had gotten even a bit worse… he might've never been able to fight again. His days as a shinobi would have been over."

Guy stared at his student. Lee had worked the hardest to become the ninja he is today. If all that training would've been lost in just one lousy day…

"Oh Lee," he breathed, walking along as the medics gently carried Lee away.

Sakura rose onto her feet and started to move towards the stairs. Gaara was standing in the midway. As she walked past of him, she stopped for a moment.

"Are you coming or what?"

Gaara looked away from the distancing Lee. "But he failed… Why do they still…?"

"Care for him?" Sakura asked, as the two of them started to walk up the stairs, aware that at least every second pair of eyes was on them. "Because failure or no failure, Lee is precious to many. Guy is just one of those people."

"I failed too," Gaara muttered after a moment. "I couldn't control him. When that guy attacked, he came out. I would have… I would have killed him if you hadn't stopped me and you said that killing was bad. I've killed a lot. All those assassins…"

"I've always been taught that killing is my purpose in life," Gaara spoke. "But if it isn't… does it mean I have no purpose at all?"

Sakura stopped walking as she grabbed Gaara's hand and turned him to face her. Gaara was starting to give up thinking while his sand wasn't reacting.

"Don't say that, Gaara," Sakura said, her voice serious, "You always have a reason. Your team mates care of you. Trust me; I stood by Kankuro while you fought. I know he cares. He just doesn't show it. Your reason to live could be anything. You could start collecting damn bottle corks and have your life purpose be to collect 10 million corks."

"That's not a purpose of life," Gaara spoke.

"Yes, it is. It's a purpose just like any other. Some say that their purpose is to become the strongest ninja, some want to get a family. Naruto wants to become the hokage. Others live to help out people. Gaara nobody can tell you what the purpose of your life is. You have to figure it out by yourself and killing, it might not just be it."

She finally released his hand. "Gaara, come on. Act normal for once. Don't you have anything you like to do besides fighting?"

Naruto was trying to listen in with Kankuro. The two nosy guys had sneaked closer. Suddenly a big wall of sand appeared between Gaara and Sakura and Naruto and Kankuro. Another wall appeared onto the other side of Gaara and Sakura. Then one in both sides and in top. They were literally stuck inside of a box made from sand.

"What the…?" Naruto asked as Gaara blocked himself in, taking Sakura with him.

"I've never seen him do that before," Kankuro spoke. Suddenly Temari glided over to them on her fan. She stepped down and asked, "What is going on with Gaara?"

Kankuro shrugged. "He's been acting weird the whole day. And I swear to god, he's been carrying an orange around with himself the whole day."

"Maybe he carries a snack?" Naruto offered as he poked the sand wall. It closed automatically and almost bit his finger off.

"Damn, I don't think we'll be listening in, Kankuro."

Sasuke walked to them, also slightly worried about Sakura. He didn't show emotions of course. By now almost everybody seemed more interested in the sand cubicle than the fight that was happening on the first floor.

"What has your team mate done to Sakura?" Sasuke snapped as he reached their side.

"I was just about to ask what the hell your team mate did to ours," Temari snapped back.

While they started to argue, inside the cubicle, Sakura was getting claustrophobic.

"So," she said, coughing as she looked around in the small closed space they were in. She had a thing with small closed spaces. "What else do you like except fighting?"

Gaara muttered something under his breath.

"What?" Sakura asked, trying to listen more carefully.

"I like football," Gaara spoke. "In my country, boys play it all the time. I like to watch. But I have to stay hidden, because when they see me watching, they stop."

Sakura scratched her head. What kinds of kids were afraid of another boy like that? Fine he had killed a few people and all and he was the son of the kazekage, but…

They were in silence for a few moments, until…

"Well then," Sakura said, clapping her hands together, "We only have one way to solve this. When these exams are over, you're coming to my place to play football."

Gaara stared. Though it was dark and Sakura didn't see it.

"So, are you ready to go out yet? People could be worried. Or do you want to talk some more?"

"Hm."

"Was that a Hm-yes or Hm-no?" Sakura asked, "I'm starting to be able to tell apart Hn-s, but Hm-s are new to me."

She got her answer when the sand started to disappear from around them. Sakura grinned slightly as she climbed out of the box.

"Sakura!"

Again an orange blob attacked her. She was starting to wonder if it was going to be a regular thing from now.

"You!" Sasuke said, advancing on Gaara, "What do you think you were doing!"

Sakura released herself from Naruto's grip for long enough to see Gaara shrugging.

"One fight ends and another one starts," she muttered.

"Ha, my money is on the panda-boy!"

"Wait weren't you just crushing on Sasuke?"

"Oh, we still are crushing on him. Panda-boy is just on roll today and we stick with winners!"

"… Why can't I be a normal, pink haired, girl ninja, who somehow got a centuries old knowledge stuffed into her head?"

"…"

"I mean normal – without an inner voice!"

"OH…OH… I get it… You were sarcastic?"

"No. Serious."

"Right. I'll shut up for now…"

"I wouldn't have thought of that! Thanks a lot."

"No problem."

"Now I WAS sarcastic."

"Oh…"

"Hm?"

Sasuke was advancing towards Gaara, who shrugged and in a whirl of sand, he was gone.

"Where did he go?"

Kankuro and Temari were already walking back towards their sensei where Gaara had gone to, when the proctor called the tenth match ended. Dosu was the winner.

Sasuke threw a look at Sakura, who was rasping a bit of sand out of her clothes, when the proctor started to speak.

"That battle was also the end of the preliminaries."

"Now, I ask all of you who made it to the third exam to come here."

Naruto grinned slightly as he proudly walked down the stairs. Sasuke hn-ned and followed. Sakura did the same, only with out the Hn.

Their whole team had made it. Kakashi seemed happy, as he wiggled fingers in front of Guy, who seemed to accept that Kakashi was ahead of him with two points now.

[ A/N - Note, that I looked up the whole internet to find out what kind of amount of money they should get… Nothing. I only know that Chiriku's death was worth 30 million and he was a damn monk So I'm going to put Orochimaru's amount the same, because frankly, I have no idea how the money thing works

"Before we explain you the third exam, we still have one more thing to take care of."

"More things," Naruto whined, "When can we actually get to the third exam?"

Sakura nudged him.

The hokage nodded to Sakura. The girl now noticed that many ninjas were watching them carefully. What was going on? Were there so many people there before as well?

"Since we are in a rather secluded area right now," the hokage started to speak, "the reward ceremony is going to be rather rough around the edges, but hopefully the three genins will still understand that many villages are thankful for what they have done."

Naruto stopped poking Sakura, clearly figuring out where this was heading.

"We have had the medals brought here and the monetary reward shall be given to you as soon as you reach the village. But now, in front of your rivals and friends, I'd like to award those three brave genins …"

Everybody was waiting. Wanting to know who was powerful enough to kill a legendary ninja.

"Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha."

The grown ninjas, who were viewing, started to clap. Most of the genins looked shocked.

"Those three?"

"No way."

"Yeah."

Naruto strode in front of the hokage with confidence, grinning wider than ever. Sasuke and Sakura followed.

"Behalf of the kages all over the world, I award you – Naruto Uzumaki with a medal of Flame. A high level medal for a Konoha's ninja."

Sasuke and Sakura were also given their medals and then…

"You will also share the amount of 30 million ryous."

Naruto's yaw hit the floor. "30 million?"

"Yes," the hokage said, "The award for killing Orochimaru is 30 million ryous."

"Once again the Fire Country thanks you, young genins."

"Now onto the third exam…"

Naruto barely listen to a word the hokage said. He was too busy staring at the medal he had been given. It wasn't anything big. Jeez, it wasn't from real gold, but it was one of the most important things anyone had ever given him. It was right there near the top with his headband.

Naruto was made to pick a number. He did.

When they were revealed what the number was for, he was very happy he had picked that number.

Ebiki showed them a paper with a small scheme. The third exam was like a tournament.

Sakura looked at the ten names at the bottom.

She was in the first battle. Her opponent was Dosu. It wasn't too bad.

After her came Shikamaru and Temari; Naruto and Neji; Shino and Kankuro and last Gaara and Sasuke.

Shikamaru was already whining about always being pitched against a girl.

"The exam will take place in exactly a month," the hokage said. "Which means you'll have a month to prepare for them."

"A month?" Everybody asked.

"Why can't we get them over with right now?" Dosu asked.

"Because it's a time for preparation for you as well as us. We need time to distribute summons to every village and prepare a place large enough for you to be able to show your every ability. It's a big event after all."

"While before the enemy was unknown to you, then now it's not the case any more. Be prepared and be ready."

"Isn't that the same?" Naruto asked. The hokage coughed and said, "Well, that'd be it…"

"Wait," Shikamaru interrupted, "I have a question."

"Yes?"

"If this is a tournament, does it mean there'll only be one winner?"

The hokage told them the basics of being judged by many different shinobis, who will decide whether or not a ninja will become chuunin or not.

Then he dismissed them. Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto walked towards Kakashi, their medals dangling around their necks.

"Actually, I didn't even know they gave out medals," Sakura said, as team 7 walked towards the hospital wing to pick up their stuff.

"They usually don't. Only when something exceptional happens. And you are something exceptional. Beating someone several ranks above your own level… I'm proud of you. So teamwork works?"

"Yeah," the team said their tones dismissive. Kakashi grinned.

"So how are we going to get home?" Naruto asked.

"Go through the forest again," Kakashi said, as it was the most obvious thing ever.

"What?" Naruto asked, "Why?"

Kakashi looked at him. "How else do you think we'll get back to Konoha? We're in a tower, surrounded by miles and miles of forest…"

Naruto groaned, "Right… Let's grab out stuff and go."

XxXxXxXxXx

- Honestly, I wondered about that. One second the hokage was talking and another second they were in Konoha's hospital. I mean the forest is full of creepy stuff, right? So since I believe they don't have a helicopter, how did they get to Konoha so fast?

A/N – Thank you for your reviews, love you blah-blah-blah. I don't think I'm able to write for some time now. Homework… School starts on Monday and I haven't knitted a single row 50 cm isn't much… right?

Question – It's a fight. Kankuro vs. Shino in the third exam – Who wins?
Naruto vs. Kankuro/Shino – who wins[If you say Naruto, like I think you will, it might just happen I'm going to have the whole team 7 in top three. Sakura vs. Sasuke and then the winner vs. Naruto [My case – Sasuke vs. Naruto then I'm not sure… HELP ME!

Next – Sakura finds something interesting from the forest. Kakashi takes Sasuke to train with him through the month. What about Sakura and Naruto?