Thawing an Icy Heart

Showdown Throwdown!

"Would Gaara, and Rock Lee make their way down to the floor. For the final match, of the preliminaries." The proctor looked at the two boys in question, with Lee hopping down enthusiastically, while Gaara had a look of annoyance and merely rode his sand down to the ground. "Shino, go check on Hinata, I'll keep an eye on things here." Taka said, giving Shino a look, who simply nodded and disappeared from the balcony. "Those Sand Shinobi Sensei, I'm going to scout them out a bit. I feel like we'll be seeing more of them in the future." Kurenai gave him a quizzical look, but simply nodded and smiled. "You can be quite smart, when you keep your head Taka. Just be careful with them."

Taka simply turned away, and headed towards the sand siblings, who turned to face the approaching leaf Shinobi. "What do you want?" Kankuro practically spat out at Taka, a look of venom in his eyes. "To learn about my potential opponents, and why they're so terrified of Gaara." The siblings shuddered at the mention of Gaara's name, as they looked at this interfering leaf Genin. "What's it to you? It's not like you and him are alike." Temari spoke in an almost nervous voice, as she carefully watched Taka. Little did any of them know, how alike Gaara and Taka really were. "Try me." He gave Temari a disarming smile, which caused the Kunoichi to visibly relax, causing Kankuro to visibly nudge her. "What's with you?" Before she could respond to her brother, their conversation was interrupted by the booming voice of Guy. "Alright Lee! You can take them off now! You have the green light!"

Giving Lee the thumbs up, was all Lee needed to take the weights off from around his feet, and hold them out wide. "Gaara might be in trouble now, let's see how well he can keep up with Lee now." Taka said in an amused voice, as the siblings looked at him like he was crazy. "Like he even...." before they could finish, the weights Lee had on, slammed into the ground hard, causing everyone but Taka to go wide eyed. As Lee began running circles around Gaara, moving so fast Gaara's sand couldn't even keep up, and he was now taking a pummelling from Lee, his face and body cracking under the pressure of Lee and his hands and feet. "He's our greatest pure taijutsu user ever, besides his Sensei Guy." Taka said, as the siblings were slack jawed. Was Gaara actually hurt?

Lee's strength stumbled slightly, as Gaara began putting the pressure back on. Trying to catch Lee in his sand, with Lee barely dodging his attacks. Until he got his second wind, and was back putting Gaara under pressure again. He'd even managed to get Gaara in the air, with his sand playing catch up, before wrapping him up and slamming him into the ground. Everyone thought Lee had done the impossible, and bested the monster that was Gaara. But unfortunately for him, Gaara who was prone on the ground, had been cushioned by his sand, and sent it after Lee, who was exhausted, wrapping one of his arms and legs in his sand, and crushing them with his ability.

He then sent them after Lee again, but Guy blocked the sand, and deemed the match to be over. Only for him to turn around, and see what he had done. Lee who had gotten back to his feet, unconscious was still ready to fight again. By this point Shino had returned, along with Sasuke and the other winners. As they all looked to the board, to see what the next matches would be, for the main competition in a month's time.

"Naruto Uzumaki Vs Neji Hyuga

Gaara Vs Sasuke Uchiha

Temari Vs Taka Yuki

Kankuro Vs Shino Aburame

Shikamaru Nara - Bye

You will have one month to prepare for your opponents, get stronger, or brush up on your skills. Good luck to everyone and we will see you in a month's time."

Taka looked at the matchups, and couldn't help but smile. "Naruto got him, he better make that idiot suffer, and Sasuke got Gaara. That's gonna be fun to see, while I got the sadist of the group huh?" He turned to face Temari, who had heard his sadist comment, and was not only blushing, but boiling with rage. "Be seeing you soon Sand Shinobi." He then hopped onto the balcony, and jumped down onto the bottom floor. Seems the exams just got a bit more interesting, and he had to face her huh? Figures.