Scarlet Eyes - A naruto fanfiction (Under Re-write!)

The preliminary round

Team seven made it's way out of the forest quickly...though not before enduring a fair share of trouble.

Kabuto, much to Yurika's chargin, stopped Naruto and Sakura from opening the scroll prematurely opening the scroll.

Sasuke thanked him wholeheartedly but Yurika couldn't help but grit her teeth while doing so. It was obvious that Kabuto was helping them clear the exam so as to ensure the safety of 'Orochimaru-sama's new vessel'. She could reveal Kabuto's true identity to them but she didn't. Kabuto's knowing smirk made it all the more harder.

She was itching to tell them but if she did, then team seven would undoubtedly attack Kabuto and...she knew that Kabuto was easily strong enough to be a jonin of his own right.

For the sake of their safety, she couldn't tell them.

Then they came across a genjutsu trap that they cleared by using Naruto's multiple shadow clone jutsu.

Kakashi-sensei was pretty relieved to find them all in one piece. Team seven seemed stronger now...and they were closer than ever.

However his happiness was short lived. He nearly fainted when he heard that they made it alive from Orochimaru's attack. He was seething when he saw the mark of the vile snake on two of his students bodies.

There were 22 genins left after the forest of death round. To the surprise of the others, all members of the rookie ten (nine plus Yurika) had made it past the forest of death round. The judges declared that there were far too many contestants left so they decided to halve the numbers by keeping a preliminary round. The screen determined who would paired with whom.

The first round was Uchiha Sasuke vs Akado Yoroi.

Yurika felt bad for this Yoroi guy. Her pity, however, vanished quickly when she heard how he and his team had attacked Sakura when Yurika, Naruto and Sasuke were unconscious. That was when Sakura had to cut her hair.

Sakura had truly grown. She wasn't vain and was willing to sacrifice her outward beauty without hesitation to save her comrades...especially considering the fact that the rumors stated that Sasuke liked girls with long hair.

However Yoroi was simply unfortunate...he was going to face Sasuke again. This time the odds of him winning was far worse. He was weakened by the fight with rookie nine in the forest of death while Sasuke was empowered by the cursed seal that was under his control.

"And the winner is Uchiha Sasuke"

Gekko Hayate declared the results and then fell into a coughing fit...not serious...but it felt as if he had an illness of sorts.

Sasuke had nearly killed Yoroi when the cursed seal had yet again gone out of control. Anko was going to stop the match and put Sasuke in a confined cell on ANBU watch, but Kakashi managed to stop her since Sasuke had successfully overcome the seal of his own will.

The other matches were really interesting too. The type that kept people's eyes glued to the scene.

The second round was Aburame Shino vs Abumi Zaku. The match ended with Shino's clear victory since Zaku was unable to keep up with Shino's insects which were resistant to sound attacks.

The third round,Tsurugu Misumi vs Kankuro, ended with Kankuro's astounding victory. Even in this era, ninja puppeteers were a rare sight and the three puppets that Kankuro used were quite special. He was quite talented as a puppeteer.

The fourth round,Haruno Sakura vs Yamanaka Ino resulted in a tie where both the girls had a long, dragged out battle and...K.Oed each other. Both of them were disqualified.

Round five,Temari vs Tenten, battle proved to be more action than the previous battle. Tenten had a great disadvantage considering that she was a weapon user. Temari blew away all of her weapons using her huge fan. She then cruelly shattered Tenten's spine when she hit the latter on the back when Tenten was falling. The winner was Temari. Rock Lee stepped into the arena and retrieved his injured comrade's body.

The sixth round was Nara Shikamaru vs Kin Tsuchi.It was interesting battle in a completely different sense. Kin was the third of the sound trio who had attacked Sakura. It started off as a disadvantage for Shikamaru since he didn't know what she was capable of but...she was already aware of his shadow possession jutsu. However Shikamaru won since he was a tactician who could see the small advantages he has and use it to it's maximum potential though the opponent couldn't even realize it. Needless to say, Shikamaru won the battle.

The seventh round was the Uzumaki Naruto vs Inuzuka Kiba match. Naruto won using using an...um...rather unusual method. He had done quite a number on Kiba and Akamaru when he became...gassy...as the animalistic duo had extremely heightened sense of smell...it must have been pure torture.

The eighth match, Hyuga Hinata vs Hyuga Neji, was a pitiable sight. Neji vented out all of his anger against the Hyuga clan on the clan heiress. He commanded her to give up and yet Hinata refused to give up even in the face of one sided torture from her cousin. She believed in naruto and thus wanted to become someone who Naruto would notice... Someone who would follow his way of ninja and never give up. Neji ended up nearly killed her resulting in Naruto and Rock Lee vowing to take revenge for Hinata's sake...but Yurika could swear that she saw a pained expression on Neji's face when he left the arena.

If the eighth match was torture, the ninth match was definitely hell. Rock Lee vs Sabaaku no Gaara resulted in Lee losing his left arm and leg to an injury so severe that the medics declared that he would no longer be able to become a ninja. Naruto was positively radiating anger towards Gaara but Guy-sensei and Kakashi-sensei stopped Naruto from losing to his anger. If he had attacked Gaara, he would be disqualified by the judge panel for assault on a competitor. Besides...Gaara might have ended up killing him.

The tenth round, Akimichi Choji vs Dosu Kinuta, resulted in Choji getting smashed into the arena walls despite the fact he used his human boulder jutsu to become thrice his size and that Dosu had a dislocated arm(courtesy of Sasuke in the forest of death). The winner was declared to be Dosu Kinuta.

The last round was obviously going to be between the two remaining genins. Kazezawa Yurika vs Yakushi Kabuto. Kabuto walked onto the arena with a sheepish expression on his face. Yurika, however, was seriously pissed off. If looks could kill, Kabuto would already have been dead a hundred times over. His mere presence reminded her of all the horrible experiences she had been through when she was locked up in Orochimaru's dungeons.

The Hokage gave her a silent 'all the best' look. Then she noticed Kazekage-sama leer at her evilly. She didn't know why but it made her want to go over there immediately and slice that smirk off his face. But for now, she'll have to focus on defeating Kabuto. Kabuto was obviously stronger than her but this was one fight that she couldn't afford to lose.

Gekko Hayate stepped up to the arena to signal the beginning of the battle. Yurika whispered a few words that only Kabuto could hear. The result was instantaneous. Kabuto's face turned slightly pale as he eyed the maniacal grin set on Yurika's face. The Kazekage, who was watching this staring showoff with interest, could help letting out an evil smirk. He knew exactly what Yurika had said to Kabuto.

'This battle is going to be so much fun~ since I am going to return the favor. Return all the pain that I felt in that dungeon. But don't worry...I wouldn't let you die so easily. I will torture you slowly...allow you to savor all the pain...otherwise it wouldn't be so fun, you see... Who cares what the audience thinks of me. I am going to show you the battle of your life...

"Round eleven, Kazezawa Yurika vs Yakushi Kabuto, BEGIN!"