Another Take (A Naruto Fanfiction) (Complete)

Ch. 25: I'm Still Here

~And you see the things they never see, all you wanted I could be, now you know me and I'm not afraid~

Kiyomi's POV

The rest of the matches passed by relatively quickly. A quick summary:

Right after my match was Kankuro from the Sand Siblings versus some guy from Kabuto's team, Misumi-something. Kankuro won using a puppet, and breaking stuff. Pretty gross, but whatever. My match was also rather disgusting. Or, at least the end was.

The fifth match was unexpected, but also kind of entertaining. Sakura Haruno versus Ino Yamanaka. After a whole lot of theatrics and hair-cutting, the match was declared a tie as both girls knocked each other out.

After that was the girl from Gai's team, Tenten, versus the second-oldest of the Sand Siblings, Temari. That match was over very quickly. Tenten was strong, but her weapons couldn't compete with Temari's fan and wind control.

The seventh match was Shikamaru versus one of the Sound shinobi, the girl named Kin. I thought Shikamaru was going to lose that one, but then his intelligence proved me totally wrong. I guess I've been underestimating that lazy bastard.

After that surprising match was the oldest of the Suna team, Kaizen, versus Asami from Shikamaru's team. That match... That was interesting. Both opponents had special abilities- Kaizen having the rare Steel Release, and Asami having a Hiden technique called the Water Collection Technique. They were fighting for a while, but then it was revealed that Kaizen was just playing around. He quickly finished the match once that fact was revealed.

Ninth was Naruto versus Kiba Inuzuka, Akamaru's owner. The little dog participated in the fight, but Naruto used his... ingenuity, to win the match. Surprising many people. And hurting my nose and ears.

Tenth was Kiba's friend Kouta, who was Shiki's owner, versus another of the Sound ninja, a completely blind boy named Taishi. But the Sound nin was not to be messed around with, as Taishi was incredibly sensitive to movement, and managed to dodge all of Kouta and Shiki's attacks. And then Taishi proved to be another summoner, who used bats to aid his genjutsu attacks. Which eventually proved to be the wolf-boy's downfall, as Kouta and Shiki knocked themselves out at the same time because of a genjutsu.

After that was one of the worst matches I've ever seen. Shy little Hinata versus her cousin Neji, who coincidentally had a stick up his ass and a grudge against Hinata. Neji and Hinata were at it for a while using their Byakugans, but Neji was stronger, and he beat Hinata severely. It took multiple Jonin to hold the boy back from killing Hinata.

The twelfth match was another bad one. Gaara versus Lee. The youthful boy's spirit was nothing against Gaara's raw power and ultimate defense. And even when Lee got serious and opened some of the Eight Chakra Gates, Gaara still won by crushing Lee's limbs. I even overheard some people saying that with his injuries, Lee would never be a ninja again.

The final match was Choji versus the last of the Sound shinobi, the creepy bandaged guy named Dosu. By that point I was getting bored, but I did see that Dosu won using his sound waves, just like the rest of the Sound ninja.

"Congratulations to the twelve of you who have won the honor of competing in the Third Exam," Hayate coughed as eleven of the winners gathered in front of him. We stood in a line facing the sick man, all of us except for Sasuke, who was still gone. I stood between Naruto and Gaara, calmly ignoring any of the glances Gaara sent my way.

"I will now explain the main test," Lord Hokage said, stepping forward to stand slightly in front of Hayate. "As you were told before, the main matches will be seen by everybody. So I want you all to display your full power, without holding back. Which is why the finals will be held one month from now!"