A/N: Here, at last, is chapter 29. I am so sorry I took so long to update this story. -bows deeply- I hope you can forgive me! I promise, I will try to get the next chapter posted a hell of a lot sooner than this chapter. Again, I'm really, really, really, really sorry!! Oh, and for those of you who didn't see it, I've rewritten chapter 28. I hated what I use to have for it, so I redid it. Well, thank you for your patience, and I hope you enjoy this chapter as well as the revised chapter 28.
Chapter Twenty-Nine:
Invasion
"The next match is between Uchiha Sasuke and Sabaku no Gaara." the examiner called. Liyenn turned over her shoulder when this was announced. She looked back at Naruto.
"Go on. I'll catch up with you in a bit." Naruto said, smiling.
"Okay." Liyenn ran up the stairs back to her spot in the balcony. As she did, she heard Sakura and Ino making a small ruckus.
"Where's Sasuke-kun?" they both whined.
"It appears that Uchiha Sasuke has not yet arrived at the stadium for the Chuunin exam. As a result, the match between Sasuke and Gaara will continue when he arrives. We will now proceed with the remaining matches. Now, we will have the match between Aburame Shino and Kankurou." the examiner announced.
Kankurou and Shino stepped towards each other. Kankurou gave a worrisome look before the examiner waved his hand between the two candidates, giving them the signal to begin. Shino stood in his stance, waiting for Kankurou to make his move. Kankurou glanced around the stadium. He gave a small smirk. "You're a lucky punk, you know that?" Kankurou stood up straight, moving his hand slightly. Shino tensed, preparing himself for Kankurou's attack. "I forfeit." Kankurou announced, raising his hand.
"What?! No way!" Liyenn said, staring down at the two.
"He must be afraid of Shino. I wouldn't blamed him." Kiba boosted. Liyenn eyed Kankurou, her face showed worry and slight hints of fear. There's no way someone like him would forfeit so easily... something's up here... Liyenn thought. "Sempai?" Liyenn looked towards Kiba and noticed that he looked a little worried. "Is there anything wrong?"
Liyenn forced herself to smile. "Of course not. Why would there be? A memeber of Konoha just won their match in the Chuunin Selection Exams." Sakura glanced at Liyenn and knew that there was something up. Liyenn's smile may have been able to fool someone like Kiba, but it wouldn't fool Sakura. She knew Liyenn too well to fall for it.
"Winner of this match is Aburame Shino by default. We will now continue with the next match. It will be Konoha's Nara Shikamaru verus Suna's Temari." Shikamaru stood where he was, not wanting to go through with this match.
"Aw, come on, Shikamaru. Get moving." Naruto said, pushing Shikamaru over the railing. He fell and landed on his back. "Haha, now you have to get moving!" Naruto called to him. Shikamaru simply replied with a 'Gez'.
The crowd was now causing the same ruckus that Sakura and Ino were causing a little earlier. "Where's Uchiha?!" came from the mouths of the audience. Liyenn gave a disgusted look as they threw their garbage down on Shikamaru.
"Is he really that good that they can't respect the other candidates?" she asked out loud, causing some of the audience around her to quiet down a little.
"I don't really know if he's that good, Sempai, but I do know that he is that popular." Kiba stated. "Everyone else is hen's meat compared to him."
"That doesn't mean that they should be rude about it." she said, turning up her nose. Kiba laughed at her, causing a smile to tug at her lips. She couldn't hold it in, she had to laugh. "Dammit Kiba! Why'd you have to go and make me laugh?!" Liyenn whined. "I was on a roll."
Kiba chuckled. "Yeah. On a roll of making everyone mad at you, and me and Sakura for being friends of your's." Liyenn pouted, which made Kiba laugh even more. "Aw, don't worry Sempai. I'm sure you can kick the asses of every loser in this stadium." Kiba grinned when Liyenn smirked at his comment. Most of the people around them gave nervous looks and decided it was best to shut their traps, which caused Kiba to grin even more.
"Oh, goodie. Shikamaru's starting his fight against Temari." Liyenn said, watching as Shikamaru got up and hid behind a tree. "C'mon, Shikamaru! Show her what you're made of!" Liyenn cheered. She really didn't know this Shikamaru person, but she wanted him to beat Temari... for more personal reasons.
Shikamaru's fight started with him devising a plan to counteract Temari's forceful wind attacks. Liyenn watched as Shikamaru manipulated the shadows to do his bidding, it was actually the first time she seen someone use shadows this way to fight. It was quite amazing. She watched as Temari avoided his shadow for the most part, jumping and running out of his range. She pouted when she realized that Temari was able to avoid every chance Shikamaru had of catching her.
Temari cackled something down on the field, bragging about how Shikamaru couldn't defeat for if he couldn't catch her. Everyone watched Shikamaru give a small smirk before Temari froze. She couldn't move! "What happened?" Liyenn asked. She turned to see Kiba, but she was so busy watching Shikamaru's fight that she failed to noticed that Kiba and the girl beside him had left. She pouted, and decided to turn to Sakura and Ino for answers.
"Alright!" Ino cheered. "He caught her!"
"Really?" Liyenn asked, facing the battle again. Sure enough, Shikamaru's shadow had connected with Temari's. He had use the burrow that Naruto had made in the pervious fight as his final attempt. "Wow, Shikamaru's really good." Liyenn commented out loud.
"Of course he's really good. He's on my team!" Ino retorted, laughing at what Liyenn said. "Finish her off, Shikamaru!" Ino cheered.
"He's not going to win, Ino." said a boy on the other side of Ino.
"Hmph, that shows how much you know. He's already got her trapped, all he needs to do is attack." Ino smirked. There was no way Shikamaru was losing this fight.
Liyenn glanced at the boy beside Ino. She hadn't noticed him sitting there before, but she recognized him from the second part of the Chuunin exam. "Sakura, who's that?"
"Mm?" Sakura looked towards where Liyenn was pointing. She smiled. "That's Chouji. He's Ino's other teammate." Sakura explained.
"So, Chouji lost his match in the Prelims, right?"
"That's right." Sakura answered, turning back towards the match.
"Hey, Sakura?" Liyenn just remembered something. She was so caught up in watching the fights and cheering for Konoha that she completely forgot that she wanted to talk to Kakashi.
"Yeah?" Sakura glanced at Liyenn for a moment, just to let her know she was listening.
"Have you seen Kakashi?"
Sakura thought for a moment. "No, I haven't seen him since you were released from the hospital." Sakura answered. "Why?" Now it was Sakura's turned to ask questions. What did Liyenn want with Kakashi?
"It's nothing important, really. I just want to talk to him about something."
"Oh?" Sakura was interested now. But, she was stunned by what happened next in Shikamaru's fight. "What?! Shikamaru quit?!" Sakura exclaimed alongside Ino.
Chouji chuckled as he bit into his handful of chips. "I guess you don't know Shikamaru as well as you think, Ino."
"Why did Shikamaru quit?" Liyenn asked. She had missed the conversation Shikamaru and Temari were having, since she was talking to Sakura about Kakashi.
"He quit because he was almost out of chakra." Chouji answered.
Liyenn glanced towards Chouji. "I see. Shikamaru would rather save his strength for something more important than wasting it all during one fight." Chouji nodded. "That's a extremely smart. Pushing to victory may be brave, but learning when it's time to stop and retreat is also very important." Liyenn explained as Sakura and Ino both gave her questioning looks. Liyenn gave the girls very serious looks when they continued to look at her curiously. "It can save people's lives."
Liyenn sighed when Sakura and Ino both let out a long, dragged out 'Oh'. She looked down at the field, noticing that Naruto was yelling at Shikamaru for quitting. She couldn't help but chuckle. Looks like Sakura and Ino aren't the only ones who doesn't understand.
"So, now it's Sasuke-kun's fight." Sakura said, her eyes wandering the stadium, looking for her teammate and sensei. "They're still not here yet." she whispered.
Liyenn nodded. "He'll be disqualified if he doesn't show up soon." she thought out loud.
"Oh, Liyenn! Don't say that!" Sakura whined, sounding like she was going to panic. She looked down at the field, listening to Ino whining to Chouji about Sasuke not being there yet. "Please, Sasuke-kun. Please show up..." Sakura prayed quietly so Ino wouldn't hear her.
Liyenn smiled at her. "Do you really think Sasuke would miss his fight in the Chuunin Exams? He's too hellbent on getting revenge and getting stronger to miss something like this." Liyenn chuckled when Sakura gave a small smirk at Liyenn's comment, knowing that what she said was true. "Fighting Sabaku no Gaara will be one of his greater challenges, though. He probably made it one of his milestones. If Sasuke can beat him after Gaara beat Lee, whom Sasuke couldn't beat, it would make Sasuke feel better about himself, and prove to himself that he has gotten stronger." Liyenn looked down to the candidate waiting area, where she could see Gaara waiting there eagerly beside his older brother and sister. Something about those three made her really uneasy, made her fidget with worry and curiosity.
The examiner had stated that they would be waiting an extra ten minutes for Sasuke to arrive at the stadium, and if he didn't show up after that, he would get disqualified. "Come on, Sasuke-kun... where are you?" Sakura asked out loud. There were actual tears forming in her eyes from fear that Sasuke was going to be disqualified.
"Where's Sasuke-kun?" asked a new, but familiar voice.
Both Liyenn and Sakura turned to see who had spoken, only to see a kind, but determined face. "Lee-san." Sakura said, greeting him kindly. "What are you doing here?" she asked.
"I came to watch the Chuunin Exams, but it looks like I already missed some of the fights." Lee explained.
Liyenn nodded and smiled. "Naruto did really well against Neji, and Shikamaru won his fight against Temari." She turned back to the field. "All we're doing now is waiting for Sasuke to get his ass here and fight Gaara." Lee flinched at the name of his former opponent, he wondered how Sasuke was preparing for this fight.
"So, no one's heard from Sasuke-kun yet?" Lee asked. He was feeling kind of down. Naruto had beaten Neji, the one opponent he truly wanted to fight. And now, Sasuke was suppose to fight Gaara, the opponent Lee couldn't beat. How was this fear?
Liyenn groaned when Lee asked his question. "No, that jerk is causing a real big commotion here at the stadium. I swear, the next time I see that bastard, he's getting a good beating from me."
Lee chuckled from Liyenn's comment. "You're certainly a spiteful one, aren't you, Liyenn-chan?" Liyenn gave Lee a smug look, assuring him that she was nothing less than spiteful at the moment.
The minutes slowly passed, and everyone was getting anxious. The examiner looked at his watch as Naruto and Shikamaru grumbled something on the field, while Lee waited patiently beside Liyenn, Sakura, Ino and Chouji. Liyenn sighed, she didn't like waiting, and everyone's impatience was driving her insane. The seconds passed by, and Liyenn was actually surprised she hadn't attacked anyone yet. The crowd behind her was completely restless, all of them saying 'Where's Uchiha?!' or 'Give us Uchiha!' Liyenn slouched in her seat. "How much longer is that bastard gonna make us wait?" she groaned.
Just as the words were out of her mouth, a whirlwind gusted into the stadium, small, green leaves flying everywhere. When the whirlwind settled, two people stood before the examiner, one with silver hair, the second with raven haired. "He's here!" cheered Sakura and Ino.
Liyenn frowned angrily down at Sasuke. "SASUKE!" she yelled, causing him to look up to her. "You idiot! You had us all worried about you!" she screamed, while Sasuke merely smirked. "I'll kick your ass the next time you put us through this hell!!" Liyenn promised.
Sasuke continued to smirk, and raised his voice a little, "Yeah, and I look forward to the chance we get to fight for real, Liyenn." he said, causing Liyenn to stop her yelling. A faint blush formed at the bridge of her nose as she went completely quiet, and Sasuke turned to Naruto, who was yelling at him as well. "I want to fight you too, Naruto."
Naruto stopped his yelling and smiled. Sasuke had acknowledged him, there wasn't much more he could ask for. "Yeah, so you better not lose to this weirdo." Naruto commented, jerking his head in Gaara's direction.
Liyenn watched as Naruto and Shikamaru started to head back to the candidates's platform. Five minutes after the examiner had politely commanded Gaara to face Sasuke, Gaara emerged from the place where Naruto and Shikamaru entered. Though Liyenn couldn't see the look on his face plainly, she could tell there was some sort of insane excitement in the way he walked. It made her shiver.
"Hi guys!" Kakashi said after he had joined the Genin and Gai on the balcony. "Sorry if we worried you." he said with a smile.
Sakura looked at him, and smiled, trying to show him that it didn't bother her much at all. Liyenn, on the other hand, frowned at him, and said, "Whatever, at least the crowd's satisfied now."
Kakashi looked confused, so Sakura explained, "The audience was making a really big commotion since Sasuke-kun hadn't shown up for his match with Gaara. Liyenn's been... well, Liyenn's been a little annoyed with how the crowd was treating Shikamaru."
"Oh?"
Liyenn raised her nose. "There was no need for what they did." Kakashi chuckled a little at Liyenn. He knew she was serious, and that it really did annoy her. It was just funny to watch her act stuck up. "Oh, I've made my decision, Kakashi." Kakashi eyed Liyenn, he knew what she was talking, even as Sakura and Ino both gave Liyenn odd looks. "I'll accept your offer." She turned to Kakashi, and smiled. "I know Daddy would want it this way, and I know Onii-chan would probably prefer it this way, too."
Kakashi smiled brightly as Sakura and Ino turned to him for answers. "That's great, Liyenn. We'll start the process after the Chuunin Exams are over." Liyenn nodded, and they all turned back towards the match. They all watched as Sasuke ran in light-speed circles around Gaara, preforming moves Liyenn had never seen before. Kakashi explained everything, telling her that all of Sasuke's new moves were based off of Lee's moves. Liyenn's eyes widened as she told Lee how amazing he must be, who, in turn, blushed a deep red from the compliment.
The match went on, Sasuke's movements were getting harder to follow. "Kakashi-sensei!" cried a voice from behind them.
Everyone turned their heads, looking to see who was causing the ruckus. Naruto and Shikamaru stood there, panting, sweat dripping from their chins to the floor. "Naruto?" Kakashi asked, looking a little confused.
"Kakashi-sensei, you've gotta stop the match." Naruto pleaded. "Gaara's not like us. He kills people to feel alive." Everyone eyed the two young men, wondering what the hell was wrong with them. "Please, Kakashi-sensei! Sasuke's gonna die if you don't do something."
Liyenn looked down at the battlefield while Kakashi started explaining something to Naruto and Shikamaru. She knew she had gotten a bad feeling from the red-headed shinobi from Suna, but would he really kill Sasuke for the sake of killing him? She carefully watched the sphere of sand that had rooted itself in the center of the stadium, wondering what was going to happen next. She could hear birds chirping, which made her smile. It was nice to hear the birds over all of this battling. But, the noise that was being made, Liyenn soon realized, couldn't've been made by the birds that lived in this village. She frowned, looking for the source of the chirping.
There, where Sasuke had landed on the wall, Liyenn could see a faint blue chakra forming with lightning swirling around. "What is that?" she muttered.
"Kakashi's only original technique." Gai answered. "Chidori, or Raikiri as Kakashi had affectingly called it." Gai began explaining the Chidori, but Liyenn decided not to listen. She wanted to see how this was going to change the entire match around. She watched as Sasuke built up the chakra in his hand and started racing down the concrete wall towards his opponent. Sasuke thrust his arm into the barrier of sand, forcing all of the lightning into the sphere to hit Gaara. Before anyone could really react, Gaara started screaming about his own blood.
"What the?" Liyenn frowned. Was this the first time Gaara had been injured? It certainly appeared that way. A feather gently brushed against Liyenn's nose, causing it to twitch. She gazed upon the feather, her eyelids feeling heavier and heavier by the second.
What's that sound? The sound of clashing metal and fists hitting flesh filled the area where Liyenn was sitting. She blinked and looked around. Sakura was gone, and Kakashi and Gai were fighting strange shinobi.
'Liyenn-chan? Are you ok?' the Phoenix asked, sounding a little worried.
Phoenix? What's going on?
'Thank goodness, you're alright.' The Phoenix gave a sigh of relief. 'A genjutsu was cast upon everyone within the stadium. Luckily, I was able to momentary block all of your sensory receptors to help you come out of it.'
Who cast the genjutsu?
'I cannot tell, Liyenn-chan.' Liyenn looked around, rubbing her eyes to focus them a little. "Kakashi?" she said.
Kakashi glanced over his shoulder and saw that the smaller woman had awakened from the genjutsu. "Liyenn? You're awake?" Kakashi asked, dodging what could've been a fatal bow to the chest.
Liyenn nodded and started to stand. "What's going on?" she asked.
Kakashi jumped down in front of her, "Liyenn, you should stay back. Your body hasn't fully recovered from your illness. Let me and Gai handle this. I'll protect you." Kakashi added, giving her his solid oath.
Liyenn merely nodded. "Why does everyone believe that my body hasn't fully recovered yet?" she muttered, earning a rather serious look from Kakashi. "Ok, ok, I'll find a place where I can hide." Liyenn hopped over the seat, dodging the body of a man that Gai had just knocked out. Liyenn crouched down, and, lying down on her stomach, she began crawling towards the doorway that would take her out of the stadium.
Liyenn had almost made it out of the bleachers when she was forced to stop. Someone was standing before her, blocking her way. She looked upwards and saw that it was a masked Sound ninja. "Where do you think you're goin'?" he asked her.
Liyenn gave a crooked smile. "Nowhere." she answered, standing quickly. The man grabbed for her arm, wanting to use her as a hostage, but she was too quick for the older and bulkier man. She fell backwards onto her hands, bringing her legs up straight. As her feet came up, each foot hit the Sound-nin's jaw, causing him to stumble backwards a little. He growled at her as Liyenn did a back flip, landing on her feet again. She smirked at the older man, "Come and get it," she taunted. The grunt did as he was told, charging at Liyenn was all of the speed he could muster.
When he was close enough, Liyenn dodged his charge, countering it with a jump kick to the head. The bigger shinobi fell to the ground, unconscious. Liyenn smirked at her handy work, glancing back at Kakashi and Gai, who had ben watching her this entire time. "Who said I can't handle these losers myself?" she asked, sticking her tongue out at the end.
Liyenn continued to run towards the doorway, but, suddenly, she felt highly faint. She stopped, not able to take another step. She collapsed, not even able to hold up her own body weight. Kakashi had ran to catch her, Gai close behind him to cover his back. Kakashi smiled as Liyenn looked up at him with heavy eyelids. "Looks like you still need a lot of time to recover." he said as Liyenn slowly blinked her eyes until they could no longer be opened.
"What are we going to do now, Kakashi? We can't take her back to her seat." Gai said as he fought off a ninja from Suna.
"Kakashi!" cried a voice. The two men looked around towards the door Liyenn was heading towards. Habu emerged from the door, panting. "Where's Liyenn?" he asked frantically, worried to death about his little sister.
"Right here." Kakashi informed, showing Habu his unconscious little sister. "How does everything else look?" he asked his ANBU friend.
Habu shook his head. "Not good. Hokage-sama's in a tight pinch. He's fighting against Orochimaru, Shodai-sama and Nidaime-sama."
Kakashi and Gai gasped upon learning this information. "Shouldn't you be helping the other ANBU?" Gai asked, looking a little confused.
Again, Habu shook his head. "There's nothing we can do to help Hokage-sama, so my Captain told me that I could go look for Liyenn and take her to safety. Obviously, I took him up on that offer."
"Well, I don't know why we're standing around here for." Kakashi said, standing to pass Habu Liyenn's small body. "Hurry and go." Habu nodded, not needed Kakashi to tell him twice. Habu carried Liyenn away as Kakashi and Gai continued to fight with the shinobi of Sound and Sand.
A/N: End of of chapter 29. Poor little Liyenn, everyone thinks she needs a lot of rest. Well, I guess everyone's right about that XD Anyway, thank you for reading this far! And, again, I'm really sorry about not getting this story updated sooner! Thank you, again, for your patience. It really means a lot to me.