Hey, I'm not dead! *Gasp!* Just extreme writer's block. I could not decide who should fight who, and the fights are a bit complicated. But I have the matches decided, and the first fight is done. Now, there are hints of another pairing with one guy and one of two girls, tell me who you think the guy should end up with, and the most responses will win. Oh, and so you know, be prepared to have these fight chapters be shorter than the others.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, blah blah blah. Masashi Kishimoto does, blah blah blah. This is for entertainment purposes only, and now, to the chapter!

Chapter 10: The Exams Continue!

It was a nice cool morning on the day the exams resumed. The group of 18 genin stood in front of a large stadium, waiting for their proctor to arrive. Gaara and Temari stood on either side of Naruto, getting more impatient by the minute, as was everyone else.

"Where the hell is Hayate? You'd think Kakashi was the proctor." Everyone could hear Naruto's complaint and couldn't help but smile, even in the midst of these shinobi who would be their enemies in just a short matter of time (there were few who knew of Kakashi's infamous tardiness). Naruto noticed Temari's irritation as well and reached over to her, pulling her into a hug.

"You okay?"

"For the thousandth time Naru-kun, I'm fine." Temari whispered. Naruto pulled her down for a short kiss, making her blush slightly, and making him chuckle.

After what seemed like hours had passed, a fit of coughing behind them alerted them to the arrival of Hayate.

"I apologize for being so late. I had to go visit the doctor and-"

"Look. We don't give a damn where you were. Just get these exams started." one of the other ninja growled. Temari looked at him and noticed he was one of the sound genin. He had short, unruly black hair and some kind of holes in both of his hands, and one of his arms was supported in a sling. Perhaps he also manipulated wind. Oh yeah, Temari would keep a close eye on that one. Hayate made no reply to that comment, he only coughed and moved to unlock the door, held closed by a blood seal. He bit his finger and dragged it down the seal, said seal dissolving as it recognized the blood. He pushed the creaky doors open and coughed.

"Well, come on in. As you all know, the attack in the forest of death caused us to delay the preliminary exams. We have, of course, decided not to go through the forest of death again, so the prelims will be held here, the stadium where the third exam is normally held." Hayate led them in and they lined up, nine in front, nine in back and waited for Hayate to get started.

"Jeez Hayate, kept me waiting for two hours. Ibiki would've had your head. Lucky I'm the nice one." The leaf genin sweatdropped at that. Anko, the nice one? "Hey kiddies, so there are 18 of you left? Alright, let's see if we can knock that down to nine." everyone looked up to see Anko standing beside a large computer screen. "The prelims will consist of nine one on one matches. Whoever wins will advance to the third exam. You keep fighting until one cannot continue, and try not to kill each other. You brats can be pretty damn violent. And pay attention to Hayate. If he decides that a fight should stop, and fighting continues, those who have continued fighting will be immediately disqualified. Got it? Alright, let's get it started!" Anko cheered, hoping to get some kind of reaction. All she found was indifference in everyone's faces. Maybe they were nervous about whom they'd have to fight, or perhaps they were just tired of waiting. Couldn't blame them. She sighed and pressed a button. The computer screen spun through the names for a few seconds before it came to stop.

"Alright! The first match is... Sasuke Uchiha vs. Tenten! You two, stay down there. The rest leave the stage and come up to the upper level." Anko commanded.

"Good luck duckass." Naruto said, patting his teammate on the back.

"Like I need it Baka. I'll be done before you know it." Sasuke smirked. Naruto chuckled and left, wanting to wait with the sand siblings.

"Sasuke, good luck." Sakura timidly said. She hadn't said much at all to him lately, and the absence of the suffix surprised him greatly.

"Yeah. Thanks, Sakura." he said, still wondering what could've happened. She looked up and gave him a smile before leaving the stadium.

"Tenten, just because he is an Uchiha doesn't mean he's better. Show him the true power of your youth!" Lee proclaimed. Tenten laughed and turned to Neji.

"I think it would be best to give up. I doubt you can defeat someone like him." he said. Tenten sighed. Neji was always so blunt.

"I figured you'd say something like that. But I gotta try, right?"

"Yeah! Go forth and show him that the Sharingan is no match for you!" Lee yelled. Tenten turned away from them to face Sasuke, and they left. Hayate walked up to the two and coughed before starting.

"Alright, you both heard the rules. Simply fight until one, or both, cannot continue. If you do not listen to me, you will be disqualified. That is all. If neither of you have any questions..." Hayate paused to give them time to think. "Alright. Begin!" Hayate quickly got out of the way as Tenten jumped back, analyzing her opponent.

'Not good. He has that Sharingan, I'm at a serious disadvantage. But still...' Tenten pulled out three rods, each about two inches long, from her weapon pouch and fit them together. She fed her chakra through it and the staff extended to be about her height. She also pulled a leather holster out and secured it around her body. Sasuke smirked and dipped down into a basic fighting stance. Was he underestimating her?

"Just because I don't have some cool blood limit or flashy ninjutsu doesn't mean you should underestimate me." Tenten growled. Sasuke looked at her with a slightly confused face.

"Who ever said anything about underestimating you?"

"Please. It's like you're trying to humiliate me. Using basic academy defense stances."

"Hmm? Look closer. This isn't an academy stance." Sasuke said, and Tenten could see it. It looked as if he had taken the forward stance, but where his left leg was supposed to be bent and about 18 inches ahead of his right foot, Sasuke had only the toes of his left foot touching the ground. And where his right leg was supposed to be outstretched and firmly planted on the ground behind him, Sasuke's right leg was slightly bent and he chose to rest on his toes again. It was not basic, and Tenten felt stupid for not realizing that.

"What kind of stance is that? I've never seen it before."

"Just something I came up with. This stance focuses completely on speed. I only rest on my toes to increase reaction time. I know how skilled you can be with those weapons, and I'm not a guy who underestimates his opponents. But the time for talk is over. Get ready." Sasuke warned, the Sharingan flaring to life. But the flare started an inferno in his head and Sasuke found it hard to even use his kekkei genkai.

'Damn that snake. This curse mark is seriously interfering in my life.' Sasuke snarled, shaking off the pain.

'Curse mark. Hate that damn power.'

'Isn't that the power that the Sound Four and Sakon possess, Meian?'

'Yes, it is. The fact that someone as potentially powerful as that brat shows that Orochimaru is most likely trying to use Sasuke to increase his own lifespan with his Immortality Jutsu.'

'I see... So Orochimaru is after Sasuke's body? We should stop him.'

'Fine, I'd love to see the bastard get frustrated.' Meian said, fading away.

Tenten noticed Sasuke's moment of weakness, and took the opening. She grabbed two kunai and threw them with expert aim. However, Sasuke regained his bearings and dodged both potentially fatal strikes.

"Damn he's fast." Tenten mumbled. She grabbed a small ball and threw it down in front of her. Smoke covered the battlefield and she disappeared from view.

'Great. Where the hell did she go?' Sasuke nearly sighed, closing his eyes and focusing. If he couldn't use Sharingan, he'd use everything else he was taught. It was completely quiet and Sasuke was beginning to grow impatient, when he heard a single object sailing through the air. No, it was more than one. It was two. He ran toward the sound and jumped, grabbing the now-identified kunai and noticed they had explosive tags on them.

'Fool.' Sasuke threw them back in the direction they came from and landed as two small explosions rocked the earth. The force blew the smoke away and everyone could see Tenten being blown toward the wall. She flipped in midair and landed on the wall, focusing chakra to her feet so that she stayed. Sasuke stood, waiting for her next move and was not disappointed when she launched herself toward him. He did the same, and both were hurtling toward each other at an alarming speed. Tenten gripped her staff and Sasuke quickly grabbed a kunai. They passed each other, the sound of metal against metal the only sound being made in the arena. They landed and ran to each other, clashing their weapons over and over again.

'This is getting us nowhere.' both thought, seemingly at the same time seeing as they both jumped back. Tenten put her staff into its holster, grabbed a scroll and jumped into the air, unraveling it as she did so. She twirled the scroll so that it spun around her, and she began summoning weapons from several parts of it. All of which found a course toward Sasuke.

'I expected nothing less from Konoha's weapon specialist. However...' Sasuke wove a few handsigns and made an "O" with his thumb and index finger in front of his mouth

"Fire style: fireball jutsu!" Sasuke yelled. The ball of flame erupted from the Uchiha, and slowed the weapons down to where they harmlessly fell at his feet.

"Give up Tenten. You can't win against me." Sasuke said.

"No. I'm not giving up Uchiha, so you can stop going easy on me." she spat, dropping into a defensive stance.

"Heh, you don't know what you're asking for." Sasuke said, taking his stance again. He disappeared and Tenten looked around to see where he could be, but there was no sign of the Uchiha anywhere. Had his speed risen that much?

"Tenten!" Lee yelled, and Tenten saw it. Numerous, circular shadows were around her, and they were getting smaller. She looked up and saw the balls of fire speeding toward her, and she realized she wouldn't have anywhere to run. She saw Sasuke, high in the air and falling, and smirked.

"Very good Uchiha. But not quite!"

Tenten grabbed her staff and spun it with all of her might. "Wind style: gust!" she cried. The fireballs began to slow down as they neared the ground, until they completely vanished. The staff stopped and Tenten disassembled it, putting it up. Sasuke landed on the ground and stood, amused.

"Didn't know you had a wind chakra affinity, Tenten."

"There's a lot you don't know about me. It's time to wrap this up." Tenten declared, pulling two scrolls from her pouch. She knelt on one knee and placed the scrolls vertically on either side of her. She wove three handsigns and crossed her arms, like her right hand was reaching toward the left scroll, and the left hand was reaching toward the right scroll. "Get ready. Rising Twin Dragons!" and a huge cloud of smoke covered the arena, forcing Sasuke to shield his eyes. From the top of the cloud two dragon shaped clouds rose and swirled around each other. The smoke began to clear and revealed it was just the two scrolls. Tenten disappeared and reappeared in the center of the scroll's peak and bit both thumbs. She swiped them over several seals and began her barrage of weapons on Sasuke.

The number of weapons was too many for anyone to count, and they all had one target: Sasuke. He figured that and prepared for his most powerful attack. He wove a few handsigns and took a deep breath.

"Fire style: Dragon Flame Jutsu!" a torrent of flame erupted from Sasuke's mouth and found a course toward the weapons coming for its master.

Sasuke watched as the fire stopped the weapons dead in their tracks, and caught a glint of something. It was connected to Tenten's hand and the weapons, whatever it was. Realization dawned on Sasuke and he closed his mouth. The fire made contact with the weapons and the wire attached to them, and began to spread toward Tenten at an alarming rate. Sasuke moved faster than anyone could see, taking a kunai, jumping toward Tenten and cutting all the wire connected to her hands. The fire reached the end of the wire and harmlessly burned out. Tenten was momentarily shocked, but regained her senses and reached for a kunai. But Sasuke flipped and kicked Tenten in the stomach before she even had a grip on the cold metal, sending her crashing into the ground, knocked out. He landed and looked at Hayate.

"Um... The winner of the first match is Sasuke Uchiha." Hayate declared as a medical team rushed to carry her away. Lee jumped down and glared at the Uchiha, deciding whether or not to attack.

"Tenten fought well. Tell her not to beat herself up. A hint of advice for her: tell her that I said to never use that technique against a shinobi with a fire attribute again. And a hint of advice for you: don't look at me like that unless you plan on doing something." he said, disappearing. Lee growled and went to rejoin Neji.

"Lee, don't be so angry. It was her destiny to lose to Sasuke, and she knew it. She's merely paying the price for challenging the decision."

"Neji, how can you say that? She's our teammate."

"..."

"Nice job Sasuke. For a second I thought she had you with that last technique." Naruto laughed.

"She is skilled, but there was no way I'd lose to her, idiot." Sasuke scoffed.

"You did well Sasuke." Sakura said. Sasuke looked at her and she averted her eyes. Just what caused this change?

"Thanks Sakura. Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah, I'm fine."

The silence was shattered by Anko a few seconds later.

"Alright kids! Next match is... Shino Aburame vs..."

Review, and the next chapter will be out before you know it. An internet cookie to whoever can guess who Shino will fight :)

And sorry if my fight scenes aren't good, any suggestions to help me improve them? I don't want to unnecessarily drag them out, but I don't want them to be too short either.