"I can't sleep. Thanks in part to you. Seeing a crushed corpse can screw with a guy, you know?" he said sarcastically. Gaara tilted her head to one side at the accusation.
"I thought that killing was relatively clean. I was quite proud of it, actually" she said, sounding almost disappointed by Naruto's description of the corpse.
" 'clean' my ass. That was brutal. Besides, how can you be proud of killing somebody?" Naruto demanded rigidly. The redhead brushed a strand of red hair behind one of her ears.
"Why wouldn't I be? I got what I came for, which was blood and satisfaction. I got those things without any trouble at all" she asked, seemingly unaware of the disturbing nature of her words. The blonde stared at her silently for a few moments.
"Satisfaction for what?" he asked , fearful of the potential answers he may receive. Gaara's composure, for the briefest of moments, gave way to something else.
"Mother" she said vaguely, a glint of life flashing in her pale blue eyes for a split second. Correctly deducing that pressing the issue any further was anything but wise, Naruto switched topics.
"Why did you let us go?" he asked abruptly. The redhead shrugged and scratched her cheek.
"A few reasons. Your female comrade was pathetic to the point of being unworthy of my time, and your awakening came at an opportune time from your perspective. The high was gone at that point. And as I said before, I had gotten what I had come to get. Mother had been appeased" she said. Naruto shuddered at the second appearance of the maternal terminology, but once again chose to ignore it.
"Thanks, I guess" he muttered, feeling the need to respond in non-antagonizing fashion for the sake of his own safety. Gaara shook her head and shifted her gaze to meet his.
"It was not a gesture of kindness. You were fortunate, and you would be wise to remember that" she clarified bluntly. Naruto scowled and turned to leave.
"Yeah, sure. Keep on telling yourself that" he said, his desire to be polite gone as quickly as it had come. As he walked away, Gaara studied him meticulously. When he rounded the corner and disappeared from sight, the girl from Suna shifted in her seat and crossed one leg over the top of the other.
'As I suspected. Another like me'
Naruto breathed a sigh of relief as Sasuke stood over the unconscious body of Yoroi Akado. The Uchiha had won. It had been far more difficult than it should have been, but Sasuke had been victorious all the same. The source of his struggles was hardly Yoroi himself. Sasuke had been forced to battle against his own body for much of the match, as the mark on his neck had threatened to overtake him repeatedly. Despite the ailment, he had gutted his way through to a brutal finishing sequence of his foe.
"Yorai Akado is unable to continue. The winner is Sasuke Uchiha!" Genma announced from the floor of the enormous room. Sakura and Naruto both cheered from the stands as their teammate hobbled towards the stairs. Unfortunately, he collapsed before he could make it even three steps up. The instant he fell, Kakashi was there to catch and support him. The pair then disappeared just as they had the previous night.
"What was all that about?" Sakura wondered aloud. Naruto frowned and drummed his fingers on the railing of the observation deck.
"The mark on his neck. Kakashi-sensei took him away last night to deal with it, but I think Sasuke convinced him to leave it be. Seems like that was a mistake" he hypothesized. There was then a brief intermission as Yoroi's unconscious form was carried from the makeshift battlefield. In that time, Naruto's mind wandered.
'This whole thing is meant to be stressful, that's the point, but man, this has been brutal. They wake us up at six in the morning, drag us in here, and then start drawing names' he thought to himself tiredly. A look at the genin around him revealed a similar sentiment towards the rigorous schedule of the exam. They were all weary, with a variety of cuts and bruises on their faces. Except one. Gaara stood off in the far right corner of the observation deck without a mark on her face, save for the black circles under her eyes.
The blonde narrowed his eyes as he studied the redhead. She was certainly disheveled-looking, as her hair was unkempt and she wore no makeup, but there was a connectedness about her entire demeanor and appearance. As though everything were in its place. Perhaps it was the easy composure with which she assessed the world around her, or the ruthlessness she was capable of unveiling at the drop of a hat, but Gaara of the Desert utterly terrified Naruto. Luckily for the Jinchuuriki of Konoha, the intermission ended before he could fall further into the trance of deciphering the puzzle of the Sand kunoichi.
"Listen up, all of you. There's been a change in how these preliminary matches are going to work. For one of you, at least" Genma said loudly, catching the attention of the group of genin in an instant. Once it was clear that he was the center of focus, the proctor elaborated.
"We've ended up with an odd number of contestants, which means that one of you is left out in the cold without a dance partner. To solve that problem, we've decided that one of you is going to have the privilege of fighting twice" he explained, eliciting an uncomfortable shift from the group of young ninja.
"Take a look up at the board" Genma ordered. The genin did as they were told and turned their attention to the large randomizer on the wall, which was spinning rapidly. After a few moments, if stopped.
"Oh god damn it..." Naruto cursed as his name and picture flashed on the dim screen. Genma chuckled and shot the blonde a look of veiled sympathy.
"Lucky you, Naruto. You get to fight twice" he announced. The Jinchuuriki grumbled a bit before asking a pertinent question.
"What if I lose my first fight?" he asked pointedly. The proctor shrugged his shoulders and yawned.
"You get another shot in the form of your second fight. That's your incentive for doing this, though there are still risks. If you win both fights, you move on without consequence. If you lose your first and win your second, you still move on. But, if you win your first and lose your second, you don't move on" he explained. The blonde thought for a moment, eventually coming to the conclusion that the terms were reasonable.
"Fine. Now let's get on with this" he said impatiently. Genma nodded and signaled for the board to randomize itself again. The first pair of names to appear were Kankuro of the Desert and Misumi Tsurugi. The match ended fairly quickly, with Kankuro, who was a puppeteer, brutalizing the unfortunate genin with a savage display of puppeting prowess. The next match was a tad more interesting, with Sakura and Ino battering each other to a draw.
"That was messy" Naruto muttered as both girls were carried up the stairs by medical staff. Neither had sustained major damage, other than a minor concussion in both their cases. Without waiting for either girl to awaken, Genma set the board again. This time, the names that appeared were Temari of the Desert and Tenten.
'She's one of the people who was with Gaara in the forest' Naruto thought to himself as the combatants made their way down the stairs and towards Genma to receive their instructions. The blonde then briefly recalled the brutality with which Kankuro, another member of the Sand Village's cell, ended his foe's prospects of becoming a Chunin and shuddered. Before he could ponder the incoming savagery any further, Genma ordered the pair of Kunoichi to assume their positions to begin the match.
"Now, if you're both ready, you may begin!" the proctor yelled. Tenten, being a user of weapons and projectiles, immediately launched a series of kunai and shuriken at Temari. Despite the maelstrom of weaponry flying in her direction, the sand kunoichi did not move from her spot. Instead, she simply flicked open the fan on her back for a split second. Somehow, the subtle movement sent all of the projectiles flying in the opposite direction. Tenten was able to avoid the reflected kunai, but the evasive maneuver had forced her backwards several feet.
'How's she doing that?' Naruto wondered to himself as Temari deflected another barrage of projectiles with one simple twitch of her fan. After another five minutes of effortless defensive goading from Temari, Naruto got his answer. Seemingly bored of playing with her food, the fan wielder fully opened her fan for the first time. She then whipped it around and launched a massive wave of serrated wind at her opponent. The miniature hurricane instantly ripped Tenten from the ground and suspended her high up in the air.
A collective gasp of awe, and even a bit of horror, was drawn from the observing genin as Temari's wind mercilessly tore into Tenten's body. Cuts were appearing on her body with a quickness as she was strung up in the air against her will, and the wind didn't seem close to subsiding. After an uncomfortable stretch of what essentially amounted to extended torture, Temari's wind jutsu fizzled out. Tenten dropped from the air towards the ground at alarming speed, seemingly bound to be splattered on the stone flooring.
'She's going to die' Naruto thought urgently. Just as the thought crossed his mind, Tenten was prevented from hitting the floor by Temari, although in incredibly cruel and brutal fashion. Instead of opting to let her foe fall to the ground, the sand kunoichi closed her steel fan and stuck it out in front of her. Tenten then landed on the butt of the metal fan back-first with a sickening 'thud'. Temari then tossed her unconscious body away. Before the kunoichi's body could hit the floor, she was scooped up by Rock Lee, a teammate of hers.
There was a brief trading of verbal barbs between the genin, but they were quickly broken up by Genma. Once the 'festivities' were over, Temari made her way up the stairs and swiftly returned to her team with a smug grin on her face. Naruto's hands curled into fists at the sight of her.
'Cruel bitch. You'll get yours someday' he thought to himself rigidly. As with his fearful assessment of Gaara, however, the blonde was afforded little time to ponder the ruthlessness of Temari. The next matchup quickly appeared on the board and interrupted his thoughts.
"Shikamaru Nara will now face Kin Tsuchi!" Genma announced loudly. Shikamaru, who was standing a few paces to Naruto's left, sighed heavily and shoved his hands in his pockets. The Nara then plodded dejectedly towards the stairs to participate in his match. Once both he and the Sound Kunoichi were before Genma, the proctor called for the match to begin. What ensued was a hilariously apathetic and tepid performance from Shikamaru in which he spent nearly five full minutes simply plucking needles out of his arms and legs before seeming to consciously decide to win.