Third-Person POV

Kazue's ears were ringing intensely from the sound of the explosion as it had gone off with him right in front of it.

S#@t, that was too close! If that tag was even a fraction late... it would've been all over...

The disbelief that he truly could have lost washed over him, but he decided not to dwell on it for long, keeping his eyes firmly open thanks to the issue at hand.

Kasane. It's genjutsu on another level, one that bleeds into reality. Every time she exposes her skin those weird-a$$ pores come floating out of them and if my body ingests them in any way (like if I breathe them in) it screws with my brain and forces my perspective to adjust to a new environment of her choosing. Damn, does it piss me off. One wrong move and she could blip me out of this arena.

It seemed as though Kazue was the only one in the arena. He could neither see nor, even as his hearing had returned, hear Jin.

And that's not all, he continued, the shoes she was wearing. I've never seen her wear anything like them before. They're probably designed as a supplement for her stealth. Tch, as if she wasn't sneaky enough already! She's not making a sound!

Then there's no other choice. If I don't wanna lose, then I'm gonna have to resort to that tactic. In which case-- "DAMN EVERYTHING ELSE!!!"

He then unleashed his Lightning Style: Stream directly onto the ground creating an electric current across the entire arena that then detonated the eight remaining explosive tags.

"Oh, hell no!!" said Temari. "That kid's insane!!" Before the explosion reached her, she had brought her giant fan out and dove into the tunnel while riding it.

The explosion was so immense that the Barrier Jutsu itself had taken actual damage and could be visibly seen for a moment. The spectators had to turn their eyes away from how bright it was.

"What the hell is he doing?" Daito exclaimed. "He's not gonna win much favor with the jonin grading him if he's gonna hurt himself while fighting!!"

Yuura asked, "Tensho, you went to speak to Jin just before the match started, right? Please tell me she had a strategy for winning in mind."

She shook her head. "If she did she never told me. But, judging from the way she spoke..."

"What?" Yuura egged her on.

"... I don't think Jin wants to win."

"Look, there she is!" Fumino pointed.

Though Jin had managed to narrowly dodge the explosion, being within range of the immense heat and wind pressure had forced her to deactivate Vanishing Walk. Kazue could now see her too.

"There you are," he said. "You know you're just like a rat, always scampering about, and being nearly impossible to catch. But unlike a rat, you've got no common sense! What the hell are you thinking, huh? Running into the explosive tags like that! You really wanna die that badly? Since when were you so obsessed with wanting to win?!"

"I'm not," she finally spoke to him. Now Jin, was very evidently bleeding in several places but she still got up and as she spoke, she found that she was able to speak almost succinctly. "I don't want to win. You already know I don't care about that...!"

"Then what the hell's got you acting this way?!"

"It's you...!!"

He was taken aback. And it was also apparent that while the Barrier had made been made to contain ninjutsu it did not filter sound, which meant that everyone watching could hear them as well. Tsunade was looking at Kakashi, for she was almost certain he had expected this to happen.

"What do you mean 'me'?" Kazue asked. Though he already knew the answer he refused to admit it, so he had asked, hoping he was wrong.

"You... you said it yourself: I had been wasting my own time," she said. "For the longest time since enrolling at the Academy there have been so many things that I've wanted to do - making friends, attending extra classes, playing with the other kids, even just talking to other people - but I was always, always afraid and so I ended up never being able to do them, and it left me feeling like a mistake.

"Kazue, you're ... you're one of the things I'm most afraid of. But even so ... you'd made me realize just how much of an idiot I had been. Something my aunt and uncle had been trying to tell me for years I hadn't realized until you ... one of my greatest fears ... had to spell it out for me, and it's that no one gets what they want by doing nothing! When I had first learned that you would be my opponent I was terrified, in fact ... I still am, but then I thought to myself later on that that fear was something I needed to address, to become the kunoichi-- the ninja that I know I can be.

"I... I may not want to win, but- but I'm not going to back down either! If you want to win, then you'll......," she swallowed down hard on her own saliva, "then you'll have to beat me first..."

Oh. Kazue thought, bowing his head. So that's how it is.

He thought back to the end of their first mission together, and when all three of them had shared their dreams with one another.

And the subtle smile she had given him when he had congratulated her on her victory against Rui.

It broke him.

He thought to himself that he never should've supported her dream. Now he was caught in a dilemma of his own making. His mind was boiling over the two greatest issues, disappointing his father and having to beat Jin. The two thoughts continued to rage against each other over and over and over again, fueling his anger, up until the moment he saw Iroko's face.

His breathing then slowed down, and the focus in his eyes had returned. Looking up, he saw that Jin was already disappearing again.

"Damned if I do and damned if I don't," he said, equipping a kunai. "Then again, this is what you want, isn't it? COMBUSTION STYLE: GREAT SUN!!"

Similar to his father's jutsu but on a much smaller scale, Kazue manifested a massive flaming orb above him that took to shining as bright as the sun itself.

"Agh!" Another blinding attack! Jin thought. Such an attack always forced her to close her eyes causing her to lose focus of her Vanishing Walk.

Before Jin could even fully recover, Kazue had lunged straight at her with a Fireball jutsu. Her eyes flew open in bewilderment and she somersaulted away almost instinctively. She landed on the wall just below Team 32 from the Cloud where Rui had been staring indignantly at her the entire time, but that was the least of her concern.

"He's on the offensive now," said Yohei. "What changed?"

"Yeah, good question, buddy. What did change?" Daito followed-up. "Why's he choosing to act like himself now? Maybe what Jin said had struck a chord with him."

"Speaking of what she said, I had no idea Jin felt that way," said Fumino.

"How could we?" said Baku, coming out of nowhere. "Even within a ninja society, social constructionism still favours extroversion. The only exception is those who showcase talent to make up for their behaviour. Unless they wish to have their voice heard, the meek and quiet will almost always be ignored in return."

Yuura and Tensho had stopped speaking.

I'm not sure why he's suddenly trying to close the distance between us when he's aware of Kasane, Jin thought, but I could use this to my advantage. If I had attempted to use Kasane on him just then I probably would've been knocked out before I could even activate it but if I can incapacitate him first, then I might have a chance then!

Jin squeaked in terror as Kazue continued his barrage of explosions, not giving her a moment longer to think. Her arms had never moved as fast as they had at that moment as she released more and more of her Binding Cloth to block and absorb his attacks. He came at her from every angle possible, using Burning Rush as means to rebound his trajectory. What Jin had to watch out for was the streak of electricity that passed through the air because that would be exactly where the explosion went off allowing her Binding Cloth to promptly intercede. She knew that right now, this was Kazue taking her seriously, and now she was questioning if this was the right move after all.

When he emerged through the smoke of the last explosion, her heart began to beat uncontrollable from fear as she gazed into his eyes seething with fire.

"What are you waiting for?" he said. "This is what you wanted, right? So fight back already!!"

Then all the doubt and terror came back and she felt she wanted to run away from everything. It made her grip her cloth even tighter.

But I can't.

I won't.

Because more than anything else, being able to stand here, in this arena, was always my dream.

And now that it's a reality, I don't want it to end just yet.

So sorry, fear, but screw you!! 'Cos I'M A KUNOICHI!!!

Once again, Jin's footwork had changed. As she performed another backward somersault she grabbed a handful of her Binding Cloth in both her hands and then flung them in either direction of her. Asami and Yuura had to move out of the way when they saw the Cloth come and wrap itself around the handrail of the baluster, likewise on the other side of the stadium.

With both pieces of Cloth attached to the handrails, she tied the ends of them into a knot and lifted herself on top of them.

Kazue became mystified. "What the f--"

Then Jin had launched herself over Kazue and across the arena like a stone from a slingshot, and with her followed a vast array of her Binding Cloth, completely surrounding Kazue on both sides. The orange-haired ninja recomposed himself in midair so his front was facing her but by the time he had realized what Jin's plan was it was too late. The Binding Cloths that had him surrounded were starting to emanate light and spark.

You've gotta be kidding me... He thought sickeningly. Almost all of my attacks were absorbed?

"Now, Discharge!!" Jin said.

Kazue had to dodge and deflect his own bombardment of ninjutsu while keeping his front firmly fixed on Jin. Looking at her he didn't see a scared girl anymore, instead, he saw something else.

Whenever a battle reached a peak as high as this, both opponents, no matter what their personality was, would reach a stage in the adrenaline rush known as a battle frenzy. When a human is pushed into a corner, their survival instincts will kick in and they become something akin to wild and ferocious animal that fights to stay alive.

Looking closely at Jin, Kosetsu studied the craze in her eyes and how absorbed she was in the battle. She looked no different from Kazue just then...

...and that made her sad.

Is this what you stood for? Is this all the world meant to you?

"This match is about to come to a conclusion," she said to Mei.

The Sarutobi snorted on her drink. "What? What are you talking about?"

"Just watch closely," she replied.

"JIIIIIIIIIIIIIINN!!!!" Kazue shouted, streaming through the Binding Cloth towards her with Burning Rush.

It's now or never!! As gravity fell on them, Jin made one more series of vigorous arm movements.

The Binding Cloths that were attached to the handrails, the ones left lying on the floor, any loose ones that flailed about aimlessly, all came whipping forth at Kazue, like a nest of snakes. The girl had expended every last cloth wrapped around her body, fully revealing her delicate but sweat-ridden arms, legs and abdomen. Kazue became enraptured in the cloth and fell from the air looking like a trapped fly tightly wound in a spider's web.

But it didn't end there. With one final tug from the last cloth she held, she pulled herself towards Kazue who was staring at her with wide, fanatic eyes and blew right past him, sticking the landing with a greasy slide the moment they touched the ground.

All the Rookies, jonin and even Temari were left speechless.

"So that's the elephant you were hiding this whole time," Kakashi mused, "isn't it, Jin Mitarashi..."

"Did... did... Jin just win...?" Daito struggled to say.

Tensho held her breath in. It was too much to take in. Something somewhere was bound to happen right when they least expected and she would've gotten her hopes up for nothing.

However, nothing did happen. Kazue remained bound in the cloth, unable to move. Was this actually happening?

"Seeing all these faces of disbelief," Baku said, looking around him, "it looks like no one had expected her to win, me included."

Tensho objected. "Uh, hold on, that's not true!"

"Really?" said Baku. "So you had always believed that Jin, the small and frail-looking girl with no almost no combat prowess would be able to beat one of our class' best who, by the way, has a short fuse and a Kekkei Genkai that was practically made to kill."

"... I think I liked you better when you didn't talk."

"Same."

Temari came walking out of the tunnel. She was going to check on Kazue but had stopped suddenly. Jin had her hand raised out in front of her, telling Temari to stop. She was out of breath and covered in bruises, but she was still standing.

The Binding won't be enough to stop him, she thought, but it's given me the perfect opportunity, my one and only opportunity. That's right, the time to use Kasane is now--

BA-DUMP

Like a shot, Jin immediately felt immense pain course all throughout her body. It was so overwhelming that she found herself collapsing to the ground and gasping for air.

"Hey, something's wrong!" Yuura cried. "Why is she suddenly on the ground?"

"Agghh, of course it wouldn't be that easy!" said Daito.

Jin put her hand to her mouth as she began to cough irritably. A moment later she held her hand out before her and saw blood.

What? Why? Why is this happening? My body feels like it's about to shut down on me! Am I out of chakra? No, I made sure I had conserved enough to use Kasane, but I wouldn't otherwise react like this unless... unless I had already used Kasane.

"Jin! Jin, are you okay?" Tensho called out to her. "Can you still fight?"

The kunoichi made no reaction to indicate that she had heard her.

"It's no use," said Fumino. "While the Barrier Jutsu allows sound from within the arena to escape it also prevents sound from entering the arena. Dad told me it was a security technique to allow supervisors to closely monitor the participants, and it helps the participants to focus on the match without needing to worry about outside distractions. Neither her nor Kazue will be able to hear us."

"Dammit!!" Tensho cursed.

"I guess since the scenery hasn't changed you couldn't do it, huh?" Kazue spoke. "Good, that means it worked."

Jin felt a sense of unease stir within her. "What are you ... talking about?"

Then he started making a grunting noise, and as the seconds passed it became louder and louder.

"Wait, what are you--" She was struck speechless by the glow from the Binding wrapped around Kazue and the sound of tearing.

"NNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGHAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!" As the boy screamed his head off, the Binding came loose and was blown off of his body. Jin was scraped across the arm and knee by the pelted rubber and then was once again thrown off her feet by the wind pressure.

All spectators watched with awe as Kazue rose from the ground, free from Jin's Binding, while the kunoichi held a piece of her now fractured cloth in her hand.

No way, this was made out of the Blood Tree and yet he still managed to destroy it by overwhelming its rate of Absorption. Her vision became blurry from tears. Mom, I'm sorry...

"If you think I'm gonna apologize for breaking that you'll have to cry harder," said Kazue. Shit, he thought at the same time. I think I used up the last of my reserves to break out of that, but she's out of chakra too. I can end this.

Ena, Asami and Kosetsu were the only individuals that could see Kazue's legs shaking as he struggled to stand upright. He was more than just tired, they knew.

"Yuura, Tensho, look over there," Asami pointed.

"How..." Jin's voice cracked, "how did you manage to evade Kasane?"

"So you figured it out. The first time you had attempted to use it, right before I set off the explosive tag, you were actually successful. I could feel it in my bones, that if I blinked even just once it would be game over, so I didn't."

"What? You mean he went the entire time since then without blinking?!" Daito exclaimed.

"Wait, I don't think that's all there is to it," said Fumino.

"No, you can't have gone that long without blinking," Jin continued, "especially not in the heat of combat. I won't believe it!"

"You're right about that. There's no way anyone could go that long without blinking, but I didn't have to. I just needed a way to disable the jutsu. During the week off we got to train I had thought to myself: 'If Kasane is still a genjutsu, then that means the same principles must still apply, and if the same principles still apply then that means the same weaknesses still apply, too.' So I ended up having to resort to that tactic, even though it would hurt like hell..."

Jin's eyes widened in shock as Kazue turned his body sideways to show what everyone else had just seen. A kunai that was sunk halfway through his leg just below his knee. "...but it worked out in the end. The moment I blinked afterwards, and nothing happened, I knew I had bested your stupid genjutsu."

"THAT IDIOT!!!" Tensho shouted, her torso going over the handrail.

"T-Tensho, please calm down!!" Yuura and Fumino each placed a hand on her shoulder to prevent her from falling over.

Jin was horrified at how far he would go to avoid losing, and it was all her fault. She quickly became racked with an overwhelming sense of guilt. Thinking back on the match, she realized he must have stabbed himself right after he had unleashed Great Sun to blind her because she saw that he pulled out a kunai from his pouch just before. From there it all started to make more sense: From the way he kept himself mobile using his Kekkei Genkai rather than walking or running, to the way he had kept the front of his body facing her at all times, to the drops of blood she had seen across the arena. She even had thought it was her blood at first but in truth, she had not sustained an injury severe enough to yield that much. He had. And the more she thought about it the more her tears began to multiply.

Now that the adrenaline had begun to die down, Kazue could not help but clutch his thigh from the searing pain. He could feel the warmth of the blood as it ran down his leg to the floor.

"Well, what's it gonna be?" he said. "You're all out of chakra, and you've got no more aces up your sleeve. I think it's time you gave up."

"You're out of chakra, too," she said right as he finished talking. "It took everything you had to break out of my Binding Cloth and your body is far more damaged than mine."

"So?"

She took a fighting stance.

No. No, no, no, NO, NO!!! He wanted to scream but he had lost too much energy. All he could do was stare at her vindictively. After everything I've put you through. You're literally down on your last legs, and there's no chance of success anymore. So why? "WHY WON'T YOU JUST GIVE UP?!"

He realized he had said that last part out loud. Too late to take it back now. Why did he say that, though?

"I told you," she answered. "You're going to have to beat me if you want to win. And I'm still standing."

Why did he say that? He continued to question himself. Why did that action warrant such a reaction from him? What painful memory of old had been triggered?

And then he knew.

In Jin's place, he had been imagining a seven-year-old Iroko standing there all along.

And by Hagoromo, did it piss him off.

Kazue was the first to swing, throwing a jab right at her face which she narrowly evaded. Reaching into her pouch for the first time since the match had started she grabbed a handful of shuriken in both her hands and chucked them at him at point-blank range.

Kazue, caught off-guard at first, doubled back in order to perform a somersault of his own to dodge them. Landing on his right leg he felt a jab of pain surge through him but ignored it, equipping another kunai then flung it at Jin's hand as she reached into her pouch for a smoke bomb to throw. The kunai sliced off a layer of skin on her fingers, forcing her to retract her hand and allowing Kazue enough time to run up to her with several kicks and punches ready to be served.

The crowd now looked on with discomfort. Here was a boy that now had no choice but to physically engage a girl in combat, and he had jumped at it with almost no hesitation.

"Aggghhh, I don't think I can keep watching anymore," said Yui, covering her face with her hands.

"You could tolerate everything else just fine," her sister replied.

"Yeah, but I can't handle seeing a girl get punched by a boy!"

"Then don't look if you don't want to," said Kanbe, "but you realize that these kinds of things happen in real life, right?"

"Yeah, of course..."

"Then these Final Rounds are supposed to mimic that. In a fight for your life, it won't matter what gender your opponent is, only that you have to come out victorious no matter what. That guy down there, I respect him for that." He looked at his teammate. "Just wanted you to know that before the start of my match."

Yui looked confused at first then inhaled sharply as she remembered. "Right, you're fighting a girl, too....."

Kanbe redirected his gaze across the stadium to Fumino. When her eyes had met his she looked away knowingly.

Meanwhile, the fight back in the arena had taken a turn for the worse. Jin had no skill in taijutsu and she was significantly drained of strength so all she could do was evade his attacks, but by constantly moving around Kazue bled more and more, causing his right leg to lag behind the rest of his body.

But Kazue was still the best for a reason. Although his whole body would not move how he wanted it to he made up for it by focusing his attacks and making sure each one landed the mark. When Jin tried to go for a punch to his face he blocked the attack, grabbed her by the collar of her blouse, and hit her with a heavy head-butt. Tensho had become livid.

The purple-haired girl stumbled back and fell to the ground then before she knew it, Kazue was on top of her, having grabbed her by her throat and began pressing his fingers against it. Jin was flummoxed. She grasped his hands, trying to remove them, and even punched him in the face and throat but the boy would not budge.

Temari made a move to intervene but she was halted by the voice of Kakashi over the comms.

"No, don't, Temari. Let it happen," he said.

"But he's strangling her!"

"Don't worry, I can guarantee you he doesn't intend to kill her."

"No, that's not what I'm worried about, Kakashi. I don't think she can hold out much longer. The adrenaline's gotten her this far but I don't think she's aware of how much damage she's taken internally."

She heard him heave a sigh. "Well, if that's the case, then I'll leave it to your judgment. But I don't think she would be too happy if you stopped the match now, after all this may be the only chance she has to prove herself. Nevertheless, it's your call."

Temari gritted her teeth when she saw Jin's legs start to flail aimlessly in the air. "Fine, I'll wait, but I just know I'm gonna regret this."

"Ain't no use struggling, Pipsqueak, it's all about to be over," Kazue said under his breath. Jin's face had now wrinkled into a crying mess. "No, don't give me that look, I didn't want it to come to this either, but you just kept overestimating yourself, both of you!!"

She could feel her airways getting cut off and her vision was darkening, but before the light could go out she managed to catch a glimpse of a considerable amount of Binding Cloth that was left over from the explosion some 20 metres away. There was still a chance. But first, she had to get out of being asphyxiated.

She scanned her immediate vicinity for anything like a rock or pebble to use but there was nothing anywhere near her, then she remembered the kunai lodged in his right leg. She could not reach it with her arms but she could still freely move her legs, however, she would need to angle her body to the left to give them enough leeway. So she started to violent shift her body, giving Kazue the impression she was giving one final futile attempt at trying to free herself.

"I said quit struggling, dammit-- AGH!!!"

Once her legs were in the position she proceeded to thrust her left foot at the kunai, causing it to tear through his skin. As she predicted, the sudden wave of pain had caused him to loosen his grip allowing her to throw his hands off of her and deliver a powerful kick to his chin. "Sorry!!"

"Yeah, that's it, make a run for it!!" Tensho cheered.

As soon as she was on her feet she ran straight for the Binding Cloth.

If I can get ahold of the Cloth, maybe I could Discharge the Combustion jutsu he used! She was closing in on it - but then her vision suddenly became very blurry.

Huh...?

Her mind became cloudy and she found herself collapsing to the ground that very same second. Kazue and the rest of the rookies looked on in shock while Temari groaned.

My body ... won't move. My head hurts. Everything hurts.

Am I about to pass out?

"No," her raspy breath prevented her from enunciating her words clearly, "not yet..."

She looked up. The Cloth was only a few strides away from her. She tried to crawl towards it but her arms and legs were completely limp.

No, please... not yet...

I still haven't... I still haven't proven myself to him...

As her eyes glazed over the stadium she caught sight of the Hyuga girl and her expression of fear and worry.

Tensho, everyone... Jeez, this is so embarrassing...

I wouldn't be surprised if people were judging me right now........ ........ ....... .... ... .. .

Kazue did not make any further attempt to attack her. He watched with a sombre expression as Temari ran over to her still body.

A moment later she raised a white flag and said: "Jin Mitarashi is out of commission! Kazue Katsumi moves on to the Semifinals!"

A round of applause rose for the orange-haired ninja which was far more than he deserved. He sat down on the ground and took to cauterizing his wound.

Right afterwards, a team of medic ninja arrived to take Jin away on a stretcher. Temari must have called them at some point and told them to be on stand-by, Kazue thought. When she saw this, Tensho broke away from the baluster and ran for the infirmary. Fumino followed after her.

"Well, that was an entertaining match," Baku took his leave as well. "It's a real shame, though; I was rooting for her."

"Yeah, me too," said Yuura, though Baku was already out of earshot. "All those times I saw her reading alone in the library I never would've guessed she was capable of this." Some part of me wishes I had talked to her back then.

"Did you hear what Kazue had said about her Kekkei Genkai?" Asami asked.

"You mean the part about Kasane?"

"What are the chances that was what she had used on us back in the Forest of Death?"

Having planted the idea in his head, it all clicked for Yuura. The part about the scenery changing as soon as he'd blink was exactly what had happened to them. "Oh my gosh! That was Kasane, wasn't it? But do we know what the requirements for activating the jutsu are?"

"No, but Kazue had mentioned that the activation of the Jutsu had been successful around the time he had self-detonated his own explosive tags. At that moment Jin appeared right beside him. If we take that into consideration and how he had avoided being within close proximity of her for the first half of the match, it can be surmised that the key to activating the Jutsu lies on Jin's person."

"Either it's her clothes, one of her tools, the Binding Cloth, or Jin herself," said Yuura. "Well, at least we have some idea of what happened that day. Combined with her gift for stealth it's no wonder we didn't see it coming until it was too late." Thinking back to the Forest of Death had then caused him to remember: "OH, CRAP, WHERE'S IROKO?!?!"

Dragging his right leg with him back into the dark tunnel, Kazue limped past the Masked Man without saying a word to him.

"Congratulations," he said.

There was no reply. He kept on limping away.

"Your parents would be proud of you," he added.

He finally stopped. "Was he watching?"

There was a long silence before he replied. "He left about halfway through."

Kazue kept on.

"Make sure to stop by the infirmary to get that treated."

Even though the Masked Man could not see it, he was sure the boy was gritting his teeth in absolute anguish.

🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃

"Next up," Temari announced. "Itsuki Miura and Iroko Nakata!!"

The first boy whose name had been called was already making his way to the arena through the tunnel. At that time he thought about the previous match and what it was he had learned from it. That even the most weak-looking and unassuming of characters always had something up their sleeve. Technically this was something he already knew, but it had been reaffirmed in light of Jin. It was why he had questioned how confident Kazue was in victory because he had sensed something dangerous about Jin based on her match with Rui Takaya.

The same threat he sensed in Iroko.

But even if that's the case, he spoke to himself, I shouldn't forget about my strengths either. Remember where you started from. Keep your origin and your ideals close to you, and you'll be able to go places you never thought possible.

The sunbathed light of the arena enveloped him as he walked out into the arena.

"Hey, Ena, he's already in the arena," Genzo said to the girl when she had begun to wonder where he was.

"Okay, but where's Iroko?" she questioned. "He's still not here?"

Genzo furrowed his eyebrows in annoyance. "That guy better not be running late after he promised to do this!"

Temari looked around. "Iroko Nakata! Is he present?"

Yuura came sliding on Rolling Torrent back to the bleachers. Panic and worry were written all over his face. "I've checked every single place that genin are allowed to be at in this stadium - he's not here!! Agh, of all the times for him to be late for something, this is the worst one of all!!" Because for him, it's not just about fighting Itsuki!!

"You don't think he forgot the Final Rounds were happening today, do you?" Daito asked.

"No way, he of all people wouldn't forget."

"Okay, but just what if he did? We don't exactly have a lot of ideas as to where he could be. I'm thinking we swing by his place to check--"

"If Iroko does not show up within 10 minutes - no, that's too generous - within 8 minutes," Temari shouted, "the match will be forfeit and victory will go to Itsuki!!"

"Nevermind, that's not enough time to get to anyone's house and back."

✧✧✧✧✧✧✧✧✧✧✧✧✧✧ At the same time✧✧✧✧✧✧✧✧✧✧✧✧✧✧

The smell of antiseptics and cleaning supplies hit Kazue in the nose the moment he swung open the door into the infirmary. The last time he had been in a medical clinic was before he had enrolled in the Ninja Course so the sight and smell of it felt like a distant memory to him.

It just so happened that he had accidentally walked in on a conversation between Tensho, Fumino and the nurse. The room had gone quiet the moment they saw him. Jin lay on a cot between the two girls and the woman, very much unconscious and covered in bandages.

"I'm here to get my leg treated," he said, ignoring the obvious tension in the room.

"Oh, of course," said the nurse, "why don't you sit on that cot over there and I'll take a look at it."

"Well, I think I'll be going," Fumino said. She gave Tensho a hug and shot a strange look between anger and pity at Kazue (which grated on him) before disappearing back out into the corridor.

It was just Team 4, minus Kosetsu left now. Kazue could hear the soft rise and fall of Jin's breath but he did not dare to look at her. His expression had once again turned sombre when he locked his gaze on the Hyuga. There was a gloomy look over her eyes.

"Red--"

"No, I don't want to hear it," she stormed out of the infirmary without another word.

"HEY!" Kazue jumped off the cot and ran after her.

"W-Wait, what about your injury?" The nurse called after him.

"Dammit, Red, don't walk away from me!" Kazue grabbed her by the shoulder and she lashed out at him with tears in her eyes.

"What do want from me, huh?! Just go away, I've got nothing to say to you!!"

Now that he was standing before her, he found that his head was blank; he didn't know what to say regarding the circumstances, and Tensho could tell. It was all so muddled.

"Well, congrats, you won," she sniffed, managing a painful smile. "I hope you're happy now..."

She walked away. Kazue wanted to stop her, to do anything, but he was so confused and angry with his own emotions that all he could do was scream: "DAMMIT, TENSHO, I DIDN'T ASK FOR THIS!!!"

"So how did you know the match was coming to an end when it did?" Mei asked Kosetsu.

She looked the Sarutobi woman up and down and concluded she was already tipsy. "I've been watching Jin for well over a month now. And I knew right from the end of the Prelims, when the match-ups had been announced, that this wasn't a match she would be able to win. But I made no attempts to demoralize or discourage her because I knew exactly what the match would mean to her and her development as shinobi.

"Kazue's greatest strength is his tenacity in contrast to Jin's unnerving subtlety. Both their Kekkei Genkai are representative of this, so they would have continued to cancel each other out so long as Jin could hold her ground. In terms of physical strength, Kazue does completely outclass Jin so when I realized that both of them were starting to run dry on chakra (as well as what his strategy to counter Kasane was) I knew the tides of the match would take a turn in his favour from there."

"So, what does that mean?" Mei asked. "That Jin never stood a chance from the beginning?"

"No. It had surprised me when Jin had continued to fight even after they both had exhausted their chakra deserves but it had only made me realize something else about her that was always there. All of the emotions and sensations she was feeling, the anxiety, fear, pain, adrenaline, and just having had her airways blocked mere minutes ago, proved to be way more than her body could handle. And yet, most people as withdrawn and non-confrontational as her would've passed out from it all ages before. For her to have gone on for as long as she did in spite of all those waves of feelings proves that her potential for greatness was there all along, and she still has plenty of room to grow. The match today, as a result, was a close call for Kazue, and I'm almost certain he's aware that if they were to fight again in the future no one knows what the outcome of that match would be."

"Uh-huh, okay, got it," Mei said with a slur. Kosetsu deadpanned at her stupor, wondering if even half of the things she had said had gotten across to her.

"Kosetsu, Mei, do you copy?" Shizune came through on the comms.

Kosetsu responded almost immediately. "What is it, Shizune?"

"We have a Code Red! Meet us at Entrance D to the stadium!"

"Understood. Mei, let's go!"

"Roger that!!"

When they arrived, they found both Hisao and Issun-boshi were already there with Shizune, inspecting the elevator.

"What's the sitch?"

"I received an alert from the Barrier Team of an unidentified chakra signature accessing the elevator twenty minutes ago. We've only just now confirmed it was him."

"Wait, why are only receiving this alert now if he had infiltrated twenty minutes ago?" Boshi asked.

"We're still not sure. There was an interference with the system about a few minutes before the matches had begun in earnest but none of our sensors had picked up on it until it had repaired itself about five minutes ago."

"This isn't good," said Kosetsu. "He managed to mess with our surveillance and that means he's been inside the stadium since then. If we haven't located him yet then he must be hiding somewhere."

Hisao touched the comms device inside his ear. "Lord Sixth, did you get all that?"

"Loud and clearly," he responded. "It looks like my plan may be working a little too well. But if he has yet to make a move then that gives us time to prepare. Whatever his motive is, the safety of the genin comes first at all costs. Shizune, you know what to do from here."

"Yes, Lord Sixth." Shizune then switched her comms from the private channel to the broadcast. "Attention all jonin, the suspect has already breached the perimeter since twenty minutes ago, I repeat, the suspect has already breached the perimeter since twenty minutes ago. I want all personnel on high alert from this moment forward! Squads 13 and 34, please conduct a sweep of the perimeter at once! Hisao and Issun-boshi, that includes you two as well."

Confused about the situation, Mei asked: "So who exactly is our target? I mean, what information do we have on him already?"

"I'll fill you in on the way," Kosetsu answered.

As they were moving out again, Issun-boshi leapt to the top of Hisao's head.

"Are you ready?" He asked the dwarf.

He nodded suit. "Better let the lass know as well."

"Of course," Hisao switched the channel on his comm, then spoke. "Asami, are you there? Do you read me?"

Amidst her teammate's squabble as to what to do regarding Iroko, she heard him. "Hisao-sensei?"

"The target has breached the perimeter. I repeat, the target has breached the perimeter."

She felt something get lodged in her throat at that moment, and the voices of her teammates were drowned out from consternation. "Okay then. What do you need for me to do?" she asked in a low voice.

"For now, keep a close eye on your friends ... and be prepared to protect them if it comes down to it. I'll keep you updated on what's going on."

"Got it."

"3 minutes left!!" said Temari.

At this time, Ena had come running over to their side of the bleachers.

"Yuura, what is going on?" she demanded. "Just where is Iroko?!"

"We-we don't know," he said. "He's not in the stadium - we don't know where he is."

"Well, did he tell you when he'd come or how long he would be?"

He shook his head. "He hadn't said anything, I'm sorry."

"Ena, look, just forget it okay?" Genzo burst in. "There're less than two minutes left, he's not showing!!"

"But, Itsuki--"

"I don't know what exactly is going on between the four of you," Asami cut in, "but answer this: Did he promise you he would face Itsuki?"

Ena realized the question was meant for her. "Um, yeah, he did--"

"Then that's all there is to it. Because he made that promise to you, he will come, no matter what."

Genzo scoffed.

"Then there's really nothing else we can do," Yuura heaved, "except hope for a miracle."

Slowly, Ena closed her eyes and put her hands together as she prayed. "Please, Iroko..."

Temari looked at her stopwatch. There was only one minute left. "Well, it looks like he's a no-show, kid," she said to Itsuki. "Want me to just declare you the winner so we can move on?"

"If you don't mind, I'd like to wait until the timer runs out," he said.

"Sure thing, not that it'll make much of a difference."

The seconds passed.

Still, Iroko never showed.

"Is he actually not coming?" Tsunade said in surprise. "I had pegged him as the type that would never miss this for the world."

"So did I," said Kakashi.

Temari voiced the countdown.

"5...

...4...

...3...

...2...

...1..."

Nothing changed. Itsuki sighed in disappointment. Iroko, how could you...

"He never showed..." Yuura felt at a loss for words. The disbelief was overbearing.

"Something must have happened to him then," said Daito, "I say we drop by his place anyway since he's already missed his shot."

"Yeah, sure..."

"Well, in the absence of Iroko Nakata, Itsuki Miura wins the match by default!! Sorry about that, kid."

Itsuki said nothing and started to make his way back to the tunnel, feeling cheated.

"I... I don't understand," Ena quivered. She looked at Asami. "You said he would show. You said he would keep to his promise!"

*CRASH*

Everyone looked up at where the sound had come from. A kunai had broken through the glass dome and was falling into the arena.

Kakashi shot out of his chair in alarm. "He's making his move!!"

Shizune switched to broadcast. "Heads up, the enemy is making his move!!"

Every jonin in the bleachers had set aside whatever it was they were doing and prepared to rush Momotaro.

Just as the kunai was about to touch the floor of the arena, it had fazed out of existence and Iroko had landed in its place.

Iroko was there.

Everyone but Asami now had their jaw hanging low from astonishment.

The blue-streaked boy seemed just as stunned as the rest of them. "Woah, that was trippy."