The crowd buzzed. People talked, placed bets, joked, laughed. For everyone, it was a festival, but not for the eight genin about to fight in the arena, nor for their loved ones.
Sarada sat next to Sakura and Ino, waiting for the fights to start.
"Oh, Sarada! What's it like living with Sasuke-kun, huh?" Ino chirped.
Sakura twitched at the mention of her future husband's name and stopped nervously biting her lips. The question stumped Sarada. She hadn't expected Mom's friend to show so much interest in her dad.
"In what way?"
"What's he like at home?"
"Same as always," Sarada shrugged. "We barely talk at home."
"I see... And the older one, Uchiha Shisui-san?"
"Ino!" Sakura protested.
"Whaaat?" she drawled with genuine puzzlement.
Sarada answered calmly:
"Shisui-san is very caring and kind."
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ino wink at Sakura. Sakura nudged her shoulder in response. Ino laughed.
Sarada couldn't understand how Mom's friend could be so carefree. Her friends were about to fight in the arena, and Ino...
She caught herself thinking the exam itself—where young genin risked their lives for the spectators' amusement—disgusted her. But it was just a miniature model of war. In reality, they'd all face no less grueling trials, and maybe such harsh selection really made sense? They were all shinobi. If you didn't want that, quit and work at a teahouse like Shinko. But her loved ones didn't take the easy path—maybe that's why they became great?
Down on the round arena, people appeared. Sarada realized she couldn't see anything through her dirty glasses and started wiping the lenses with the hem of her short dress. Ino stood slightly to get a better look at those who came out.
"Look, Sakura, different proctor. Not the one who was coughing."
Sarada peered at the man in the green Konoha vest, and he seemed familiar.
Genma-sensei. Who knew...
The genin followed. Short Kazekage with his entourage—Temari and Kankuro, Shikamaru picking his ear with his pinky, an unfamiliar guy with long dark hair, and another stranger in glasses, nose buried in the high collar of a light jacket.
"Who are they?" Sarada asked.
Sakura stared entranced at the arena, as if she heard and saw nothing else.
"Mm?" Ino responded.
"That guy in glasses and the one with long hair. Who?"
"The glasses one is Aburame Shino. He's weird, honestly."
"Shino-sensei?" Sarada wondered.
Curiosity pierced through her worry for Dad and Naruto. Seeing young Shino-sensei, whom they'd relentlessly tormented in the academy these past years, would've been interesting.
"The other is Hyuga Neji. They say he's a genius. He beat poor Hinata so bad in the prelims... By the way, where are Sasuke and Naruto? Haven't seen them," Ino continued.
Sarada wiped her glasses again. Dust had settled on the lenses, and her nerves made everything irritating: from the dirty glasses to Mom's chatty friend. Though she was grateful for the detailed answer.
Hurry up and start. This wait is driving me crazy.
She scanned the stands and spotted people in dark cloaks and white animal masks. A chill ran down her skin. Before her eyes flashed a tiger mask with red stripes, a kunai tip inexorably nearing her hand, Danzo's foul breath, then a bear mask and the deadly clash with an Anbu in her grandparents' house.
Those masks. I'll never get used to them.
Something orange shot out from the inner doors onto the arena, tripped, and skidded belly-first several meters across the ground, kicking up clouds of dust.
"Naruto!" Sakura perked up a bit.
Ino crossed her arms and grimaced.
"Yeah, better late than never."
Something warm stirred in her soul, and Sarada smiled.
She kept replaying last evening in her head. Naruto's look when he let her go home with Shikamaru wouldn't leave her.
The opening ceremony dragged on agonizingly. Genma-sensei stood on the arena with the chunin candidates, doing nothing. The future battlefield was lit by the sun, a shadow fell from the high rounded wall, and the proctor just stood there. No signal, nothing. The crowd buzzed. Naruto's yellow mop couldn't stay still: the Nanadaime fidgeted, tugged at Shikamaru, looked around until Genma lost the last of his patience and calmed him.
"Come on already!" Ino exclaimed irritably. "Why don't they start?"
Sarada fully agreed.
"Greetings, esteemed guests! Thank you for attending the chunin exam prelims in the Hidden Leaf Village!" the Third's raspy voice echoed across the arena.
Everyone fell silent.
"The main matches between the eight genin who passed the preliminary stages will now take place. Enjoy the show!"
The stands roared in eager anticipation. Genma-sensei turned to the contenders and talked to them at length. Sasuke still wasn't there. Sarada glanced at Mom: she'd darkened and sadly lowered her face.
"Sarada," Ino called cautiously. "Where's Sasuke-kun? Why isn't he here yet?"
She saw Sakura's worry too and tried to clarify. Sarada blinked rapidly and shrugged.
"I don't know. He was gone when I woke up."
Dad wasn't usually late, and it worried Sarada a lot.
Meanwhile, the genin left the arena. Only Genma, the Hyuga genius, and Naruto remained in the center.
"Hey, Sakura," Ino said. "I get you're worried about Sasuke-kun, but could you cheer for Naruto a bit too?"
The cheerfulness left Ino's voice; she was serious now. Sarada even felt involuntary respect for Mom's friend. Sakura forced a smile:
"Yeah, of course."
"Though against that Neji, our Naruto has no chance," Ino stated.
"You're wrong!" Mom protested.
"You think?"
Sakura bit her tongue.
Sarada watched the arena, realizing she knew nothing of her parents' past. Everything from their youth was unfolding now, and she had nothing to compare: had the past changed or not?
Mom had never talked about this chunin exam, what the Nanadaime and Dad were like... She'd tried, but based on Mom's stories, Sarada couldn't imagine anything like what she felt and saw now. A person from the future, she could've known it all ahead, but she didn't. She was experiencing it all as if for the first time, with her parents: worrying like Mom that Sasuke would make it, praying he and the Nanadaime would at least get out unscathed, if not win.
And nerves frayed more with each minute of tension. Orochimaru's attack on the Leaf—when? Now or later?
"They're starting," Ino whispered to herself.
Hyuga Neji, whom Ino called a genius, and Naruto faced each other. The Hyuga spread his legs wide into stance, while the Nanadaime just looked at him, hands down. Sarada didn't know how strong Naruto had become, but now he seemed closer to a fidgety kid who couldn't hit a target with a kunai than the Seventh Hokage.
Naruto charged with a yell. He threw kunai at his opponent, but the Hyuga caught them midair. Naruto went at him with fists.
"Idiot!" Sakura jumped up. "He can see your tenketsu!"
Sarada clenched her fists until they cracked. Tenketsu. Even Sharingan couldn't see them. Byakugan's ability was astonishing, supernatural.
Neji dodged deftly, dancing among the Seventh's shadow clones, redirecting blows with light short motions so all five Nanadaime—original and four clones—looked like helpless idiots. It seemed the Hyuga kid didn't care how many fought him; he led the fight anyway.
And he enjoyed it.
Neji quickly dispelled three clones, then casually approached the last, grabbed it by the scruff, and poofed it too. Naruto froze in confusion a bit away.
Sarada was furious with indignation and imagined fighting Neji in Naruto's place. Sharingan precog against Hyuga style. Close combat out. Too risky. No matter how Kakashi-sensei drilled her and Sasuke, going hand-to-hand with a Hyuga?..
First, she'd try genjutsu on Neji. Just meet his eyes. Unlikely he had experience against Sharingan. One slip, a stray glance, and the fight's over instantly. Genjutsu was still her main weapon. Few could resist Sharingan power. Per Kakashi-sensei, his rival Might Guy developed his own style against Uchiha dojutsu, but Sarada couldn't imagine fighting Gai.
But genjutsu sometimes failed, like with Kazekage. And failure could cost life. Unlike Shikamaru and his genius uncle, Sarada couldn't predict fight moves that far or in such detail.
She felt uneasy. Training with Kakashi-sensei had given her confidence, but how easily Hyuga Neji batted away Naruto's clones made her doubt herself.
The Nanadaime talked to his opponent. Finally, he offered a fist, showing he wouldn't give up, and made a whole crowd of shadow clones.
Even during the first wave of clones, Sarada involuntarily thought of Boruto and wavered again comparing father and son: same and different. If before she'd seen their styles as similar, now Boruto clearly lost to his dad in shadow clone technique. His old teammate couldn't make that many.
How much chakra does he have? And already at this age! Isn't that the power of the sealed Fox in him?
In all her time with Naruto, Sarada had half-forgotten he was a jinchuriki. Only at their first meeting in the past had she pondered the Nine-Tails lurking in the scrawny kid on the bench next to her. Then he became just a noisy boy, and she stopped thinking of Kyuubi.
The Uzumaki horde didn't faze Neji at all. Sarada enjoyed watching the Hyuga genius's smooth precise moves as an inner perfectionist. But seeing the orange-clad mob in desperate straits made helpless rage boil in her heart.
No way at all? Can't touch him? And Nanadaime... Clones... Is that your only technique?
Neji sped past the orange herd and struck the farthest in the chest.
One by one, shadow clones vanished, and memories of last evening flared again.
Naruto with hands clasped behind his head...
"Not sure it'll work out tomorrow..."
Time flew shockingly fast. How had that evening, when nothing was clear, turned into this moment with the Nanadaime on the arena... losing?
He vanished suddenly. One undispelled clone jumped into the air. Sarada's heart leaped after it.
Left a clone?
Neji couldn't dodge. Naruto's fist grazed his cheek, but the Hyuga spun, unleashing a chakra vortex around him. Naruto flew far back to the ground.
"But how?..." Ino stammered in confusion.
"I don't get it, he hit him..." Sakura added.
Naruto jumped up, made new clones, and they surrounded Neji. The Hyuga leaned slightly. Clones attacked, but a new vortex scattered them across the arena. Orange outfits vanished one by one, slamming into the ground.
"What is this?" Sarada whined in despair, not realizing she spoke aloud. "You're gonna be Hokage! You can't lose!"
She knew what a blow this would be for Naruto. As stubborn as Sasuke, ready to headbutt walls. But against the Hyuga's elegant moves, who saw through everything with Byakugan, Naruto's persistence was powerless. He was tired already. How much longer? How much stubbornness left in the Seventh Hokage of the Leaf?
Naruto stood. Neji's stance changed: legs wide, arms spread. It happened instantly. In a split second, the Hyuga was beside Naruto. His moves were lightning-fast, hands blurring too quick to see. The Nanadaime flew back and crashed, arms splayed.
Sarada's heart clenched in despair.
Genma approached the fighters.
Neji stood over the downed Naruto, who vainly tried to rise.
"No, look... He... How..." Ino muttered.
Naruto stood. For some reason, the Hyuga didn't interfere. So Genma wouldn't stop the fight; no winner yet.
"But he can't fight," Sarada nearly sobbed.
The fight went on. Neji didn't rush to finish Naruto. The stands held their breath, the boys facing off and talking. Soon the Hyuga removed his forehead protector for some reason.
"What are they saying?" Ino wondered.
Neji retied the protector. Naruto clasped hands and strained.
"They blocked his tenketsu," Sarada thought. "What is he doing?"
Dust and pebbles on the arena stirred and rose. Spectators jumped up. Around Naruto, ragged red ribbons of chakra writhed. Its power stripped leaves from trees and whirled dust and stones into a huge vortex. The Hyuga shielded his eyes with an elbow: the chakra nearly knocked him down. The orange ribbons shifted form, and soon Naruto's whole body was cloaked in chakra matching his outfit.
That's definitely Kyuubi.
But this chakra cloak differed from what Sarada remembered. Naruto didn't glow; the chakra wasn't pure, transparent yellow-fire like the adult Seventh's. This was deep red-orange, steeped, burning like campfire flames, not chakra. Naruto was far, but even on the stands, Sarada felt the sinister aura of his chakra.
He hasn't tamed the Fox. Something's wrong.
Fear slithered down her spine like a foul cold snake.
What if Kyuubi breaks free from Naruto right here in the arena?
Textbooks didn't mention it, but history had changed. Anything could happen. Sarada gripped the back of the lower row's seats and tried to peer from under the awning: she looked where the Third Hokage sat. She remembered the Kyuubi tragedy day. Sandaime and Yondaime Hokage barely subdued the raging Fox, half the village in ruins. Minato-sama sealed it but died. What now? One Sandaime couldn't handle it, and no other shinobi that level in the village! And Orochimaru with the Hidden Sand Village...
"And Shisui?" Sarada panicked. "They said Uchiha Sharingan can control Kyuubi. True? Can Shisui?"
Who knew what they said about Uchiha. Sarada with Mangekyo had no idea how dojutsu could control a bijuu. She looked back at the arena. The Nanadaime in red-orange chakra vanished.
The fight resumed.
Naruto launched shuriken at Neji, but the Hyuga deflected them with his vortex technique, caught them midair, and threw back with his own. Missed. Naruto vanished, shuriken embedding in the concrete wall. The boys fought at such speed Sarada couldn't follow.
They clashed. An explosion rang out, dust enveloped the field, debris flew everywhere. Genma barely stayed on his feet. The whole stadium shook, vibrated. The dust cloud grew; barely visible shadows slipped out and dove back into the fray, hidden from spectators.
Soon the roar faded, dust settled. Two holes smoked in the ground.
"Huh?" Sakura blurted. "Which has Naruto? Did you see?"
"No, I can't tell either," Ino replied.
All three couldn't sit back down, tense to the max.
A hand emerged from the right hole. Hyuga Neji climbed out.
"Damn!" Sarada groaned. "Him after all?!"
The genius was roughed up bad. He shuffled slowly, barely balanced, toward the second pit with Naruto's orange outfit. Smoke thinned and finally dissipated.
Neji loomed over the downed boy. Saying something... or not?
Through the stands' dead silence came faint words "reject" and "reality."
But suddenly the packed earth under Neji cracked. The Nanadaime burst from below and knocked out his foe with a powerful blow. The Hyuga fell, arms splayed. Sarada held her breath, but Neji didn't rise. Just lay staring at the sky.
"H-how?" the man next to them blurted.
Sarada didn't get it either. Too sudden.
But then the Naruto in the pit vanished, revealing a tunnel hole.
"He tunneled..." Ino started, then stopped.
The stands were silent.
"Winner—Uzumaki Naruto!" Genma announced loudly in the hush.
Sarada sank into her seat, Sakura and Ino behind her. Knees shook from tension. The crowd roared.
He did it. He pulled it off!
"Good job!" a girl yelled several rows up.
"And cute..."
Sarada turned jealously, squinting into the crowd for the voices.
"When did he get so strong?" Sakura said nearby, sighing pensively.
The Nanadaime waved joyfully to the crowd, jumping and squealing.
"Cutie!" a girlish voice squeaked from the upper rows on the other side.
All the warmth in her soul turned to bitter resentment at the world.
Sarada pressed a hand to her forehead. Her inner turmoil was driving her mad. Selfishness vs. duty. Attraction vs. guilt. And she couldn't resolve the dilemma.
"Sasuke's next fight," Sakura said.
All bad thoughts vanished from her head.
Dad. Now. Right now.
The crowd, tired of waiting, grumbled loudly.
"He's still not here," Ino replied anxiously. "What's going on? Sasuke-kun won't miss his fight, right?"
****
The shadow cast by the fortress wall on the outskirts' groves and estates grew steadily. Shisui switched to the other side of the post, leaned on the parapet, and gazed at the forest canopy like green writhing foam. The horizon line was blocked by broad blue hills' outlines.
"Eh," young chunin Matsuto lamented. "Bad luck, duty during the main exam fights."
"Eh, next ones in half a year," bearded Toru replied and lit up.
"Nah, not the same. That Uchiha kid's fighting today. Hey, Shunshin, that's your boy, right?"
"Yeah," Shisui grinned wide.
"Tough break with the duty. Worried for him?"
Shisui sighed. Of course he was worried. But not just Sasuke's fight nagged him—the latest meeting.
Konoha patiently awaited the strike.
Sasuke-kun, eh... Still mad at me, probably.
Shisui sipped from his canteen and kept scanning the horizon.
****
To Sarada's disappointment, Shino-sensei's opponent surrendered, and she never got to see her teacher in action. Shikamaru, on the other hand, stunned both Sarada and her companions to the limit, as well as the entire stadium. By irony of fate, the Nara heir's opponent turned out to be his future wife. When he was lying on the ground and trash was flying at him from the stands with shouts of "We want a Uchiha fight!", Sarada felt hurt. But soon the battle between Shikamaru and Temari captivated all the spectators. And if the crowd had no idea who this lazy kid controlling the shadow was, Sarada knew perfectly well that before her was the future Hokage advisor and Konoha's chief strategist. She had no doubt that Shikamaru would eventually find an approach to Temari, but no one could have foreseen that after that he would surrender. Only Choji smirked and opened a new bag of chips, saying, "See? I told you so."
"Bring on the Uchiha!" they yelled from everywhere.
"By the way, who's his opponent? Some Gaara..."
"I'll bet he's nothing compared to the Uchiha."
Mixed feelings overwhelmed Sarada. On one hand, pride that she was the heir to such a great clan. The entire stadium buzzed in anticipation of seeing her father's fight, and right now, Sarada was no weaker than him in strength. She was a Uchiha too. But on the other hand, all these people had come like it was a circus. Sasuke was supposed to fight the future Kazekage in a deadly battle; Lee-san had lost his health just to attend these matches and was bedridden, and all these people...
Like a zoo. And Dad was an exotic animal, an extinct species.
"They say the Uchiha will throw this fight!"
"You're full of it..."
"I'm telling you, it's true. I heard they broke all his ribs."
Sarada clenched her teeth. Exotic animal. Legendary Sharingan. Bets... These people knew nothing about the Uchiha. They didn't know about the despair and rage of the perished clan, couldn't imagine the horror of that night when Itachi went mad. The name Uchiha carried too much weight, and Sarada felt that even she didn't know everything.
But the time for the fight came, and Dad still hadn't shown up.
Sakura clasped her hands together, pressed them to her lips, squeezed her eyes shut, and silently whispered prayers. "Uchiha!" roared from all sides, the stadium raged; Choji crunched on chips. In the aisle stood Lee-san on crutches with his sensei. On the arena, Genma, Naruto, and Shikamaru were talking, but Sasuke was still nowhere to be seen.
And at that very moment, when Genma-sensei put away his watch and started saying something, Sasuke and the Rokudaime appeared beside him in a swirl of leaves.
She exhaled in relief. The stadium roared. Naruto jumped for joy. Sakura opened her eyes and beamed.
"Sas... Sasuke-kun!"
A little later, Shikamaru and Naruto left the arena, and Gaara descended. Genma was explaining the rules to the Kazekage and Sasuke again, somehow taking too long.
"Yo, Guy! Is Lee-kun recovering?"
They turned toward the familiar voice.
"Kakashi!" Guy replied cheerfully.
"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura exclaimed.
The Sixth glanced at her guiltily and scratched the back of his head.
"Uh... Sorry, Sakura. Made you worry. Sorry I didn't warn you."
Sarada thought her mom would pounce on him in rage, but she just turned away and lowered her face.
"It's not important anymore."
"What's wrong?" Sarada asked.
Sakura swallowed.
"Tell me... You live with him. Did you see? There was a bruise on Sasuke-kun's neck?"
"There was."
Sakura clenched her fists tightly.
"And... what happened?"
"Nothing. He and Shisui never really explained," Sarada replied sullenly.
"Sakura," Kakashi-sensei called shortly.
Mom turned at his call.
"Don't worry. It's all good now."
The Rokudaime squinted friendly-like. Sarada felt like she was being strung along. First Dad with Shisui, now the Sixth and Mom. Something had happened to Sasuke, and they were stubbornly trying to shield her from it.
"Where'd he get that bruise?" Sarada asked.
"From the second stage."
But she couldn't learn anything more, because the fight began.
A cork flew out of Gaara's gourd, followed by a thick cloud of sand shooting into the air. Sasuke dodged. The Kazekage suddenly clutched his head and lowered his face. The sand writhed above him, more and more accumulating. Gaara shuddered, pulled his hands away from his head, and the entire sand cloud crashed down. Breathing heavily, he lowered his head. His arms hung limply.
"What's wrong with him?" Sarada asked.
"No idea," Sakura replied just as surprised.
Gaara straightened up and crossed his arms over his chest. Sasuke hurled shuriken at him, but a wall of sand appeared before the Kazekage on its own and swallowed them.
A nervous shiver gripped Sarada. Memories of this man and his sand were far from pleasant, and in her imagination, moments from their fight in the ward kept flashing.
"Go, Sasuke-kun!" Ino squealed and jumped up from her seat.
'Everyone's rooting for Dad so much,' Sarada thought warmly, and she felt a little sad. 'And he doesn't care about any of them.'
The sand shield suddenly turned into a sand clone that caught the shuriken between its fingers.
"He... He's not forming seals," Sakura murmured. "Like he's controlling the sand with his mind."
They exchanged glances. Sakura remembered the fight in Lee-san's ward perfectly too and understood what this meant for Sasuke.
The sand struck Sasuke in a powerful stream, but he leaped into the air, deflected the shuriken launched by the sand clone mid-flight, landed, and engaged it in close combat. After a punch, his left arm sank slightly into the sand, but Sasuke struck with his right, shattered the clone, and leaped back. The sand rushed after him.
"Sasuke-kun..." Sakura said anxiously.
And then Sasuke vanished.
Sarada smirked.
It had begun. The familiar technique.
Sasuke reappeared behind Gaara and struck him in the jaw before the sand defense could catch up. Gaara flew back. The sand dutifully followed, caught its master, and gently lowered him to the ground.
There it was—the Rokudaime's tactic. It was working!
Sarada cautiously glanced at the focused faces of Guy and Lee. It felt unfair to Lee-san: copying his fighting style with dojutsu, the one he'd trained his whole life. She felt guilty, damn it, for some reason. Sasuke himself wasn't tormented by conscience and had yielded that honor to her.
He continued attacking Gaara. Flickering so fast that the eye couldn't keep up.
"Incredible..." Ino said in awe.
Sarada glanced at Kakashi-sensei.
"What kind of training did you put him through?" Guy asked, frowning. "How'd you achieve all that in just a month?"
The Rokudaime explained.
"Had to sweat for it, of course," he added, glancing at Sarada with his one visible eye.
She hastily turned away.
Gaara formed seals, and the sand stirred, forming a sand sphere around him. Sasuke charged at the Kazekage's defense and punched, but the sand shot out spikes. Sasuke leaped back. The spikes retracted into the sphere.
Footsteps echoed from above the sector. Panting Naruto and Shikamaru burst onto the platform over the seating rows. After their fights, both looked a bit battered and dirty, covered in scratches.
"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto yelled.
He seemed unusually agitated.
"Mm?" The Rokudaime turned lazily.
"Stop this fight! Right now!"
"What?"
Kakashi looked at the arena, then back at Naruto.
"You're worrying for nothing."
The Rokudaime squinted, watching Sasuke from afar.
"We didn't arrive late for no reason."
Sasuke launched from his spot and attacked Gaara, who had cocooned himself in sand defense. The sand sphere bristled with spikes, but Sasuke dodged—he had activated his Sharingan.
But all his attacks were useless.
'I think I know what he's going to do,' Sarada thought.
"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto screeched. "He's crazy! Insane! Nothing like us! Stop the fight, ttebayo!"
"Calm down and watch him already," the Rokudaime replied a bit menacingly.
Naruto fell silent.
Sarada carefully studied her sensei's face, hidden under the mask. On one hand, she wanted to see if Chidori would work and if Sasuke could beat the Kazekage, because that would mean she potentially could too. But on the other... She agreed with Naruto.
Sarada didn't know why the Nanadaime had suddenly flipped out, but that Gaara was insane was well known to her. How such a man could become Kazekage and the Seventh's friend was still a mystery. And at the same time, Sarada imagined how furious her father would be if Kakashi-sensei intervened.
Meanwhile, Sasuke had climbed to the very top of the arena's rounded wall.
No doubt, Chidori. That's why you climbed so high, Dad. Want more runway?
Gaara walling himself in sand and doing nothing played right into Sasuke's hands. Forming Chidori took too much time, and Sarada and the Rokudaime had openly doubted if he'd even manage to use the technique against Gaara.
Finally, the first flickers of Chidori sparked in Sasuke's hand. The technique ignited, lightning discharges piercing the space around. Sasuke launched, leaving a deep furrow in the concrete behind. The deafening sound of Chidori, like the chirping of a thousand birds, echoed across the stadium.
"What... What is that?" Naruto exclaimed.
"Incredible... So much noise. What technique is that?" Sakura asked stunned.
"Chidori," Sarada replied.
Sakura and Ino looked at her curiously.
Sasuke thrust Chidori into the dense sand sphere, and his arm sank inside. For several seconds, nothing happened, then a horrific roar spread across the hushed arena.
He hit?!
Sasuke retreated and tried to pull his arm back, but the sand gripped it.
Damn. No! Like with me, like with Lee-san... He'll crush his arm!
Lightning discharges wrapped Sasuke's arm again, and the sand reluctantly released its victim. From the hole pierced by Chidori crawled an ugly sand tentacle veined with bulging blue veins.
I've seen this before. Seen it...
The tentacle lunged after Sasuke but missed and retracted. Dad dropped to one knee, clutching his left arm.
Sarada jumped from her seat.
"Kakashi-sensei!"
The Rokudaime frowned. Sarada squeezed between the seatbacks and knees of Sakura, Ino, and Choji, stepped over the pile of chip bags, and ended up before her mentor.
"Sensei! It's from that illusion!" Sarada exclaimed desperately.
She had told him and Sasuke how genjutsu hadn't worked on Gaara, but Kakashi thought it was a counter-illusion, though he didn't fully understand how the sand kid had suppressed Sharingan genjutsu.
She'd thought so too. Sarada believed in her eyes' power, but she still had a ways to grow. And she had clashed with the future Kazekage after all; anything could be expected from such a man. But now she understood: it wasn't an illusion.
"A monster with exactly that kind of body as this tentacle..." Sarada said in a lowered voice, almost pressing against the Rokudaime so outsiders wouldn't hear.
Kakashi-sensei frantically shifted his focused gaze from her to the arena and back.
Sudden drowsiness washed over Sarada. Her eyes grew heavy. Kakashi-sensei's face blurred; it was hard to focus on it.
Out of nowhere... So this is...
She halted her chakra flow.
Kai!
The Rokudaime and Guy did the same.
Naruto lay sleeping on the stairs, Shikamaru already beside him.
Sarada looked around. The entire stadium was falling asleep.
"Kakashi-sensei..." she murmured in confusion.