Naruto's little sister

Preliminaries?

Inu's POV

~~~~~~Time Skip~~~~~~~~~

We all were gathered around in some huge hall. All the rookie 10 were here. Thank god. I was standing behind Naruto, Sasuke behind me and Sakura behind him.

"First of all congratulations on finishing the second exam!" Anko shouted, smirking at us. Her smirk didn't look so twisted anymore. Nothing seems scary now..except snakes..and ghosts..and..I'll stop there.

Hinata was next to me, she was looking at Naruto, twiddling her index fingers. I giggled a bit.  Our team was the only team which had four people. Woah...

I saw Gaara eyeing me and I smiled at him

"Hey look! All of the leaf village rookies are here too!" Sakura whispered to us.

I nodded, smiling. "Hey..everybody's here. Old man Hokage, Iruka-sensei, and even Bushy-Brow! It looks like absolutely nobody got left out this time!" Naruto said.

Sasuke clutched at his curse mark. "I don't have a very good feeling about this.."

"Alright listen up everyone." Anko commanded. "Lord Hokage is going to explain the third exam to you. And you better listen carefully, you maggots."

"Lord Hokage? They're all yours.""

Gramps stepped forward. "First, before I tell you what the third exam contains, I want to explain something about the test itself. Listen closely now, It's something that all of you need to understand. I'm going to tell you the true purpose of these exams."

True purpose? More lecture?

"Why do you think the countries who hold the exams together with their allies? To raise the ability level of the shinobi, and increase friendship between wide nations to be sure, but it's important to understand it's true meaning. The exams are so to speak.."

"They are representations of the battle between allied nations." What?

"Now, if we look at our histories, all the countries that were apparently allied with, were once neighbouring Nations . The allying was just beneficial and temporary agreements. For years, Nations jockeyed their strength against the other, open, or in secret, and struggled in its brutal way, until they found another way! The way of the Chunin Exams!!" Hokage said.

"But, that's not correct!! I thought this exam was to select Chunin!" Naruto protested.

Hokage explained that choosing Chunin was the real purpose, but it had some stuff..just a big, boring speech.

"The third exam is a fight for life with the pride of our village and your own dreams at stake." Hokage continued.

"Whatever, can we get on with the exam already? The life and death stuff can wait." Gaara said, and I giggled a bit at his tone. I quickly muffled it so that no one heard, but guess who was looking at me? Ya, my very own sensei..Kakashi-sensei!!

Then after some talking, a guy jumped from the roof to Hokage.

"Lord Hokage..before you do, Please allow me, Gekko Hayate, appointed as proctor of the third exam, to speak first." Hayate said.

"So be it." The Hokage replied.

He stood up. "It's nice to meet you all, I'm Hayate, and I'll be the proctor for the third exam. However, I'll need you all to do something first." He coughed. Is he alright?

"You see, um...We have to have a preliminary exam before we can move on..to the real one. And whoever passes will move onto the real one..."

"Preliminary? Just what do you mean by that??" Shikamaru shouted.

"What's the point of having preliminaries? I don't understand.." I asked aloud.

"Too many candidates have passed. As the Hokage said, many important people are here to watch you, and according to the rules of the chunin exams, a preliminary round can be held anytime to reduce the number of particiants. You can forfeit if you want, it won't bring down your team."

I'm not gonna quit. "Ah." Sasuke's voice said from behind me. I turned around. "Sasuke?" Sakura asked, worried.

"Sasuke..I think you should quit...that mark's hurting, isn't it? Sasuke, please!" Sakura continued, wiping tears.

"I'm going to tell them about it..about that Orochimaru.." I said, worried too. I started raising my hand, but Sasuke pulled it down forcefully. "Don't you dare. It's my choice, Inu." Sasuke hissed at me. "B-But your neck.."

"Forget about it! You're making a scene." He said, and shoved my hand away from his. "B-But.."

"Shut up, Inu. I told you before. What I am is an avenger. For me, this is far more than just an exam. Whether I become Chunin or not means nothing to me. Am I as strong as I can be? All I want, is an answer to that. I can only find out, by fighting the strongest..the best.This is the path I walk,, and not you, or anyone can change it." He said, glaring at me, while Sakura and Naruto watched.

"Hey you idiot!! Why don't you just quit like she says! She's saying it because she cares about you!!" Naruto shouted at Sasuke.

"Naruto. You're one of those I want to fight the most. You too, Inu." Sasuke said to Naruto and me. we stood there in a little triangle looking at Sasuke.

"Before you get the answer, I hope you don't turn out dead." I said, worried, then I turned around.

The only person that did quit was Kabuto

"Alright then. We'll now begin the preliminary round." Hayate-sensei said. "This round will consist of one on one individual combat, to full battle intensity. This is not an exercise. There are 22 of you. That means we will need 11 matches. The surviving candidates from these matches will advance to the third exam. As for the rules, there are none. You will fight until one dies or forfeits. Or is rendered physically incapable of continuing the contest. We don't want a blood bath now, do we?" Hayate continued.

"Well, isn't he charming.." I murmured to Naruto.

They continued, and some board thing came out from behind the wall. They said that two names will appear, and they will have to fight.

"Let's begin. In a moment, the names of the first two opponents will appear."

We all looked up at the monitor thing.

It scrolled through various names and stopped at two. I gulped.

RYUICHI SOMA VS INU UZUMAKI. It said.