Desert Flower

The Final Tournament

The day of the tournament had come. Yuri walked into the stadium to see it completely packed from shinobi from other villages who had come to see the matches. She saw Shikamaru, Shino, Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara standing the in middle, waiting. There was another exam proctor, waiting as well. Yuri noticed that Dosu was nowhere to be seen, and so was Naruto and Sasuke.

"Where's Dosu? I'm supposed to be fighting him but he's not even here..." Yuri thought to herself, wondering. "He's definitely not that kind of guy to just quit. And Naruto's not here as well as Sasuke. Where the heck are they?"

After a while, there was still no sign of Naruto or Sasuke. It was only a few minutes left before the matches were going to start. Yuri began pacing, getting a little worried.

"Did something happen? She thought to herself before she glanced over at Gaara with a suspicious look. "Don't tell he actually did it." She recalled what he said back at the hospital when he threatened her, Naruto and Shikamaru.

"I will kill you all."

Yuri shivered, shaking the thought from her mind. Then there was a sudden loud noise heard from the rear entrance of the stadium.

Naruto flew directly at Yuri, and he slammed into her. Yuri screamed as she was knocked back and she crashed into someone else. She groaned as sat up, rubbing her side, still painfully throbbing from Naruto had hit her.

"Ow. That hurt-" Yuri paused when she realized that she was sitting on top of someone. Gaara. She felt her heart racing getting faster and faster and started to sweat, getting a little nervous. Oh crap...

Temari and Kankuro stood, stunned, with a look of panic in their eyes.

Gaara's eyes were widened a little in shock as well before they turned dark as he glared at her.

"Get off."

Yuri immediately quickly got up, taking a step back away from Gaara. Gaara got up.

"I'm sorry-It was an accident, although it was kind of Naruto's fault! I-I didn't mean to bump into you- Yuri stammered, drifting off a little, nervously. Gaara said nothing and turned away from her with his arms crossed.

Yuri quickly turned back to Naruto, glaring at him angrily saw he sitting up, rubbing his head.

"Naruto...!" Yuri growled. Naruto's eyes went wide as saucers and Yuri grabbed him by his collar, pulling him up and started shaking him.

"What's the big idea!?" She demanded.

"It's not my fault! There's a huge herd of stampeding bulls coming this way!" Naruto shouted. Yuri frowned.

"What bulls?"

Naruto looked around, only to find the competitors who were staring back at him, noticing Sasuke wasn't among them. "Hey, where's Sasuke?"

"He's not here. And Dosu, isn't, either." Yuri told him. Naruto's eyes widen.

"You don't think..." He whispered.

"I hope not." Yuri spoke.

"That's enough talking." the exam proctor spoke. "It's time to face your spectators. In this tournament, you guys are the main stars." Yuri looked up at the stadium, seeing many people from different countries. Sitting high above were the two leaders from the Leaf and Sand Village. The Hokage and Kazekage.

Yuri saw Kankuro and Temari grew tense when they saw the Kazekage and noticed Gaara glaring at him. The Third Hokage stood up.

"Thank you everyone for coming to the Hidden Leaf Chunin Exam Selection!" He announced. "We will start the main tournament matches. Between the nine participates who made it through the preliminaries! Please stay and watch until the end!"

The exam proctor stepped up and held out a chart in front of everyone. "I'd like to tell you something before we start the matches." He spoke. "There has been changes made to the tournament. I'm giving you a chance again to check to see who you are fighting."

Yuri's eyes widen in surprise to see her name has been moved up and Dosu crossed out.

"Did he really forfeit?"

"Hey!" Naruto shouted.

"What?" The proctor asked.

"Sasuke's not even here yet. What are you gonna do?" Naruto asked.

"If he isn't here by the time his match starts then he will lose by default." The proctor said before looking at everyone else. "Alright, this is the final test. The arena is different, but the rules are still the same as the preliminaries. You fight until one of you is dead or admits defeat. But I will also step in when I determine if the fight is over. You got it?"

No one said a word.

"Now, the first match is Naruto Uzumaki vs. Neji Hyuga. Those two will stay here and the rest of you will go to the waiting room."

Naruto and Neji stayed, and everyone left the arena, heading to the waiting room. As Yuri walked in, she saw Shikamaru a little further away, watching over the railings, Shino was leaning against the wall, Kankuro, Temari and Gaara, waiting by the railings to watch the match.

Yuri slowly made her way over towards the Sand team, standing next to Temari and Gaara. Kankuro blinked in surprise when he saw her walk over.

"Is this spot taken?" Yuri asked.

"Yuri?" Temari spoke, surprised. Gaara ignored her as he looked down, to watch Naruto's match. Yuri looked down to see Naruto and Neji facing each other about to fight.