Konoha's Chef (Gaara Love Story)

17: Final battles

Author's POV

"For those who won today's matches, come down and draw a stick," Lord Hokage ordered. Genin trooped down to the arena floor and grabbed a random stick from the box. Participants were paired up, and the listed showed the matches for the finals. Akimi found her name paired with Dosu, and Sora with Suiu. Lovely. Sasuke vs. Gaara; Neji vs. Naruto; Temari vs. Shikamaru; and Kankuro vs. Shino. They all have a month before the finals, so the participants had time to prepare.

"Also, just because you win your match does not make you Chunin," Lord Hokage warned them. "Earning the Chunin rank is based on your performance during the match."

"So you could lose and still make it to Chunin," Suiu remarked.

"Right. You have one week before the finals. Dismissed!"

As Team Three headed back to the Nao Clan houses, Sora mentioned that he wanted train with Daikoku Funeno Sensei. Shigekazu chose to study in the library, and Akimi would find some old friends to help her.

"Best of luck, everyone!" Akimi called to the cousins, running off to the forests.

"If I were you, I would train physically, 'Kazu," Sora sneered, looking at Shigekazu.

"However, you aren't. There's no need to say my name like that either," Shigekazu replied haughtily.

"Hmph,"Sora grunted, taking a couple steps forward. Then stopped to look at the setting sun. "You should, at the very least, prove yourself a valuable asset to the team. You can barely 'see' without wasting large amounts of Chakra, and your fighting skills are lower than the average Genin."

"I am aware, Cousin. You don't need to be so anxious." Sora walked away, leaving his cousin behind.

"He's right though," a voice spoke above Shigekazu.

"I am fully aware of that. However, it annoys me he is the one to bring that to my attention," Shigekazu sighed.

"I'll leave you alone then," Daikoku Sensei said cheerfully.

"So irritating."

Back with Akimi, she ran back to Grandpa Kosuke to tell him about the Chunin exams.

"Oho! So you made it, eh?" He exclaimed, smiling. Another set of patrol guards sat around the fire to listen to Akimi's story. "Sounds like you had fun."

"I did!"

"Man, you kids have it easy," Oboro sighed, leaning back. "Back in our time, my team ran into Team Kakashi."

"Who's Kakashi?" Akimi asked curiously.

"Oh, he's a former ANBU captain who beat us up, literally. His dad was known as the White Fang," Oboro explained. "Now, though, I hear he's a Sensei. The second time my team went to participate in the exams again, we fought against Guy too."

"Uh, Guy?"

"Yup! He's known as Kakashi's rival," Shibire added. "When they were kids, Guy would challenge him endlessly. Kakashi beat him all the time."

"It's different now," Oboro retorted. "They're on the same level, well, at least for physical stats."

"I don't want to compare their mental levels," Shibire warned. "Anyways, Akimi, what will you do now that you've passed the preliminaries?"

"I wanted to see if I could go train with some old friends," Akimi explained. "Which reminds me, Grandpa, I want to specifically train with Annie and everybody else. Can we, you know, work something out?"

"Which Annie?" Grandpa Kosuke wondered.

"Leonhart. Reiner and Bertholdt too. Oh, and Eren, Christa, and Ymir."

"Let's see,.....from the Walls? Are you sure you want to do that?" Grandpa Kosuke asked. "Surely, you don't need to ask all six of them to train, do you?"

"Uh, may I?" Akimi pleaded. "I want to learn that really awesome move from Annie!"

"How about just Annie, then?"

"Well, all of them have their own strengths. I want to learn from all of them. Plus, six trainers is better than one, right? Also, Eren learned the move from Annie, so they can both help me!"

"Okay, I'll see want I can do," Grandpa Kosuke sighed, a gentle smile on his face.

"Thank you, Grandpa!"

"You've got some interesting friends outside the village, huh?" Oboro remarked as Akimi dished up some stew for them.

"Yeah! Grandpa takes me out pretty often, so I get to see new friends."

"Good then. Let's eat!" Shibire said. "Itadakimasu!"

"Itadakimasu!"