Stream of past

Preliminary Round

Today was the day. The day when the last teams arrive and the third round officially starts. And Naruto was very excited. Team 7 had arrived yesterday in the afternoon and since they arrived early, managed a good night's sleep in a comfy bed. Once morning came, Sasuke rudely woke him and Sakura-chan up with a bucket of cold water to the face, the asshole.

"Payback for last night." said Sasuke. And then Sakura proceeded to throw a pillow in his face before stomping towards the bathroom. Naruto burst out laughing as Sasuke plucked out feathers from his hair.

Twenty minutes later, team 7 was dressed up in their gear while looking absolutely fabulous. The braids that Sakura gave them last night resulted in them having wavy hair the next morning. Naruto thought his hair looked kinda weird, but, between laughs, Sakura said it made him look more handsome so he kept it. Sasuke on the other hand demanded that she fix it, so Sakura used her chakra to straighten his hair back to his emo glory. 

They went down to the mess hall to eat breakfast, Naruto being horrified at the amount of tomatoes on Sasuke's plate and being torn between being impressed or concerned for Sakura as the pinkette downed 12 cups of coffee in one go. I've found my people, thought Naruto as he inhaled his 10th cup of ramen.

At 10am sharp the remaining teams assembled in an indoors stadium with a platform raised on a wall. There was a small stage where the hokage was standing in front of a very impressive statue of 2 hands. There were 7 teams in total, 1 from sand, 1 from grass and 5 from leaf. All of the teams were assembled in the room and were chatting amongst themselves. Hinata was attempting to talk to Naruto without fainting and it was going surprisingly well, while Ino was giving her a thumbs up and an encouraging smile and Kiba was trying to interrupt Naruto and Hinata's conversation before he got kicked in the balls by Ino. Shikamaru was talking with Choji and Shino. Sakura was talking with Tenten, the two of them watching and commenting the weird conversation between Lee and Sasuke unfold. Sasuke responding with 'Hnns' and 'Aaas' and Lee somehow understanding them. Then again he was teammates with Neji, so he probably had experience. Speaking of Neji he was having a staredown with Gaara of all people, huh...didn't know he was suicidal. The hokage cleared his throat and started his speech about nation pride and all that stuff before the proctor for the third part, Hayate Gekou, stepped forward and explained that they will be having a preliminary round. The room exploded with indignant yells before they were swiftly silenced by the hokage.

"There are too many participants this year, a lot of important guests will be watching and we can't afford to waste their time, so if any of you aren't in top physical condition-" Hayate was interrupted by his own coughing fit. Naruto heard Sakura murmur "Well that's a lung infection if I've ever seen one..." and had to hold back a snort. "A-anyway, now's your chance to forfeit." Kabuto raised his hand and quit and then Hayate pointed towards a screen. The genin waited with bated breath for the first battle to be revealed, they watched as the screen went through random names before settling on 2:

Yoroi Akadō vs Sasuke Uchiha

"*cough**cough* Will everyone except Yoroi Akadō and Sasuke Uchiha, please go to the platforms." The genins quickly went towards the platforms to let the 2 fight. Sakura pat him on the back and wished him good luck while Naruto screeched a "You better not lose, bastard!".

Once the area was clear, Hayate gave a quick resume of the rules before allowing the 2 to start. Yoroi started by throwing a fist of shuriken towards the Uchiha, that he flawlessly dodged, but the older gening was fast and already in his face. The two of them locked each other in hand to hand combat before Sasuke tripped the guy and got him in a choking hold with his legs. It seemed to be over, however the guy placed a hand on his chest and started draining the raven haired male's chakra. Having part of his chakra drained left Sasuke feeling weak and wide open, Yoroi using the opening to punch him in the sternum and free himself from the hold, before jumping away. 

The Uchiha watched as the other ninja started advancing on him to finish him off, he faintly heard Sakura & Naruto yell at him to 'move', but he couldn't. He watched helplessly as Yoroi put his hand on his forehead and started draining his chakra. The man sucked a bit of his chakra before Sasuke had enough and kicked the man in the stomach, putting distance between the two. Sasuke wobbly stood up before the man was advancing on him again, but this time he managed to dodge the incoming hands aimed for his head. Sasuke aimed a kick at the man's head but he dodged. He needed a plan, and fast, but what to do, what to do...

He got snapped out of his stupor by Naruto screeching at him to get his act together. He saw Lee, Naruto and Sakura watching him with concern and got an idea. It was gonna be tricky but if he manages to pull this off, he will win the preliminary. While the guy was monologuing he took out some ninja wire and a kunai that he had tied. Yoroi launched himself forward and started trying to aim for his head, when he got too close to home he threw the kunai tied with the string and used it to pull himself away. He saw Sakura do this a lot of times while sparing, using her chakra strings to get out of the way of an incoming attack, and because he is unable to make them, he improvised. Once got away he landed on a hand and twisted his body in a way that when the guy advanced on him, he tripped. And it worked. He knew this strategy was effective because it was used on him many times.

Mid fall he twisted himself in front of Yoroi and used one of Lee's moves to kick him up in the air, before he himself jumped after the man and started kicking him down using his new move, Lion Combo. Once they reached the ground the older genin stayed down, unconscious with blood tracking down his face, while Sasuke stood up on shaky legs.

"The winner of the fight is: Sasuke Uchiha!" declared Hayate. Sasuke smirked before putting his hands in his pocket and walking up the platform to stay next to Sakura and Naruto. Once he reached them, Kakashi ruffled his hair. "Good job, Sasuke." said the jonin.

"Nice use of the wire." said Sakura smirking.

"Hn."

"Nicely done you bastard! I knew you could do it!" exclaimed Naruto.

"I do have to say, Sasuke, I am most certainly impressed! The springtime of youth is strong in you!" said Lee as he created rainbows and sunsets all around him. Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke sweatdropped.