A/N: So, to be blunt, the fights are long and while important to the manga, aren’t directly important to the storyline of this book. So, like many people have done before me, I’m going to skim over the fights that aren’t completely important. If you reeaaallly need to read those, I have no problem pointing you to the manga chapters. I’ll even pm you a link. :D

P.S. The song to the side really suits Jun & the pic is a slightly older Noriaki, the Naruto character creator (seeing as I can't draw xD) won't let me change age, so this is it! He's actually cute in my opinion... XD

Watching Naruto and Neji’s fight while sitting next to members of the Hyuuga’s main family wasn’t Kazue’s idea of fun. In fact, it was far from her idea of fun. It didn’t help that when Neji started off about his grudge, Hatsu stiffened and leaned forward, her usually pale face seeming to grow even worse. Her small hands were clenched in her lap so tightly that Kazue almost expected to see blood stain her pale palms.

Personally, Kazue felt the same. She couldn’t blame Hatsu for her reaction. The situation between the main and branch families of the Hyuuga family made her feel grateful for her own clan’s position on such a matter. While Noriaki had always been expected to protect her, he’d never been made to do so. He did so by choice, although how much of that choice was influenced by the way they were raised, Kazue wasn’t certain.

She’d always done her best to push those sort of thoughts from her mind, uncomfortable with the answers that might arise. Especially considering that the few times, very few, that she’d seen Noriaki remove his bandages enough to reveal the scarred flesh beneath, she’d been stung with guilt knowing that it was her fault. Almost on their own accord, her eyes flickered to where she could barely see Noriaki tucked into the corner of the box with the participants in it. His head was turned towards the fight, but she could easily make out how his wrapped hands were gripping the railing. For once she was glad that his mane of blonde hair blocked his face from her view, seeing as uncertain whether or not she wanted to know exactly what expression he was wearing.

Then came the surprising part of the fight. Naruto, on the edge of being defeated, suddenly seemed filled to the brim with some sort of chakra that seemed uncharastically strong for the kid. She could only stare as suddenly, it didn’t seem that unbelievable that he might win. Her hands clenched in her lap as she wistfully imagined it being her out there, displaying her new jutsu.

A second later a wry smile curled onto her lips.

If it was her, she would have been beaten thoroughly by now. Kazue was nowhere near Neji’s level. With that thought in mind, she wasn’t surprised as Neji was the only one to stand after what seemed to be the final attack of the match. A soft sigh escaped Hatsu’s lips from beside her and Kazue glanced at the girl in surprise, finding actual disappointment on the Hyuuga’s face.

Did she want Neji to lose?

Kazue opened her mouth ask, but was startled back to attention as a sudden crack echoed around the arena. Her eyes were met by the incredible sight of Naruto standing above a dazed Neji, his entire body moving with the effort it took for the blonde to draw a breath.

Naruto had won?

“Hell yeah!” Jun shouted out from the box, breaking the stunned silence as he thrusted a fist in the air. “That was so badass!”

Kazue buried her head in her hands as the crowd began to cheer for Naruto.

“I don’t know him. Please tell me I don’t know him.”

Hatsu simply patted her on the back, an amused smile tugging onto her lips as the energetic raven-haired boy ignored the many disapproving looks he was getting as a result of his refusal to budge from the railing he’d positioned himself on before the beginning of the fight. When Noriaki leaned in to say something to the boy, Jun simply grinned and replied cheerily. Looking slightly annoyed, the blonde turned around and started away from the railing. Without warning, Jun simply shoved off from the railing and dropped into the arena. Neither Kazue or Hatsu could catch what he said to Naruto as he walked past, but whatever it was caused the two of them to share large grins and high-five each other before moving on.

“Who wants to watch this?” a spectator called out.

“We want Uchiha!”

Jun simply grinned, bracing his hands behind his head as Noriaki finally emerged into the arena.

“Settle for a Kumara!” he shouted back.

Silence descended, accompanied by a wave of whispers from those who recognized the surname. Jun’s expression faltered for a moment, as if he hadn’t expected so many people to remember his clan, before returning in full force as he pushed a false sense of confidence into his tone.

“Gonna wait, now, are you?” he questioned cheekily.

As Noriaki passed him to reach his starting position, he cuffed the boy over the back of the head, sending a wave of amusement through the arena. A sheepish expression flashed across Jun’s face as he laughed good naturedly, dropping his hands.

“Guess he thought I was getting too full of myself,” Jun announced. “Told me to shut up.”

The laughter picked up, as did Jun’s grin in response.

“Looks like he’s feeding off of the crowd,” Hatsu murmured thoughtfully.

“That’s Jun’s specialty,” Kazue replied, shaking her head in what was a mixture of disbelief and almost a bit of admiration for the boy. “Drawing out reactions. The better he gets, the more pleased he seems to be.”

A pregnant silence drifted through the arena as the two boys fell into their ready positions. The moment the proctor signaled for them to begin, Jun clasped his hands together in what Kazue recognized as the beginning of the jutsu she’d spied him performing last night. Anticipating the coming light, she squeezed her eyes shut.

“Lightning Illusion: Light pillar!”

Even with her eyes shut, she could sense the sudden, blinding light that flashed through the arena. When she opened them again, Noriaki was blinking rapidly, then suddenly tensed as his eyes darted around him.

“That boy…” she heard her grandfather mutter and glanced towards him.

“What is it?”

“That’s a supplementary jutsu,” her grandfather replied instantly, eyes resting on Jun still. “It’s not really been given a particular ranking, but it is slightly difficult to master if you don’t have an abundance of chakra. It’s used to distract your opponent, giving you a moment to slip them into a genjutsu without their knowledge. Useful, certainly, but I can’t imagine that it’s very healthy for a boy of his nature to use that much chakra at once…”

Far below them, Jun’s body trembled, the constant practice atop of the use of the jutsu having taken a toll. His lips twisted up with grim amusement, fully aware that he was taking a gamble and almost enjoying the thrill it gave him. When he was exhausted, it was harder to suppress his own natural ability, but the jutsu was worth it. Noriaki knew him, knew what to look for when it came to Jun and Jun alone. By adding in the new move, it kept him from being overpowered only minutes after stepping into the arena.

It did mean, however, that he’d already used up an alarming amount of chakra.

He could feel it, the power he, in his mind, simply labeled as Kurai Jiko- his dark self. As Noriaki struggled with the vines that had seemed to sprout out of the ground and twist around his body, Jun closed his eyes. The feeling that swept through him when he left Kurai Jiko unchecked for a moment was indescribable. It was like a drug, it begged to be allowed to continue. A second later, though, he squashed it, forcing it to the back of his mind. Instantly a headache sprung up and he barely kept himself from reaching up to rub his temple.

It was Noriaki he was facing. He couldn’t afford to lose control.

Especially with so many eyes on them.

The seal on his shoulder burned- although not as strongly as it once would have. Kurai Jiko had long since begun to leak past the seal’s power, perhaps it was simply too strong to be blocked, like with Yakumo, or perhaps he simply didn’t have the mental strength to help the seal. Either way, what was once a crippling pain when he was younger was something he could easily ignore now.

He watched, barely avoiding the detached feeling that threatened to take hold, as Noriaki broke out of the genjutsu. His lips twisted up, almost labored breaths escaping through them. Jun had waited too long, if he’d launched himself across the arena seconds ago the fight would have ended then. The faint amusement grew and he laughed, settling a hand over his face. He’d been too busy suppressing his monster to win the fight- yet he believed he could keep being a shinobi like this.

Surprised, Noriaki paused in his approach, simply staring at the boy.

At the silence that swept through the arena, Jun pulled his laughter under control, completely aware of where the sudden euphoria had come from, yet frankly uneasy over the matter. The comparison of Kurai Jiko and a drug was too perfect. It as like a high, every time you touched it you wanted more. He wasn’t touching, he’d suppressed it, but the feeling was there.

Was Jun going mad?

It was too early for that, wasn’t it? He wasn’t Yakumo.

He wasn’t Yakumo. He wasn’t Yakumo. He wasn’t Yakumo.

The chant seemed to swirl around in his mind, drawing another bark of laughter from his lips. It was like those lines had become his mantra. He wasn’t going mad because he was Jun, not Yakumo. He hadn’t overused his abilities through all of the strenuous practice because he wasn’t Yakumo. He wasn’t losing control, he wasn’t Yakumo.

When had his cousin become his excuse, he wondered.

No, calm down, Jun urged himself. It wasn’t over yet. He wasn’t finished. He hadn’t practiced all that time to lose within moments of stepping into the arena. No, he practiced to win.

Seeming to shake off his uneasiness over Jun’s strange behavior, Noriaki launched himself forward, swiping his katana from its sheath. The moment he’d come within two feet of Jun, however, he paused, looking around himself in confusion.

Everything had gone white.

That almost mad sounding laughter seemed to echo in his ears as he shook his head, attempting to remind himself that no matter what he was seeing, or hearing, Jun was still ahead of him. The boy hadn’t moved, he actually looked too exhausted to. The white meant nothing.

He hadn’t seen Jun perform a single hand sign. When had he put the jutsu in place?

From her position in the audience, Miki tensed, her arms crossed over her chest. She’d arrived just before the start of the fight, taking up a position towards the back of the area that the majority of the genin had chosen to place themselves in, and watched the fight through narrowed eyes. She’d known the moment that he’d performed the first jutsu that something was off.

The way that Jun was standing stock still and completely silent as Noriaki whipped himself about, staring at empty air told her that she’d been right. Although, if she took the calm expression that had taken over Jun’s face after his laughter from before had calmed, the boy was in control of whatever was going on.

Had he placed more than one genjutsu during that flash of light?

As the throbbing in his temples increased, Jun let out a much quieter, shaky laugh. He wasn’t out of control at the moment- not near out of control. Everything was going as planned, he just needed to make sure it kept going that way. One benefit to Noriaki being his opponent was the predictability of it all. Noriaki was a simple person, if you knew him as well as Jun did, it made things easy to plan. Yes, everything was fine.

Everything was fine.

His seal burned.

Seeming to have collected himself, Noriaki stopped moving and dropped a hand to his side. Jun narrowed his eyes.

“Why not just give up?” he questioned. “You won’t be able to break free. Not easily.”

Noriaki didn’t respond, suddenly snatching a kunai out of his pouch and slashing through the bandages covering his upper arm. A spray of blood came from the wound and the wrappings loosened, revealing the scarred skin beneath. The boy let out a calm breath, eyes settling on Jun. A small curse escaped Jun’s lips as Noriaki lunged forward and he jumped back. The katana in Noriaki’s hand sliced through the air, causing Jun’s mouth to go dry at the thought of the damage that might have done if it’d landed.

“Are you trying to kill me?” Jun demanded.

Noriaki rolled his shoulders, an uncaring expression on his face.

“If you’re injured, simple gashes are easy to take care of,” he replied simply. “There are plenty of medical-nin on standby for the tournament. If you’re that concerned, however, you could give up yourself.”

Jun snorted, but was kept from responding as Noriaki lunged forward once again. His breathing became even more labored than before as he did his best to avoid every cut, although despite his best efforts when the exchanged ended as a result of his attaching himself to the wall well above Noriaki’s head, several bleeding cuts covered his body. For a moment he regarded his shirt with a frown, running his fingers over the cuts in the material.

“This was one of my favorites!” he called down. “Couldn’t you be a little nicer with it!”

A rumble of laughter swept through the crowd as Noriaki sighed.

“Come down, won’t you?” he retorted. “I’d rather not have to chase you up the wall.”

Jun stuck his tongue out, much like Kazue might have done, and gave one of his familiar, cheeky smiles.

“Like I’d come down just so you could cut me up like shishami!”

Irked, Noriaki studied him for a moment, running through possibilities in his mind as he slid his free hand down to his weapon’s pouch. Before Jun could react, the boy had deployed a smoke bomb, blocking the following exchange from view. The audience leaned forward in their seats as the sound of metal meeting metal reached their ears, followed by a sudden silence as the smoke began to drift away.

A collective murmur of surprise swept through the crowd when it revealed Jun straddling Noriaki’s legs, his entire body moving with his breaths. Sweat poured down the boy’s face, which had begun to flush an exhausted shade of red.

“I said, I didn’t want to be cut up,” he gasped.

One of his hands had a kunai placed close to his teammates throat, the other clamped down on his shoulder which was rapidly becoming drenched with blood. The crowd was silent, many of them attempting to put together what had just happened. Kazue, familiar with them as she was, managed to piece it together for the most part. When the smoke had gone up, Noriaki most likely concentrated his chakra in his feet and launched himself up to Jun’s level. Jun, knowing Noriaki just as well as she did, would have pushed off the wall and tackled the boy to the ground. From there on, she imagined the sounds that had met their ears had been Jun’s kunai with Noriaki’s katana, a rather uneven match-up if the wound on the boy’s shoulder was to be any indication.

What surprised her, however, was that Jun was the one who’d come out on top. When things got to this point in practice, Jun had always loudly complained about the wound and gave up, saying that he hated the sight of his own blood and would rather not have to deal with that. Noriaki, as to be expected, had always gotten pissed off and finished the fight by hitting Jun rather hard over the head, shutting up his complaints.

It wasn’t until that moment that something occurred to her.

When had they stopped watching Jun?

When exactly had the two of them simply grown used to ignoring their teammate, using the excuse that it was Jun, so obviously he wouldn’t do much. That because it was him, nothing would change. That because it was Jun, there was no need to be concerned with being overtaken.

Was that why seeing him like this was so shocking to the two people that should have known him best out of the crowd?

Despite their position, nothing could change the fact that not only was Noriaki bigger, he was stronger and in a much better shape at the moment, Jun’s slender frame not near enough to anchor him in place. Noriaki jerked his leg up, shoving his knee into Jun’s gut and sending the boy reeling backwards as harsh coughs burst from his throat. Before he could move the hand with the kunai, Noriaki grasped the wrist and twisted it, knocking the kunai from the boy’s grasp and slipping his foot between them, landing another hard blow on Jun’s stomach. Taking the Jun’s momentary inability to move, he launched himself forward, his katana left in the dust as he landed a blow on the boy’s already injured shoulder.

Kazue’s grandfather eyed them with something between distaste and amusement.

“Is this a duel or a brawl?” he wondered aloud.

Kazue didn’t bother to respond, her hands clenching in her lap as the boys rolled over in the dirt, neither one of them seeming to be willing to give in. At that moment, rather than two shinobi, they simply looked like two kids caught in a fight. That was, of course, until Jun was thrown off of Noriaki. With unsteady movements, he pulled himself to his feet and clasped his hands together.

“L-Lightning Illusion: Light Pillar!” he began, then as the light lit up the arena and Noriaki raised his arm to block his eyes, Jun began singing again. “Silent Illusion: Dance of L-”

Jun broke off with another cough, dropping an arm to wrap it around his stomach. Kazue furrowed her brow the moment her vision had cleared to reveal Jun’s predicament. It wasn’t just that had caught her attention, though, but the sudden, strange feeling to the air in the arena. The boy had dropped his hands, so there was no chance that he was performing a jutsu, but at the same time…

She shook her head, focusing on his coughing.

“Something probably got bruised with as many times that Noriaki’s managed to land a hit there,” she muttered.

“Is that bad?” Hatsu questioned.

Kazue pursed her lips, then nodded.

“Not life-threatening or anything, but bad for him. It’ll make it difficult to keep going, especially with as exhausted as he is. I doubt he can have very much chakra left. Just look at him.”

To the back of the crowd, Miki tensed once again. There was no wind. Moment’s ago, it’d been sweeping through the arena, but now there was nothing. It made no logical sense.

Noriaki didn’t make a movement while Jun coughed, his eyes narrowed and thoughtful. From what he could tell, the boy had managed to finish the hand signs, even if he hadn’t gotten out the name, seeing as there suddenly seemed to be a whirlwind of leaves spinning through the air around him. Stinging sensations broke out across his skin as the leaves darted closer, but he kept himself in place, doing his best to ignore it. After all, a genjutsu was just a genjutsu, he wasn’t actually being injured.

When Jun finally straightened, the jutsu suddenly fell away. Not bothering to question it- assuming that it was most likely due to the boy’s exhaustion and the state of his body- Noriaki shifted into the position to attack. At the same time he became aware of a strange, sticky wet feeling slipping down from his hairline, as if he’d been injured. Dismissing it as a wound he must have picked up without realizing it, Noriaki prepared to launch himself forward. Before he’d taken a stop, however, he froze as Jun gave a sheepish smile and rose a single hand.

“Ha, I give up.”

Silence swept through the arena.

Noriaki could only stare at Jun. For the first time since they’d become teammates, he’d actually begun to think that they would be able to finish a fight, yet those words that had just come out of Jun’s mouth…

Kazue buried her head in her hands once again.

“Jun is Jun after all…”

“What the hell are you doing?” Noriaki demanded, uncharastically frustrated.

Jun clamped a hand down on his shoulder, the other one reaching up to scratch his cheek in a sheepish manner.

“Giving up, of course. What, did you think I really wanted to keep getting hurt? It’s annoying. Like you said earlier, you always beat me, Nori-kun. It just seems silly to keep going.”

Noriaki clenched his hands at his side, about to launch himself forward out of a flare of temper, as the proctor stepped between them, sensing the sudden flood of anger that had surged through the bigger boy.

“The winner is Asari Noriaki!”

Ignoring the daggers he could feel Noriaki staring into his back, and the yelling complaints of the crowd, Jun turned his back to all of it and started for the exit to the arena where he could see medical-nin waiting. As he walked, a small bubbling laugh escaped his lips, the throbbing in his temple worse than ever. The euphoric feeling sweeping through him only backed up his thoughts, making any regret he might have felt pale in comparison to the chilling revelation.

‘Of course I’d give up. Karui Jiko landed that last blow. Nori-kun might not have noticed, the crowd might not have noticed, but I never touched him. It was all the genjutsu. I might not be Yakumo, but I very well might be worse. I’m a monster who isn’t willing to stop pretending to be a harmless child.

‘Even if it’s just for now… I don’t want everyone to be scared of me.’

Another, soft bubble of laughter broke away as he shook his head, discarding the thoughts.

Was it horrible of him to wish for that?

A/N: Two fights down, the main event to go! Figured this was a good place to stop, that way we can launch into the fun without any further ado! Hope you're looking forward to it~