When Tatsu woke, she noticed she was in a building of some sort. It was dark and the walls seemed beat up. Around her was her squad members.

"Oh..You're awake!" said Hinata.

"Ugh," said Tatsu holding her head, "What happened?"

"Well...You see.." said Hinata.

"You passed out," said Kiba.

"Obviously Kiba," said Tatsu, "But what happened?"

"We got the Earth Scroll, found some Sand ninja, then you passed out, we dragged you to the tower, almost got killed by the Sand ninja," said Kiba, "Oh and more teams arrived and we are about to begin the next phase of the test."

"Sand ninja? Oh, yeah, I remember now. I especially remember the one with red hair."

"Come on," said Shino, "We've got to report to the main hall."

Squad 8 made their way to the main hall. The hall was enormous, with a large statue of hands making a handsign. Above the statue, there was a big screen. Tatsu examined the room to see which teams had made it. To the left of her was Squad 10, Ino, Choji, and Shikamaru. To the right, to Tatsu's surprise, was Squad 7, Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke.

"How did Naruto manage to get here?"

Two groups down, was the three Sand village ninja and two Sound village teams. In front of the genin were many jonin, including all the squads sensei's, and the Hokage himself.

"First of all, congratulations for finishing the second part of the exam," said Anko.

"Man how many more parts to the exam are there? Kurenai sensei, could have filled us in on how long this test would take," thought Tatsu.

"Alright now pay attention," said Anko, "Lord Hokage is going to explain the third exam to you. You better listen carefully maggots!"

The Hokage explained the true purpose of the Chunin exams, until finally he moved on to the third exam.

"Listen carefully I'm going to explain exactly what you all will be doing on the third exam," said Lord Hokage.

Suddenly a jonin appeared in front of him, "Lord Hokage before you do please allow me, Hayate Gekko, to speak first."

"So be it," said Lord Hokage.

"Just get on with it already."

"It's nice to meet you all...cough.." said Hayate, "There is something, I would like all of you...cough, cough...to do before the third exam...We have to have a preliminary exam before we can move on to, the real one. The fact is that we didn't expect this many to pass, so we need to reduce the amount of candidates remaining. So if there are any of you who feel that you are not in top, physical condition, now's your chance to..cough..cough..cough..Sorry, nows the time to bow out if you're not ready. The winners will be determined by one on one combat."

"One on one huh?" thought Tatsu as she looked toward the Sand village red head, "As long as I don't have to fight him."

Kabuto was the only one to quit, and the first match was to be Sasuke Uchiha vs Yoroi Akado. The rest of them were moved to the railings with their senseis. The match didn't last too long and the overall winner was Sasuke. Then Kakashi took Sasuke somewhere, but Tatsu couldn't care less about Sasuke. Match number two was Zaku Abumi vs Shino. Shino had no problems beating Zaku. The third match was Misumi Tsurugi vs Kankuro. Kankuro won using his puppet. The four match was Sakura vs Ino, which this fight ended in a draw. The fifth match was Tenten vs Temari, Temari beat Tenten without even breaking a sweat. Sixth match, Shikamaru vs Kin Tsuchi. Shikamaru cleverly won his match. The seventh match was Kiba vs Naruto and to Tatsu's surprise Naruto actually managed to win. The eighth match was Hinata vs Neji, her cousin. The match ended with Hinata barely breathing.

"You will pay for that Neji!" thought Tatsu as the medics carried Hinata away.

The next match was Tatsu vs Dageki, a Sound Village ninja. Dageki had long brown hair and gray eyes. She looked much like Zaku, except for the fact she was a girl and she was walking bare foot. As Tatsu was on her way to fight, Kurenai sensei stopped her.

"Tatsu," she said, "Don't drag this on. Just end it quickly, the less your opponents know about you the better."

"Whatever," Tatsu said.

When Tatsu made it to the battle ground Dageki smiled, "Heh, getting to the finals will be easy."

"What makes you say that?" asked Tatsu.

"Well, judging on how weak your teammates are, you must be as weak."

"Say another word against my squad and you will pay the price."

"Begin," said Hayate.

"Lets just end this shall we," said Dageki as she flew from the ground.

From the quick look Tatsu got, it looked like she had blow hole at the soles of her feet. Which allowed her to levitate, much like Zaku, except it was her feet and not her hands. Dageki slammed into Tatsu and shot her upward.

"Like I said, easy," said Dageki.

Then Tatsu used her strength to swing Dageki around in the air. Tatsu threw Dageki against a wall in the spectators railing, just a few inches above Neji's head. As Tatsu landed on the floor, she shot Neji a look, "You're next buddy."

"The match goes to Tatsu," said Hayate.

When Tatsu made it back to Kurenai and Shino, Shino said, "Not bad Tatsu, but was it necessary to throw her against Neji."

"Who said I was aiming for him?" asked Tatsu.

"You did," said Shino.

"Whatever. You're just jealous that you couldn't throw something at him."

The next match was Itami vs Sairen, both were apart of the same team as Dageki. The match ended quickly with the boy Itami as the winner. The tenth match was the red haired sand ninja, Gaara vs Rock Lee. The battle ended with Lee as the loser and through that whole battle Tatsu couldn't help but tremble with fear. The final match was Dosu Kinuta vs Choji, and Choji lost.

"And with that match the preliminary round is now finished," said Hayate.

All of the people moving on to the next round we're to gather in front of Hayate.

"Congratulations for moving on to the next round of the Chunin Exams," said Hayate.

"Yeah, that's great with the congrats and all, but lets just get going with the next round," thought Tatsu.

"In the final rounds, each of you will put your battle skills on display," said the Hokage, "You'll demonstrate the power and control you have received in your training. Accordingly the battle will commence one month from now."

"A MONTH!" thought Tatsu, "What am I going to do for a month?"

"What we aren't going to do it right here and now?" asked Naruto.

"This is to provide a suitable period of preparation," said the Hokage.

"What do you mean by that?" asked Neji.

The hokage explained that they needed time to prepare for all the spectators coming in to watch the final round. As well as for us to be able to learn new things and understand more about our enemy.

"Now with all of that behind us, I'd like to begin winding things up," said the Hokage, "However there is one more thing we must take care of before we are finished."

"Let's get on with it!" said Naruto, "I mean come on how much longer do we have to wait before we start training!"

"Anko will come around with a box of papers and you will select one," said the Hokage.

"Just stay where you are I'll come to you," said Anko, "Just take one."

Anko went down the line and had them draw one piece of paper with a number on it. Tatsu had number 11.

"Good, everyone has one," said Ibiki, "Now from left to right I want everyone to tell me the number on their paper."

"I've got 8," said Doso.

"Number 1 of course," said Naruto.

"10," said Itami.

"7," said Temari.

"5," said Kankuro.

"3," said Gaara.

"9," said Shikamaru.

"2," said Neji.

"6," said Shino.

"11," said Tatsu

"That means Sasuke will be number 4," said the Hokage, "I will now tell you how the selection tournament is going to work. Ibiki you may reveal which ninja have been paired up."

Ibiki showed us the match ups, The first match would be Naruto vs. Neji.

"Drat! I wanted to fight Neji and get back at him for what he did to Hinata," thought Tatsu.

Second match was Gaara vs. Sasuke. Third, Kankuro vs. Shino. Shikamaru has to fight Doso first then if he wins, he'll have to fight another round against Temari. Finally Tatsu vs. Itami.

"Can I ask you a question," said Shikamaru.

"You may," said the Hokage.

"Since this is going to be a tournament, does that mean there is only going to be one winner? Does that mean only one of us is going to become a Chunin then?"

"Actually it's quite the contrary. There are going to be several judges for the final rounds, including myself, the shinobi leaders, the Kazekage, and the lords from other villages that will ultimately be assigning you missions. Through this tournament, the judges will be able to make a thorough examination of your abilities. They will decide whether any or all of you posses the qualities required of a Chunin. Even if someone loses the first round, they could still become a Chunin."

"So there's a chance that every one of us could become a Chunin," said Temari.

"And conversely there is a chance that none of you will be chosen. The advantage of fighting more rounds in the tournament is getting more chances to display your talents in front of the judges who will decide your fate. Does that answer your question, Shikamaru?"

Shikamaru said nothing.

"I thank you all for your patience. Now let us adjourn till next month."

They all left the room and went to begin training.