the fights begin

John looked across to Gaara as the half possessed Suna ninja-grinned insanely " John Doe " Gaara yelled as he charged, his speed unreal for his size as he attacked. "Your blood is mine!", he yelled as he swung his oversized, sand-covered arm, which John barely dodged in time, jumping away from the spot he was in as Gaaras hit landed and caused an explosion from the impact.

"Damn it, I can't let him hit me! With strength like this, it could be over in one strike!!" John muttered to himself as he jumped backwards again as Gaara kept pressing the attack, a fact that those remaining in the stands could see.

" John Don't worry, I'm coming!", Tenten yelled as she was about to jump into the ring to help her boyfriend fight, only for Kurenai to block her way.

"I can't let you help, Tenten. If you get caught in the middle of this, it's only going to make things harder for John " Kurenai said

Tenten gave a defiant look. "Try and stop me! I don't care, even if it was Guy trying to stop me, I'm going to help my boyfriend!", she yelled

Kurenai sighed. "I knew you were going to say that. Kakashi, do you mind?", Kurenai asked in a bit of an annoyed tone.

Tenten didn't know what she meant so as she turned to look at her sensei's hip rival, she saw his single Sharingan eye and suddenly passed out as he used its effects on her. But not only just her, he also lulled Hinata into sleep, for good measure. "Well now, that should calm them down.", Kakashi said as he looked over at the sleeping girls, making sure to get both of them in a more manageable position so they could do their job.

"Thanks, Kakashi. We don't need this to get any more complicated then it already is. I trust John to be able to handle this fight, but we don't need him to get distracted in having to worry about more then he needs to.", Kurenai said as she looked over the field, where Sound Ninja began to attack the other ninja throughout the stadium.

"Of course, Kurenai. But I think it is safe to say that, if we get out of this, we have quiet a few prospects to have an advance in rank this year. Maybe you and me should compare teaching notes, seeing how well your students did.", Kakashi said,

making Kurenai grin. "Sure! Rule one, be on time!", Kurenai joked as she leapt into the mass of ninja fighting, making Kakashi sigh. It was going to be a long day.

Meanwhile, John had been pressed to attack back to Gaara as he realized there was no way he was going to be able to keep on the defensive. He needed to beat Gaara completely in order to end this match and the sooner he did that, the sooner he would be able to help the rest of the village. And he still hadn't forgotten about Temari.

"Damn it, I don't have time to waste on this!", John yelled as he dodged a volley of sand shuriken, sent at him by Gaara and began to make a series of hand signs. Not an easy thing to do as he was constantly having to dodge what Gaara sent at him, but finally John made the final hand sign and slammed his hand on the floor of the arena and yelled "Summoning Jutsu".

A puff of smoke later and John Unfortunately, he hadn't been able to focus enough chakra into the summoning as he was planning to do since Gaara had taken his attention, thus John was left with...

"Hey John you have some munchies for me? I thought I told you, I won't come out to play if you don't.", a small orange toad said as he looked up at John who nearly fell over. "Gamakichi! I didn't mean to summon you!" John yelled as the toad looked at him curiously. "Well, why did you summon me then?", he asked before John grabbed him from the floor, just as a shuriken was about to him him.

As Gamakichi saw the half-possessed form of Gaara, his eyes widened. "Oh, I got ya, John " the small toad said, understanding as Gaara started becoming more and more covered in the sand. "So, what do you need?", he asked as John looked at him. "Get out of here Gamakichi! Find Kurenai and tell her to make sure the others are safe! I can handle this guy!" John said confidently as the toad nodded and jumped from John arms and away from the fight.

" John " Gaara yelled as the sand yet again charged towards him, John hoped whatever was going on everyone was alright.

Up in the highest booth overlooking the arena, Sarutobi stared at his ex-student with a scowl. "Do you think I am so old I did not see this little attack coming, Orochimaru? I have had the village ready for this since the start of these exams, your plan will fail!", Sarutobi stated as he threw off the kage robes and revealed his old battle armor beneath, a sight that made Orochimaru chuckle.

"Ah, I see you were prepared to die today...", the snake sannin chuckled as he looked onto his teacher, battle ready. "I'm sure Sarutobi but with, this the Hidden Leaf village will fall and all you worked so hard for will be in vain. After all, everyone's too busy fighting to protect your precious little village and you're all alone.", he said with an evil smile.

But he was wrong. "You would think that, wouldn't you? Orochimaru!", a familiar voice called, getting the attention of both fighters as Jiraiya stood there with a grin.

"Jiraiya! How appropriate that you should be here to see our teacher fall. Tell me, how is it you keep finding failures to try and teach? Feeling sentimental in your old years?", Orochimaru cruelly laughed.

"Well, it's clear you're still the same bastard even from way back then!", Jiraiya said, sliding into a fighting position. "This time, you don't just have Sarutobi to fight! You and me have a score to settle as well!", Jiraiya stated as three figures appeared behind Jiraiya, and Sarutobi recognized two of them as the sound contestants that the red-headed girl were paired with.

"Orochimaru-sama, you want us to take care of this guy?", Kidomaru asked with a grin before the sound leader shook his head.

"No, I will deal with these small annoyances myself. Just make sure our fight isn't interrupted further!", Orochimaru instructed as he grinned. "Now then, lets see the difference between us!", he yelled as he charged his former teacher and teammate, intending to show no mercy in his fight at all.