Itachi Uchiha, Okuri Inuzuka, and Chika Hyuuga. The 3 man squad had made it all the way to the ancient battle ground, but Chika had fallen at the hands of another ninja of the Leaf. This was terrible. Her getting carried off in a stretcher was very bad for the squad’s reputation. Itachi made up for it though. Like he always did.

“I’d say this is a fairly interesting match.” The Uchiha commented.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Okuri murmured back. “All they’re doing is standing there. What are they doing, a genjutsu battle or something?”

“That is precisely what they’re doing.” Itachi answered. “And thanks to these Sharingan of mine, I know exactly what they’re up to. Of course, this probably is quite boring to someone as simple as you.”

Okuri rolled his eyes. Clans with bloodline abilities were nothing but elitist pricks. He decided to focus on his possible opponents instead. To his left there was a lanky teen girl with purple hair from some western village he had never heard of, a fair haired kid from the Grass Village (again, somewhere he had never heard of) and a big, burly, black haired man from the Sand Village. Judging from the looks of him, he would’ve passed the exam years ago if he had not failed the written test so many times.

The current match ended and the next fighters were being announced. “Kin Kamezuka…….”, the purple haired girl raised her head,“…..and Seiji Oni!” She jumped into the ring with the fair haired boy. Blast. This meant Okuri had to fight the one from the Sand village!

The fight was over fairly quickly. The girl won by summoning tortoises that acted as a defense. Her opponent killed himself trying to get past them.

That just left…..

“Okuri Inuzuka…..and Yuudai!”

Oh, come on! This guy didn’t even have a surname!

The opponents jumped into the ring below, and the command was given to start the fight. Yuudai stood there, staring down his target, while Okuri was tensing up his muscles in anticipation of a swift attack. His low stance suggested he was only interested in fighting if it was necessary, while Yuudai’s stance suggested he would bite somebody’s head off as soon as look at them. However, Yuudai did not attack after a few minutes of no action, Okuri got impatient and charged forward.

Big mistake.

Yuudai kneed Okuri in the chin, and the smaller nin fell back. Yuudai picked him up by the legs and hurled him to the opposite side of the room. “Not so tough are you now, runt?” the titan chuckled. He clapped his hands together to form the serpent, tiger and rat seals respectively. “Crystallization jutsu!”

Okuri lifted his head from the floor to see his opponent transform himself into a black crystalloid. ‘This just keeps getting better and better.’ He thought to himself. He heard remarks from the watching nin-“Match was a set up…”-“Little fella doesn’t stand a chance.”- but ignored them as he decided what to do about the new form of his opponent.

Yuudai slowly tromped forward, like an impending storm. Okuri jumped up and attempted to trap him in a headlock, but to no avail. The goliath simply threw him upwards, partially embedding him in the ceiling.

And that’s when Okuri heard the voice in his head again. That deep, dark voice that piped up when ever he was in a spot of trouble.

“Pathetic. Just pathetic. You’re no good at fighting at all. If you don’t sharpen up, I’m going to take some rather DRASTIC measures for your survival.”

Okuri had never heard the voice indoors before. It always sounded like the wind blow in his ears before, and that’s what people always told him it was. But he was inside now. There was no wind. So….it wasn’t the wind? Then what was it?

Okuri snapped back to reality. He spun his body and performed his family’s signature taijutsu: Tunneling Fang. The sharp, cutting end of the technique was planted directly in Yuudai’s face. The massive warrior lost his balance and fell backwards. Okuri stopped the technique and leaped backwards with a big grin on his face. He had won the match.
Kin Kamezuka VS. Juro Ling
Itachi Uchiha VS. Yuji Shao
Okuri Inuzuka VS. Taro Ryuu no Raiden*

That was the line up for the chunnin exams finals. Okuri was facing off with the son of the Raikage.** As he looked out over the lake, this thought troubled him, filling him with anxiety.

“But not FEAR.”

The voice! It was back! Okuri had never heard the voice outside of battle before!

“Excellent turn around in the battle, by the way. I knew all along you could do it, you just needed a little encouragement. But there’s no time for living in the past. You better get a hell of a lot stronger in the next month.”

“What!? Why?!?”

“You’re going to fight the Raikage’s kid aren’t you?”

“SO?”

“I want you to win, Okuri, with or without my help. But, you might not be able to handle it…”

“I don’t need your help!”

“Then you better get stronger, pup, because right now, you don’t possess enough skill and power to overcome even that arrogant schoolboy of a squad mate, Itachi Uchiha!”

“Who are you? Why do you always want me to win?!?”

“Lose, and you will die. You die, that’s big trouble for me. It shouldn’t be important to you who I am, but know that if you’re not careful….you’ll end up becoming me.”