Leaving the ‘ring’ for the next participants, Sango and Hinata returned to their spots as spectators.

“That was incredible!” Sakura ran to him and showered him with praise, “I didn’t know you were so strong!” she continued to say. Sango smiled at her, he understood why she thought so but she was easily impressed because she was a child and didn’t yet understand that what he had just done wasn’t impressive, he used the level of skill under the actual average skill level of the ninja world.

Sango overlooked the fact that he was a child himself.

“Hey!” Suddenly, he felt a softness pressing against his back as a pair of soft hands wrapped around his neck. He knew who it was even before she jumped on his back, “What are you doing!?” a mad Sakura shouted at Ino whom was attached to Sango’s back like a koala.

“Hmphee!” Ino’s answer was to show Sakura her tongue, but Sango was in the process of turning his head to better see Ino on his back and as Ino had her head over his shoulders, she ended giving Sango’s cheek a good lick.

“Hahaha!” Sakura burst in laughter at the sight, to Ino’s displeasure.

“What are you laughing about, forehead girl!” Ino’s words struck a nerve in Sakura as she became red with anger, “Who are you calling forehead girl!? Ino-pig!” Sakura shouted back, as their bickering threatened to increase in intensity, Sango clapped his hands strongly once, attracting their attention.

“Look, the next match is starting.” At his words, the two girls forgot about their fight and turned their heads towards the ring.

Two new participants were already getting ready for the fight, they were Sasuke and Naruto.

“Ready! Begin!” As Iruka gave the start signal, Naruto rushed towards Sasuke with his fist raised, Sasuke didn’t move an inch as Naruto arrived in front of him, throwing a punch towards his face. Despite the short distance, Naruto’s fist hit empty air as Sasuke dodged with minimum movement while still holding his hands in his pockets, showing a pretty relaxed posture.

“Hmmm, pretty strong isn’t it?” Said Ino still behaving like Sango’s backpack.

“Hmph, I bet Sango can defeat him in two, no, one move!” Sakura shouted in response to Ino’s words.

“Of course! I know that too!” Not wanting to be outdone by Sakura, she shouted back even louder, attracting gazes from all around.

Seeing all the people looking at her rather than at the fight, Ino’s face became red as she hid herself behind Sango, letting him bear the brunt of the stares.

Sango wanted to sigh, those girls were rather troublesome, he looked at Hinata whom was just looking at them from their side and wondered why Sakura and Ino couldn’t behave a bit more like her, at least a little. At the same time he became aware that Sasuke wasn’t in their eyes as in the original story, Sango wondered why, after all he hadn’t done much to change that.

Seeing Sango watching her, Hinata began looking at her feet, as if she suddenly found something interesting about them.

At her gesture, Sango also hoped for Hinata to learn a bit from the two girls, but only a very tiny bit.

While they were distracted by other trivial matters, the match ended with Sasuke’s win, to no one’s surprise.

It wasn’t fair, Sasuke was raised in one of the major clans, even if it was now destroyed, but he was taught by the chief of the clan, his father, for some time. Naruto had no chance whatsoever since he had no support from anyone, even Sango felt a bit sorry for him, but just a bit. Having had a hard childhood, they grew up stronger than others in character, growing up with no difficulties would hardly shape a strong character, having said that, Sango believed they would prefer growing up with a weak character but with their parents and friends.

Sango wondered how would growing up with a family and friends be like, it was hard to imagine but it should be nice.

“Sango.” A quiet voice brought him back to himself, “Hmm?” Looking to his side, he found Hinata looking at him worriedly. Seeing her expression, he knew he had let his feelings show on his face for a brief moment. Mentally chastising himself, he showed a reassuring smile to Hinata, his goodwill towards her increasing because of her worry for himself.

The first round ended, Sakura and Ino both failed, but they put up a good fight. That made Sango realize that he should find a way to help them become stronger or they would have a hard time in the future.

The outcome of the following matches was no surprise, Shikamaru lost to Sasuke, and Sango didn’t find any opponents worth mentioning, in the end only Sango and Sasuke remained. Sango knew it wasn’t a coincidence they didn’t met each other until the end, and he wondered whose idea it was to put them against each other, not that it mattered.

“Congratulations for making it this far!” Said Iruka beside them, “Get ready!” Without losing time he gave the ready command, taking a few steps back, “Begin!” Iruka then gave the start signal.

Sasuke wasn’t confident, but his face showed a relaxed façade. After the start signal, he observed his opponent, the mysterious Sango that just appeared out of nowhere. Sasuke could never tell what he was thinking, he couldn’t judge his character since he first saw him, yet he felt as if Sango could see right through him with ease. One thing he was sure about, he was trouble, even now while observing him, Sasuke couldn’t find any good way to attack, there were no weak spots he could feel confident about, instead, he felt pressured just by standing in front of him.

Seeing as Sasuke didn’t intend to make the first move, Sango began to walk towards him, his steps normal. Sasuke took a fighting stance when he saw Sango getting close, waiting for him.

Sango had no intention of letting Sasuke look cool in front of the girls, he had already postured enough.