Saburo's Tournament
CHAPTER 2
Of Dogs And Dolls
Kiba vs. Bickslow
The glorious throne room suddenly became enveloped in a sudden shroud of blinding light. When the light dimmed down to a normal level, the environment had changed, shocking the competitors. They soon found themselves in what appeared to be the center of a town, with multiple buildings and alleys around it. The two cubes of light were smack-dab in the center of the town's plaza.
"Looks like your up first, Kiba," Naruto grinned as he patted his comrade on the back. Kiba had messy brown, sharp black eyes with vertical slit-like pupils, pronounced canine teeth, and nails that complimented his wild appearance. On his cheeks were distinct red fang markings of the Inuzuka clan. He wore a leather form fitting black jacket, with zips over the chest and sleeves, along with black pants and sandals to match.
"Yahoo!" Kiba grinned happily as he stepped towards the edge of the light cube. A door suddenly formed from the containment cube and it proceeded to swing open. "Let's go Akamaru!" Kiba stepped outside of the cube and looked to his left towards his opponent.
"Hey there," his opponent smirked. The man was tall and had a mildly muscular figure. His upper body was covered in dark, mildly fitting cloth covered with vertical white stripes, which extended up to his head to cover it in a tight hood, exposing only his hands and his lower face. The upper part of his face was obscured by a metal visor reminscient of a Medieval sallet, which came covered with eight small, elongated holes, with four of them in front of each of his eyes. He also wore large armbands, and long shoulderpads with skulls on its center. His waist was circled by a simple dark band, which held up his massive waistgaurd made of cloth that extended below his knees. "My babies want to have fun!" Hovering around him, there were four small objects that resembled faces of a totem pole.
"Fun!" The small totems repeated excitedly as they moved back and forth around their Master's head.
"Now, let match one begin!" Soburo shouted loud enough for everybody in the vicinity to hear.
"If I win this, I could possibly get a rematch with Naruto," hoped Kiba. He was seated on top of a large dog with white fur. The ninja dog, Akamaru, eyes were closed and he had a dark brown nose, as well as dark brown patches on his ears and a dark outline around his mouth. The fur on top of its head was styled to somewhat resemble a mohawk.
"You can talk to yourself if you want, but my babies are going to attack regardless!" Bickslow stuck his tongue out as his dolls sped towards Kiba and Akamaru, who weren't quite expecting it.
"Too slow!" Kiba shouted as Akamaru veered to the side of Bickslow, passing the dolls up entirely. Kiba leapt off his large dog and attempted to slash at Bickslow, but the tall man leapt backwards. "Whoa there! Don't scare me like that, dog guy," teased Bickslow. Before Kiba could land on the ground, three of Bickslow's dolls slammed into his side, sending him sprawling to the side.
"They both have partners," noticed Naruto, pointing at the mans dolls, although everybody had already seem them before the fight officially started.
"This is more like a six on two fight," said Kakashi as watched the beginning of the battle calmly. "Kiba should not drop his guard against this 'Bickslow' guy. He's at a disadvantage when it comes to numbers, and his opponent appears to be able to control those five dolls with ease."
"Alright, Akamaru," began Kiba. "Beast-Human Clone!" The large dog quickly morphed into a perfect replica of Kiba, but he appeared to be more animalistic than the actual Kiba. That problem was quickly solved as Kiba shouted, "Ninja Art Of Beast Mimicry: All-Fours Justu!" Kiba's canine teeth, fingernails, and toenails grew to a claw-like length.
"What's this?" Bickslow asked, staring at the two identical beings. "It doesn't matter, I'll just take you both down!"
"Both down!" The dolls repeated. A barrage of green blasts were then emitted from the dolls' mouths, firing right towards Kiba and Akamaru. The two dashed to either sides of the onslaught of blasts and began to charge towards Bickslow.
"Man-Beast Ultimate Taijutsu: Fang Over Fang!" Kiba and the Kiba-replica kicked off the ground and began to spin in the air rapidly, giving them both a tornado like appearance as they converged towards Bickslow.
"X Formation!" Bickslow crossed his arms in front of himself in an "X" shape, prompting four of his totem-like dolls to gather around him in a matching "X"-shaped pattern. The position of the dolls were so precise that they blocked the drill-like attack from Kiba and Akamaru that were targeted for Bickslow. "You two attack together, and it's a real pain."
"Darn it," muttered Kiba as he and his identical partner leapt backwards and landed on all-fours in front of Bickslow. "Let's go again, Akamaru!" Kiba and Akamaru launched another Gatsuga attack, but this time, from a much closer ranger. I caught him! Not having enough time to defend like he did previously, Bickslow simply turned away and dashed down an alley.
"He ran?" Rock Lee asked, slightly disturbed by the man's cowardly reaction to the close-range attack. Kiba quickly stopped his attack, seeing as his target was gone, and turned and ran towards the alley, Akamaru in Kiba's form following close behind him.
"I can't see what's going on!" Natsu complained as he was unable to view what was transpiring in alleyway between Kiba and Bickslow. Others nodded and added to the complaints, but they were quickly silenced.
"Human Beast Combination Transformation: Double-Headed Wolf!" That was all the audience could hear before a building in the alley collapsed, prompting a cloud of dust and smoke to rise before anything could be seen. Another loud noise occured before Bickslow escaped from the smoke, landing back in the plaza. Out of the smoke, a large paw found its way on top of a pillar of rubble.
"I know my babies can handle this thing!" Bickslow's words seemed confident and even arrogant, but his voice told otherwise. Following the paw, a loud roar burst from the smoke, and ultimately blowing it away. The smoke no longer in sight, a large beast stood in its place. The creature appeared to be some sort of grand two-head wolf that was a combination of Kiba and Akamaru.
"What the hell? A two-headed dog!" Lucy and Gray cried out, completely taken aback by the ninja's technique. The Konoha ninja, however, stood smirking, proud of their team member, Kiba Inuzuka and his partner, Akamaru.
"What can this thing do?" Bickslow asked as his dolls hovered around his head. As if to answer his question, the enormous wolf kicked off the ground and began to rotate in midair. As it headed towards Bickslow, it gaining in velocity, giving it a massive tornado-ish drill-like appearance.
"The Wolf Fang Over Fang," muttered Shino. Nobody could tell, but the teen was smirking behind his collar.
"This thing again?" Bickslow asked as he watched the oncoming attack intensely. "Wait...its much more powerful, my babies," he said as he noticed that the attack created a vacuum vortex around it. Parts of surrounding buildings were ripped from their foundations without the Wolf Fang Over Fang even connecting with them. Bickslow finally decided to act as he said, "Baryon Formation." At his command, Bickslow's dolls positioned themselves in a pentagonal pattern high above his head. The dolls then began to spin vortically.
"Kiba's got this!" Naruto grinned as he watched the spiralling double-headed wolf loomed over Bickslow, closing the large distance quickly.
"Not yet, he doesn't!" Natsu shouted back, although he wasn't looking at Naruto, just the battle. Suddenly, all of the Konoha's ninja's jaws dropped as a large whirwind formed from the spinning dolls, the center of which created a massive magical beam that fired directly towards the Wolf Fang Over Fang. The two attacks collided with great force and with amazing velocity, invoking an equally great explosion that rocked the whole environment.
"Juvia can't see anything!" Juvia complained, aimlessly attempted to peer through the smokescreen created from the impact of the two attacks. After Juvia's complaint, Bickslow suddenly appeared backing out of the smoke gripping his face. It was hard to tell, but it appeared to be some sort of dark, yellow liquid on his mask.
"It's a strong acid!" Bickslow quickly realized as he began to remove his mask to prevent further damage.
"Acid!" The dolls mimicked their master. Bickslow finally got a good grip on his metal visor and pulled it off in one motion, just as the smoke cleared, revealing a bloodied Kiba who gripped a kunai knife, and an injured Akamaru. Kiba's eyes widened as they caught a glance of Bickslow's own. His irises each had a concentric circle surrounding the pupils inside them that appeared bright green. Between his eyes was a tattoo of a stylized man extending his long, curved arms.
"Figure Eyes!" Bickslow stuck his tongue out again, but he also lifted his arms triumphantly as his eyes emitted a bright green light. Kiba instinctively shut his eyes to escape the blinding glare.
"Those eyes...they're definitely no Sharingan or Byakugan," began Kiba. "...but I'm confident that they most likely have a pretty harsh ability." He said as he kept his eyes closed.
"So, your eyes are closed?" Bickslow asked rhetorically as he pointed towards his own eyes.
"Yup!" The totem dolls answered for Kiba. They then emitted a green aura and shot forward in a zig-zagging flight pattern towards the ninja. While keeping his eyes closed, he somehow managed to dodge the majority of the speeding dolls, but some succeeded in hitting him. Bickslow proceeded to laugh maniacally, his tongue still hanging out like a panting dog.
"My Doll Possession and Figure Eyes are an unbeatable combination!" He watched as his green-lit dolls assaulted Kiba, who was still attempting to dodge the tackles of the dolls.
"Can Kiba really win without his eyesight?" Naruto asked, starting to get worried about the outcome of the fight.
"There's no need to worry about his eyesight, Naruto-kun," said Hinata, flustered while speaking to him.
"She's right," agreed Kakashi. "Kiba's chakra-enhanced sense of smell is greater than the average nin-dog. He shouldn't have much trouble finding where Bickslow is at, but..." Kakashi trailed off as he watched Kiba get hit firecly in the stomach by one of the dolls. "...he still has to get past those dolls in order to win." As if hearing Kakashi's words, which he probably did, Kiba tossed two purple spheres towards Bickslow's direction as he somersaulted over an ambushing doll.
"Eh?" Bickslow watched curiously as the two small orbs emitted a purple gas as the rolled towards him. They then exploded into a complete purple smokescreen, forcing Bickslow to temporarily subside his doll's assault on Kiba. "Hey now! My babies can't see you!"
"That Kiba-guy did pretty good to survive against Bickslow's assault without even having his eyesight," Lucy complimented. The purple smokescreen that had wrapped around the battlefield and the two cubes began to clear away with every passing second.
"Hey! Where'd you go?" Bickslow asked, looking around as the purple haze disappeared into the wind, but there was no sign of Kiba. Something large caught Bickslow's attention a little past a lamppost on the edge of the plaza. "He left his dog behind, eh?" Bickslow and his dolls strode towards the large mutt, which appeared to be unconscious.
"Heh," Naruto shared a smirk with Hinata and Shino, as they knew what was about to happen. To the mages of Fairy Tails' surprise, the dog began to expand, becoming balloon-like in appearance until it finally exploded. A volley of kunai knives escaped from the fake-dog trap, catching Bickslow off-guard and destroying all five of his dolls.
"My babies!" Bickslow cried out, watching as his dolls turned into dust after being pierced by the kunai knives. Kiba was then spotted by the onlookers as he exited his hiding place in a nearby townhouse.
"Bickslow has no treasure trove of dolls in this town, like he did in Magnolia when he fought against me," Gray noticed. "Damn it, he's defenseless without his dolls!"
"Don't jump to such conclusions so soon," said Freed calmly as he watched the fight. "He is not as defenseless as you think." In the other cube, the Konoha ninjas were pretty excited about the trap succeeding.
"Alright, Kiba!" Sakura smiled.
"He's got this if he keeps his eyes closed!" Naruto grinned. Shikamaru and Kakashi shared a nervous glance before speaking.
"I don't know if you've noticed, but Kiba's been exhausted and injured since he used the Wolf Fang Over Fang," said Kakashi.
"He doesn't have much energy left, I can tell that for sure," added Shikamaru. "He probably only has enough chakra for one more attack." Naruto's eyes widened as he receiving this information.
"So it's all or nothing with the next jutsu, then?" Naruto gulped.
"Yeah," Yamato answered. "Let's just hope that his opponent doesn't have something hidden up his sleeve." The ninja and mages watched intensely as the battle began to draw to a conclusion.
"Akamaru," Kiba glanced back at the townhouse he was previously hidden in. From the corner of his eye, he could see the original unconscious figure of his dog, instantly angering him again. "You're going to pay, Bickslow!"
"Ehhh?" Bickslow finally stopped groveling over his 'babies' and turned his attention to Kiba. "Hey now, come on. I was having fun, and now you want to end this?" The ninja ignored the man's comment, he instead began to walk towards him. Kiba suddenly kicked off the ground and began to rotate in the air at a ferocious speed.
"Tunneling Fang!" Kiba cried out, as he shot towards Bickslow with a partnerless version of the Fang Over Fang.
"Then there's no other option!" Bickslow declared as he raised his right arm with the index and middle fingers outstretched.
"Here it is, the final attack!" Freed and Naruto cried out in unison. There was a strange feeling as the two factions awaited the outcome of what was to come. Emotions were running high, and tensions were flowing.
"Crush!" Just as Kiba's beastly attack slammed directly into Bickslow's torso, a powerful explosion prompted by his opponent occurred, shaking the whole town and all of the battle's watchers.
"What just happened?" Natsu asked as a large plume of smoke washed over the battlefield. "I couldn't tell who hit who!" Many others nodded in agreement, but they quickly stopped as the smoke began to dissipate.
"Hmph," Saburo leaned over interestedly from his spot on the ceiling of one of the buildings lining the plaza. Jaws dropped and a severe silence washed over the whole place as they discerned the outcome of the battle. Laying on the ground, unconscious, were both Kiba and Bickslow!
"They took each other out!" The two teams shouted into the air simultaneously.
"How dull. It seems there is no victor in this match," droned Saburo as he stood up on the rooftop, his white jacket flapping in the wind.
"That was a hell of a first match..." Gajeel mumbled, although he was satisfied that the opposing team were capable of competing against them on somewhat equal terms.
"Although there was no clear winner, the battle was quite entertaining," smirked Saburo. Something about him sent chills down Naruto's spine as he spoke.
"Kiba Inuzuka...it seems that he was Bickslow's natural enemy. His sense of smell made Bickslow's Figure Eyes' abilities completely ineffective against him. That is how he survived against Bickslow's ultimate effect combination," explained Freed.
He's somewhat wrong. That Bickslow guy would have defeated Kiba if the explosion he caused had not been so close to himself. He was right about Kiba's sense of smell being an advantage, though, Kakashi thought to himself.
"Now let us move on," Saburo continued as he suddenly appeared between Kiba and Bickslow, surprising everybody with his speed. He then kneeled down and pressed his hands on Kiba and Bickslow's back. They were engulfed in white light before slowly vanishing.
"Where'd they go?" Makarov demanded to know. Naruto turned and looked at the old man before switching gazes to Tsunade, who also look quite angered.
"Oh, don't worry," insisted Saburo. "The losers of each match will simply be sent to my personal dwelling, where they will be treated medically and be taken proper care of."
"I don't belie-!"
"Now if I may continue..." Saburo interrupted, "let us get on with the second match of round one." A moment of silence ran through the two cubes as they anticipated the names that would be called. "Sakura Haruno vs. Juvia Lockser!"
Author's Note: Don't forget to review each chapter and tell me what you think of each fight, and what the outcome of the next fight should be! It really helps me out.