Kariudo's first instinct was to raise his slingshot, which in retrospect may show a fault in his ninja training, but this time it worked out alright.

Kusamaru brought his sword down directly between the two prongs of the metal slingshot, knocking Kariudo to the ground with the force of the blow. He slid his sword down the inside of the slingshot, pinning Kariudo with his knee. Kariudo inhaled sharply as the tip of the sword bore down on his shoulder... then stopped. The tip of the katana had landed cleanly in the pouch of the slingshot; Kusamaru was straining to keep the slingshot's recoil from knocking the sword out of his hands. Kariudo took advantage of his opponent's momentary distraction and kicked wildly at the arm Kusamaru held the sword with, making him lose his grip.

Kariudo smirked as the sword shot backwards into the air, clattering with a metallic crash against the wall. Before Kusamaru could recover, Kariudo thrashed his way free and quickly rolled away, putting himself between Kusamaru and the sword.

The whole room was laughing.

"HAHAHA! Yes!" Hakke celebrated, "Did you see that?! Now that's a show!"

Raito nodded disaffectedly. His perpetually tired looking eyes focused on Kusamaru, who was standing up and no longer smiling.

Kusamaru felt his father's gaze on the back of his neck. He turned back to Kariudo, who was smirking broadly and thoroughly enjoying the laughter of the crowd, with a previously unseen coldness.

"I will not be made a fool of," he said calmly, "I have trained far too hard to be defeated here by someone as trivial as you."

As he spoke, grass began growing from every point on the floor, rising up into the air in thick blades and Kusamaru's voice rose in intensity.

"I will not tolerate being mocked in front of my father."

Kariudo was no longer smirking. He backed up against the wall as the grass began growing at his feet, all the while regarding the unwanted foliage with uneasy suspicion.

All emotion had vanished from Kusamaru's voice.

"I am going to defeat you now, so if you don't want me to kill you..." suddenly the same look of placid cordiality returned to Kusamaru's face. He smiled. "...say please."

Kariudo felt a chill engulf his body. He tried to steel himself, mentally preparing for the attack he knew would soon come. Out of the corner of his eye, Kariudo noticed the grass ninja's sword in the grass beside him, so he quickly snatched it and held it at the ready, point towards Kusamaru. The sword was shaking.

Calm down. He's injured and he doesn't have his sword. What can he do to me?

Kusamaru lowered slowly into a crouch, until his head disappeared below the level of the grass- all that remained visible was his woven hat, poised perfectly at waist level. Kariudo's eyes trained fiercely to the spot, anticipating any movement.

For a moment there was no sound- the spectators stopped talking.

Too late.

Kusamaru burst out of the grass directly in front of Kariudo. The leaf shinobi still hadn't taken his eyes off the grass hat, which hadn't moved an inch. He had just enough time to squeak, "please.." before the grass-nin wrenched his sword out of Kariudo's grasp and forced it down, piercing the leaf ninja's thigh.

Kusamaru gasped, eyes wide open like a fish. And then he disappeared with a soft poof and a whisp of smoke.

The real Kariudo shot out of the grass behind Kusamaru with a triumphant roar.

"AHAAAA!" he screamed, slingshot already drawn and loaded, as he crumpled a small square of paper with complicated seals on it around the loaded ball bearing.

Raito's eyes momentarily lit up.

"Ah, so the one ball bearing he drew out of his pack earlier was actually the real Kariudo. This entire time a shadow clone has been fighting."

With victory in his eyes, Kariudo let the slingshot fly.

"Transformation Sutra: Enlarge!"

After a brief flash, the bullet grew to many times its size midair, so it was flying towards Kusamaru with both the speed and size of a cannonball. Kusamaru had not even turned around.

And then the cannonball smashed uselessly against the wall. And the hilt of Kusamaru's sword smashed firmly into Kariudo's forehead, rendering him completely unconscious before he fell into a soft bed of tall, thriving grass.

Kusamaru straightened himself up and sheathed his sword. He put his hands together and bowed with deference to Kariudo's crumpled form. He then turned to Tsunade and bowed again, smiling politely.

"Thank you for presiding over my battle, Hokage-sama," he said.

Tsunade coughed.

And with a small limp, Kusamaru walked back to the stairs and climbed to the catwalk, the grass on the arena floor whithering away to nothing as he left.

Hakke's grey eyes were wide open.

"That kid's kinda fast," she whispered breathlessly.

Kusamaru approached his father and bowed once more, studying his father's face for any sign of approval.

"An adequate but unnecessary use of the Grass Concealment Technique," Midoriya said gruffly.

Kusamaru, still bowing, said, "Thank you, father," and sat down quietly against the wall.