Kitara, the Fox Kunoichi

by krazyfelinelover

This is a fem Naruto! AU fan-fiction. In it the Kyubii was sealed into a girl, and also the Third Hokage never told anyone which child had the sealed kyubii, Naruto was named Kitara, and treated like an ordinary orphan. New material added to the chapters, but story is officially abandoned after Chapter 8

7. Chapter 7

Ch 7 More battles of the Third stage of the Chunin Exam

After Kitara had collected all her various kunai, shurriken, and senbon needles she hurried off the field, only now noticing the heavy bruise on her right shoulder. As she waited for the next fight to be announced she subtly rubbed her left hand under her sleeve and sent healing chakra to the area. She was tired and her wrists were sore, but she knew her chakra was likely to be completely recovered by the time she had to fight next. Then she heard it "Isao Kazuhiko of Iwagakure vs. Akado Tomohiro of Konohagakure." The last of the Iwa ninja, the one who had been defensive during the ambush but then showed great skill in tai-jutsu was up against Tomohiro. Kitara thought that would actually be a good match, Tomohiro could set up genjutsu while Kazuhiko was sheltering behind that mud-wall, and could steal chakra or keep Kazuhiko at length when he attacked with tai-jutsu. She wondered how much Tomohiro had improved in those three weeks, she had only occasionally seen him, since whenever she or a kage bushin saw him training they made a point to go to a different training ground unless he saw her and waved for her to join him. That had only happened once, with one of her teams of three kage bushin. Tomohiro had practiced a genjutsu, but even her kage bushin had been able to dispel it easily.

Once Kazuhiko and Tomohiro were facing each other the proctor asked his now ritual question about forfeiting, with both answering in the negative. Then Tomohiro surprisingly charged without drawing his sword, starting an unfamiliar series of handsigns. Kazuhiko immediately backed up then created a mud-wall. Nothing seemed to happen, but Kitara thought that maybe Tomohiro had set up a genjutsu. After that Tomohiro stood still with his hands in the last hand-sign for a few seconds. Then he slowly reached and drew his sword, still standing still. Eventually, after about a minute Kazuhiko dropped his mud-wall. Then Tomohiro started walking toward Kazuhiko with his sword outstretched. Kazuhiko started a jutsu using five hand-signs, and the muddy water behind him extended and became a snake coming out of the water. The snake then extended, and struck toward Tomohiro. But somehow Tomohiro was able to strike the water snake with his sword, and it dissolved and splattered on the ground. Then Tomohiro rushed the final steps between himself and Kazuhiko and started slashing toward Kazuhiko's left arm. Kazuhiko easily dodged then lashed out with a leg and kicked Tomohiro's right kneecap. Tomohiro sidestepped, and thrust with his sword again. This time toward Kazuhiko's right arm. Kazuhiko started to dodge, then suddenly jerked and tried to grapple with Tomohiro. He was slashed on the right shoulder in the process, but bowled Tomohiro back. Then Tomohiro jumped back, enhancing the jump with chakra so he leaped around five feet backwards.

Tomohiro sheathed the sword and started the hand-signs for his distraction genjutsu, which seemed to create a bright flare of light from his forehead protector. After that Tomohiro started the hand-signs for his looping fears genjutsu. Kazuhiko had squinted and turned his head away at the flare of light, then started the hand-signs for the mud-wall jutsu. Near the end of that techniqe Kazuhiko was caught for a few seconds in the fear looping genjutsu, but the unfinished mudwall exploded toward Tomohiro in a wave, breaking his concentration, covering him with mud, and knocking the breath out of him. Kazuhiko then used the kai hand-sign to escape the terror-looping technique, lunged and started furiously punching Tomohiro's dazed body. Tomohiro managed to dodge some of the punches, but tripped over a rock of all things, fell backward, and hit his head hard on the ground. After that the proctor waited for a ten count then declared "Sousa Isao Kazuhiko of Iwagakure!" There were cheers and laughter from the crowd at the accidental win. A small team of two medics walked onto the field, put Tomohiro on a litter, and walked out.

The proctor then announced that "due to uneven numbers Uzumaki Kitara of Konohagakure will battle again, unless she wishes to forfeit to Hisoka Satoshi of Kirigakure." Kitara considered, she had already fought a good match with the Iwa, and Satoshi had the advantage of having seen her previous fight. With the reputation he had, he would take advantage of that knowledge to trap her in some way. She also did not forget that one of his teammates had already killed, and he might choose to do the same. She would be unable to forfeit once the battle started. On the other hand, even the short break while she had watched Tomohiro's fight had let her chakra reserves and muscles recover, so she could fake him out and act more tired than she was until he underestimated her, then launch a surprise attack. Although it tended to have uneven results, pumping a huge amount of chakra in the simple e-ranked spark jutsu could paralyze Satoshi if he was underwater at the time. She knew her wind and fire jutsu combo would be useless except as a distraction to such an advanced water user. Still... there would be an uneven number again if she forfeited, and she might still advance even if she lost as long as she was not too badly injured. Also, she knew with the numbers as they were, she or Sasuke would have to face Satoshi eventually, if she forfeited she might only be buying herself thirty minutes of time before she had to face Satoshi in the next round. That decided Kitara walked into the arena, saying she did not forfeit to the proctor. Satoshi duck-walked out in his flippers, goggles, re-breather, and webbed gloves. If Kitara had not heard of his reputation she would have been tempted to laugh at the goofy picture he made.

"Ready. Hajime!" the proctor yelled as he jumped away. Satoshi immediately headed to the muddy water, starting a hand-sign sequence as he did. Kitara threw three kunai enhanced with wind chakra at Satsumo to interrupt whatever jutsu he had begun, then quickly ran forward hoping to engage him in tai-jutsu, the only skill he had not seen and that she might have an advantage in. Satoshi jumped into the muddy pond to dodge the kunai, then completed his jutsu. It seemed to create or draw out a large amount of water from the air. The pond rapidly expanded and deepened until it was twice the original size. Now most of Satoshi was underwater, except for the top of his head. He started another hand-sign sequence as Kitara balked at the water's edge. Kitara tied a wire around a single shurriken, enhanced it with wind chakra then threw the shurriken at an angle for Satsum's lower neck, hoping it would slice through the water or mess up his rebreather and force him to keep his head at least out of the water for the duration of the fight. The wire was to give her a connection to keep sending wind chakra, since a shurriken was barely substantial enough to have even a little bit of wind chakra. She also hoped the wire might wrap around Satoshi's neck if the shurriken missed, choking him temporarily, maybe causing him to lose consciousness. Or she could then overpower the simple E-ranked spark jutsu to shock and perhaps paralize Satoshi, depending on how swiftly she could react and control her chakra depending on what happened. Kitara knew that trying to water walk or wade into the water was a recipe for disaster with a Kiri ninja.

Satoshi did not try to move to dodge, other than leaning back in the water a bit. Instead he rapidly made handsigns, and the water started swirling and churning around the shurriken. Then the water wrapped around the shurriken and pushed outward violently toward Kitara. She had to dodge her own shurriken and release the wire to prevent herself from getting injured. The water released the shurriken, but started curving to attack Kitrara agan. This showed the extreme control Satoshi must have over the jutsu, since he was continuing to guide the water after the original diversion of her attack. A defense turned into an effective offense. Kitara moved well away from the water, deciding to make Satoshi leave the water or waste chakra sending long range attacks from the water. She refused to let him keep the advantage of terrain. Kitara created three kage bushin and weaved with them so Satoshi would hopefully lose track of the real her. Then she sent two to start feinting attacks, dodging and moving back if he showed signs of attacking. She and the other kage bushin observed and tried to think of some way to attack without wasting chakra or leaving herself vulnerable.

The audience started muttering, since this was very boring, they wanted to see action. Kitara went over the jutsu she knew yet again, but realized that the few semi-long range attacks she had were useless. Wind palm thrust lost power the further away she was, so could never do damage through the water, and fire would also be useless against water. Weapons were unlikely to penetrate either, as seen by the failure of the shirriken. Kitara was a close to mid-range specialist, she had rarely thought of fighting from a distance. Yet going near Satoshi in his water pond would give him the advantage. Tai-jutsu would not help either, not with Satoshi determined to stay in that water. The kage busin would be the best choice of attacking and not risking herself. However each kage bushin was easily dispelled, so Satoshi was not in any danger from them unless he let down his guard or was overwhelmed by sheer numbers. Again though, creating a large number of kage bushin was a waste of chakra, and Kitara did not want to reveal just how high her reserves were or how fast she had recovered. Ktara decided to try something. She carefully removed the two explosion tags she had and wrapped them around kunai, then handed each to a kage bushin. Sound was said to travel in water, so if the kunai exploded just above the surface she might disorient or deafen Satoshi. In the confusion, Kitara would rush in and try to force Satoshi out of that water. Each kage bushin ran toward Satoshi, and added wind chakra to the kunai in addition to the tag, so hopefully the shrapnel from the explosion would travel fast enough to injure Satoshi.

The two Kitara clones made their throw. Satoshi began to create hand signs for the jutsu he had used last time, whatever it was. Then the two kunai exploded. BAM! PSHEW! Shards of sharp metal rained down on Satoshi, causing numerous minor injuries. The two Kitara clones had dispelled due to low chakra and the pressure wave from the explosion. That was an unexpected side effect. The water had expanded outward from the sites of the explosions, leaving Satoshi's entire head and parts of his shoulder exposed. Then Kitara and her last remaing clone rushed in. Both used a modified wind palm thrust and punched the air hard, createing a bludgeon of wind to push Satoshi back and hopefully upwards out of that water. Both also followed behind the bludgeons of wind, to try to engage Satoshi in taijutsu at his vulnerable moment. Satoshi was hit by the bludgeons of wind, but the water had reduced their effect greatly. Satoshi then saw Kitara and her clone rushing in, and created a water wall. His pond was now much smaller, but Kitara could not see or attack Satoshi. Then Satoshi let his water wall drop, and started creating new handsigns. The remaining water started taking on the form of a shark-head with a gaping mouth and headed toward Kitara. All Kitara could manage was a substitution with her clone at the last second. The clone was gruesomely torn apart and exploded into smoke. Satoshi then threw a handful of senbon needles and a pellet of something. Kitara dodged and created two kage bushin. Then the pellet exploded into an odd blue smoke. Kitara and her clones tried to get out of that cloud, but started to feel dizzy. Then it seemed as if Satoshi transformed into an odd combination of a duck and a walrus that somehow was able to move very fast. Kitara managed to dodge that first attack, but both of the other clones were dispelled.

Her vision was now blurred, but she saw a blue and green blobby thing moving toward her again. She then tried to counter attack, creating her bastardized chakra scalpel and slashing wildly at the blob that she thought was Satoshi. It hit, but then dissolved into a splash of water. Kitara heard a mutter from further away, and then the water rose and formed into a spear. Kitara created a wind palm thrust to intercept the spear of water then vaguely sensed movement behind her. She turned on the spot, just in time to be hit hard by one of Satoshi's flippers which he was using as a weapon. PHLAT! The flipper impacted on Kitara's head and she lost consciousness.

When Kitara woke up, she was in a temporary infirmiry with Kabuto and other medics standing nearby, but ignoring her. She could hear cheers and groans from a great deal of people nearby, and assumed that the thirty minute break had already ended and the second round had started. She took stock of herself. The dizziness that might have been caused by the odd smoke or a genjutsu was gone. Kitara felt a slight headache and tenderly touched her forehead, but felt no lump, so it already must have healed. She then wiggled her extremities and carefully sat up. Kitara looked around and caught the attention of Kabuto or one of the medics. "Hi Kabuto, thanks for watching over me, may I go and watch the rest of whatever match was currently occurring, and am I was still in the exam, or did I miss my match. The medic nearby frowned, but reluctantly gave permission to leave, and said that as far as he knew she was still in the exam, but that she should probably forfeit since head injuries were tricky and Kitara could make any internal damage worse. Kabuto simply smiled but did not say a word. Kitara did not comment but instead carefully swing herself off the cot and stood. She waited to make sure there was no dizziness, then slowly started walking toward the stands of the arena.

When Kitara made it to the stands set aside for candidates she found that Kazuhiko was fighting Sasuke. She learned that the battle had been going on for a good ten minutes already, but that this was the first battle of the second round. Kazuhiko had been mostly defensive, using the slightly muddy ground to create an earth-wall against Sasuke's fire attacks. Instead of Kitara having to battle twice again, she would face Katsume, then the winner of this bout would fight Satoshi. If that person lost, the final round would be a free for all of three people battling. If the winner of this bout won a second time, it would just be the winner of Kitara and Katsume's match against that winner. Which meant that if Sasuke won, Kitara would face him if she won against Katsume no matter what. If he lost, she would face Kazuhiko and likely Satoshi again, since she doubted that Satoshi would lose to Kazuhiko. However by this stage, any one of them could be promoted no matter how well or poorly they did against their next opponents. Kitara decided that if Sasuke won against Kazuhiko but lost against Satoshi, she would team up with him in the final round, assuming she won against Katsume. If by some miracle Sasuke won all rounds she would treat the final round as an intense sparring match. If Sasuke lost to Kazuhiko then Kitara would claim exhaustion and forfeit before facing Satoshi again. She knew that technically with most of the standing water evaporated she would have a chance against Satoshi, but also thought he was likely to be even more ruthless if he faced her again.

While Kitara had been pondering her choices Sasuke had again lost patience with the entirely defensive Kazuhiko. He had activated his Sharringan and then rushed into close range to engage in a tai-jutsu match. Sasuke used chakra to enhance his legs and then began kicking the earth-wall until it crumbled. After that, an intense Tai-jutsu match began. Kazuhiko used an odd style, and was able to dodge many of Sasuke's blows. Very few of Kazuhiko's blows got through to Sasuke so it was close to a stalemate for a time. Until Sasuke suddenly dropped the weights that both Kitara and Sasuke were so used to that they considered them a part of their outfit. Then Sasuke sped up slightly and started landing more blows. Kazuhiko endured, but it was clear he was tiring. Sasuke was likely tiring too, but at least he did not have bruises and injuries on top of his exhaustion like Kazuhiko did. Eventually Kazuhiko was hit on his head a few times and sank down onto the ground, either unconscious or faking it in order to stop fighting. "Sousa Uchiha Sasuke of Konohagakure!" was announced after a pause to make sure Kazuhiko was not getting up.

Kitara mused to herself that Sasuke had actually lessened his chances with that victory. In theory winning was all to the good, but Sasuke had shown a lack of patience and an over-reliance on his bloodline, which was unlikely to sit well with the observers. Thinking about that, Kitara knew with hindsight that she should have forfeited before facing Satoshi, battling him and losing when she did not have to fight had likely left an impression that she was overconfident to the observers, even if it was not the truth. Still, Kitara reminded herself that she was considered a rookie, and even if none of the Konohagakure team was promoted now, the experience would help them at the next exam. After all, Kitara now knew she needed to learn a few long-distance skills, Tomohiro needed to improve in general, and if there was anyone who could get through to him that he needed to improve Sasuke could do to become more rounded in his skills and learn some patience. Plus there was still a chance that the next battle would again improve her chances. After all, she clearly had many skills, and if she demonstrated those skills the observers might conclude that her fight with Satoshi had been a calculated risk instead of overconfidence.

Then the brief break was over, and Kitara had no more time to muse. She had to face Katsume, a clearly skilled weapon user who had not even needed to use any jutsu to win her last battle. The two walked to the center of the arena, Katsume with her graceful sway and Kitara with brisk efficiency. The proctor asked "do either of you wish to forfeit before the battle" as he glanced at Kitara. "No, my injuries have healed well enough, I will not forfeit," Kitara said with a neutral expression. "I do not want to forfeit either," Katsume said. The proctor seemed to sigh, then started jumping back even as he cried out "Haime!" Neither Kitara or Katsume moved for a minute, sizing each other up. Then Katsume drew her sai in one hand, and a handful of senbon needle in the other. Kitara created two kage bushin and one regular bushin for defense, then drew a kunai to deflect the few senbon needles she could not dodge. Katsume threw the senbon, and Kitara dodged and deflected then, even as her kage bushin also moved away in preparation for an attack. For a bit both tested each other without Katsume using jutsu, and with Kitara only using her clone jutsu's. Even as they did this, one of Kitara's clones burrowed underground and started setting up for a sneak attack. Katsume had edged and moved until she was near a small puddle, the only one remaining from the mud-pond which had been near there previously. Then, Katsume actually used a jutsu. That jutsu created a very thin whip of water which rose up and then snapped toward one of Kitara's clones. The clone could not dodge and was dispelled. Then Katsume repeated a single handsign at the end of the sequence, and the water whip snapped toward Kitara. Kitara dodged, then created the fire flower and sent it to surround the water whip, sending out a wind palm thrust to help guide and increase the power. Kitara hoped to force the water to evaporate. Katsume made a series of hand signs, and the water whip became a blob of water and moved away.

While Katsume tried to save her water source, Kitara rushed in close, trying to force Katsume toward where she knew the kage bushin lurked underground. Both of them had been mostly silent until now, other than calling out the occasional taunt of "Missed me" or the name of a jutsu. Even as Katsume refused to be herded she now called out. "Are you finally warmed up and ready? If this has been your best you had better hope I'm feeling merciful when I win." Then Katsume drew a second sai and slashed at Kitara. Kitara blocked with a kunai, then drew a second one. Katsume had abandoned the water puddle, but it remained on the ground. Now both Kunoichi engaged in a knife battle, Katsumes' sai against Kitara's kunai. They moved back and forth, sidestepped, and otherwise dodged, blocked, deflected, and attacked each other. Both started accumulating small cuts from times when they were not fast enough to dodge or block. Thankfully, the sai were not poisoned so this did not affect Kitara too much. Kitara swifly learned that the sai were made more for thrusting than slashing, which showed the level of skill Katsume had, that she could slash with them. After a time, Katsume had moved over the hidden kage bushin's hiding spot. So the kage bushin grabbed Katsume's ankles and dragged her down under ground, planning to leave only her head above for a traditional end. Katsume managed to kick and free one ankle long enough to dispell the kage bushin. But she was now off balance, with one ankle stuck in the ground and the other still above. Kitara took advantage of this to kick one of Katsume's sai out of her hand and further away. Then Kitara created two more clones and had them both send out the fire flower in order to distract or blind Katsume.

In the meantime Kitara concentrated and created her bastardized chakra scalpel, prepared to disarm Katsume and prevent her from even using that arm. The bastardized scalpel was not nearly as precise as Kabuto's but it made up for that in the amount of damage it inflicted. Kitara waited, then sent a wind palm thrust to get the remaining mini-fireballs out of the way and to knock Katsume even more off balance. As Katsume windmilled her arms, all thoughts of grace gone to prevent herself from falling backward and breaking her ankle, Kitara ran in and struck the arm and wrist with a sai in the hand. The arm immediately discolored and started seeping blood, as Katsume cried out and the sai dropped from her suddenly nerveless fingers, barely missing the foot of the free leg. Katsume desperately and awkwardly made hand signs, and the forgotten water puddle rose, formed a whip, and snapped at Kitara from behind. Kitara was then knocked of balance from the impact and sudden pain. She stumbled toward Katsume though, and crashed into her. This caused Katsume to fall backwards after all. There was then a sickening snap, and a bit of bone protruded from Katsume's ankle. Kitara scrambled away. Then she told Katsume "You're helpless now. There is no way you can walk or even stand, both your sai's are out of your reach, your right arm is practically useless, and all I need to do is stay out of range of your senbon needles." "Proctor? Does this count as being unable to continue, or do I have to finish her off?" Kitara asked. The back of her shirt was shredded from the water whip, and there was a bloody line where it hit, but Kitara was easily able to ignore the pain now that she was used to it. Kitara mentally winced at the wording, as if she was going to kill Katsume, but maintained an expressionless face. The proctor stated, seemingly uncaring, "She does still have those senbon needles, so technically she is able to continue. Do as you will." Kitara knew better than to step into range in order to knock Katsume out, and tried to think of some way to achieve the same result without killing Katsume. If forfeiting were allowed, it would be likely that Katsume would do so, but as it was Katsume was assumed to still be capable of battle as long as she had a weapon and was conscious. The only thing Kitara could think of was sending in kage bushin until one managed to knock out Katsume or she ran out of weapons to throw. It would be obvious that Kitara did not intend to kill, but that would not hurt Konoha's reputation too much, since Konoha ninja were known to be unwilling to kill helpless opponents. Still... that would be very time consuming and use up chakra. Although there would be a break, while Sasuke battle Satoshi, Kitara wanted to conserve as much as she could in preparation for the next battle.

What to do? Perhaps Kitara could use wind chakra to guide a kunai to hit handle first? It seemed like the best idea. Kitara carefully moved until she was facing the back of Katsume, who had by now sat up and was carefully digging out the foot of her broken ankle. Then with a deep breath for luck, Kitara brought out a kunai, carefully gripped the edge, and sent out wind chakra so the kunai would build up enough speed even without being aerodynamic. Then she aimed and threw the kunai at the back of Katsume's head. Katsume must have heard the air whistling around the Kunai for she ducked down. The kunai missed, and landed a foot away from Katsume, thankfully out of her reach. By now the foot was free though, so Katsume could drag herself about if she wanted to. Suddenly Kitara realized that Katsume would not be helpless after all, Katsume's sai was also just out of reach, but not if Katsume moved. Kitara could not let that happen, so drew out her own senbon and threw them. Unless they hit a nerve, vital organ, or penetrated deeply the senbon would not kill, but they could be used to distract. Most of the senbon hit Katsume's back, painful but pointless. Still, leaving yourself blind to an enemy was dangerous, those senbon could have been shurriken or kunai. So Katsume twisted and moved her leg to help her turn around to face Kitara. Katsume's right arm hung down uselessly, apparently the damage had spread enough that muscles were cut or swollen with blood. Kitara cautiously moved back a bit, Katsume had demonstated that she could throw those poisoned senbon accurately with her left hand.

"Tsk tsk, you are clearly not very good with those senbon of yours, and not even poisoned either? Well, you have my attention, but you are showing an appalling unwillingness to kill. You could have killed me five or more times while you dithered about trying to avoid that. Only Konoha genin have the option to never kill, if you want to make Chunin you will have to get used to causing death. Shinobi are assassins, thieves, saboteurs, and a major part of a county's military power. A shinobi who cannot kill is useless." Katsume taunted. Kitara stared back, knowing that this was true. And after all, hadn't she already killed bandits? Somehow it had seemed different with a fellow kunoichi. It had seemed wrong to kill someone who clearly had a name, family, and ambitions of her own. But Katsume had killed Akita without hesitation, and would likely kill Kitara if she could. Katsume was from a country that was only considered a loose ally of Konohagakure because it was still recovering from the bloodline purges and a devastating civil war, and so was to weak to become an enemy against Konoha. The populace had shown clear antagonism toward Konoha shinobi, so it wasn't that Kirigakure was unwilling to fight, only wise enough to know it would end in failure. That could change in time, when Kirigakure had recovered. If that was the case, wasn't it Kitara's duty to remove a potential enemy, to show that Konohagakure was not weak? But what if that taunt was meant to goad Kitara into a foolish action? Since Kitara doubted Katsume had suddenly become suicidal a trap was likely.

How then to stop or kill Katsume without falling into a trap? Kitara created a team of five kage bushin and had them spread out in a circle around Katsume. "You are right, I should not hesitate to kill, and that is the only way for this battle to end." Kitara stated, trying to convince herself even as she and all her kage busin drew shurriken and started charging them with wind chakra. Kitara had to be careful now, too much chakra and the shurriken might go right through Katsume to hit Kitara and her clones, or dispell all the kage bushin if they missed Katsume altogether. The crossfire should prevent Katsume from being able to block, but it was dangerous as well. To little wind chakra and the shurriken would do only a little more damage than a senbon needle, or be slow enough to be easily dodged and deflected. Katsume probably had some desperation move, or defensive technique, otherwise she would not have goaded Kitara. Kitara threw her shurriken, carefully aiming at Katsume's stomach, the center of her body mass and most vulnerable target. The others aimed at the back, at the sides, and at the bottom of Katsume's spine. Katsume hssed in pain as she made a single handsign. From a pouch at Katsum'e waist, and from the ground water spouted. Katsume made another hand-sign, and the water rose up to defend her.

It would have been a good move, releasing water from a sealing scroll and using it to defend, if the shurriken had been ordinary. But the whole purpose of wind chakra was to sharpen the blades and increase speed and power. The thin wall of water only slowed the shurriken down and moved them slightly off target. The shurriken aimed at Katsume's belly rose a few inches and hit the top of the belly where intestines met. The shurriken aimed at the spine only hit higher on the spine. The shurriken aimed at the sides hit just below the armpits. And the shurriken aimed at the back, between shoulder blades, instead hit just below the neck. The water wall collapsed even as Katsume did. She was now paralyzed from the neck down, and would either die of the infection near her intestines or live paralyzed for the rest of her life. There was a long pause of shock at the sudden ending, then the proctor moved in closer to examine Katsume, then declared "Shousa Uzumaki Kitara of Konohagakure!" Once again a team of medics rushed onto the field, this time with a stretcher.

Kitara felt slightly sick at what she done, but knew that there had been no other way.