"The whole world is a narrow bridge. The important thing is not to be afraid…" Fortune Cookie
22222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222
"Well, I'd might as well get this troublesome fight over with…" muttered Shikamaru as he calmly walked down the stands.
Yoroi was more eager and jumped down to meet his opponent.
"You should give up, Gaki," muttered Yoroi to Shikamaru, "There's no way you can beat me."
"I'd like nothing more than to give up, but… that would only be more troublesome in the long run." replied Shikamaru.
"Are the fighters ready?" asked Hayate.
Both nodded.
"Hajime!" he called before jumping back.
Yoroi leaped forwards almost immediately. While Shikamaru jumped back at the same time.
The Ronin stared at the fight for a few seconds before he sighed.
"…That Shikamaru person… of the Nara Clan? That means he can manipulate shadows with chakra." He said aloud, "And if Yoroi's ability is all this card says it is… this fight will be rather long."
"What makes you say that, Ronin-san?" asked Kurenai.
"I'd rather not spoil the surprise…" he said before turning his gaze from Kurenai back to the match.
'This kid…' thought Kurenai to herself '…Is more than meets the eye… He's smart. That's a given, but… if that's all that's going for him, why would three Daimyos actually recommend him? Then there was that moment he was so fast… I almost didn't see him. His speed is certainly high-chunin level…'
Shikamaru, meanwhile, was constantly jumping back to avoid Yoroi's movements towards him.
"Hold still, Gaki!" shouted Yoroi before he jumped forwards again, only to yield the same results.
Shikamaru jumped back several steps before crouching down and using a hand seal…
"Kagemane no jutsu (Shadow Imitation Technique)." He said before his very shadow stretched out towards Yoroi.
He didn't bother to dodge it.
In fact, he stood completely still, even welcoming the shadow!
And finally, it stuck to him.
Shikamaru scowled.
'No… no way in hell is this fight going to be that easy… he isn't even acting surprised, let alone beaten… Why did he allow my attack to hit him?' thought Shikamaru.
He was broken out of his thoughts when, instead of mimicking his every move, Yoroi charged forwards yet again!
"What the hell…" muttered Shikamaru before barely rolling out of the way.
"My kekkei-genkai (Bloodline Limit) allows me to absorb my enemy's chakra just by touching them. When your jutsu hit me, it did nothing except give me more chakra!" said Yoroi with sick glee.
The Ronin turned his head towards Kurenai, "Surprised?" he asked, already knowing the answer…
Shikamaru was mentally cursing up a storm.
There were plenty of reasons for this, too.
First, he only knew a few jutsu and all his jutsu would be immediately dispelled by the man in front of him.
Second, he didn't have as much stamina as this man, he would become tired faster.
And third, this guy… wait, this guy hadn't used any other jutsu.
Could it be that Yoroi's only jutsu was his kekkei-genkai? If so… how could he exploit that?
A look of realization suddenly appeared on his face.
Yoroi grabbed him by the head and slammed him to the floor.
But, before he could laugh in pleasure at his 'victory', 'Shikamaru' vanished in a puff of smoke only to be replaced by a few of the tiles they stood on.
Yoroi didn't even have time to blink in surprise before he was smashed in the back of the head and brought into unconsciousness.
"I was right, that was interesting." said the Ronin.
"The winner is Nara Shikamaru!" called Hayate before Shikamaru muttered a 'troublesome' under his breath and walked back up to the catwalk.
The screen went through the names and landed on two…
Kinuta Dosu
Vs.
Tsurugi Misumi
The Ronin was silent for a few seconds until…
"Misumi's going to lose so badly, this isn't even worth watching." he muttered before leaning his back against the wall, "You know what, I'm going to the bathroom."
"A-Ano… you aren't allowed to leave this room until the preliminaries are over, Ronin-san…" muttered Hinata.
"Ah, but you see, I'm a Ronin. They don't care what happens to me, it's a fact. I can go as I please so long as I come back within the next three minutes…" he said with a smirk, hidden under his mask.
Hinata looked at Kurenai questioningly, "He's right," said Kurenai, "He can go as he pleases just as long as he's back before his next match."
The Ronin turned and left the room.
22222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222
Misumi had wrapped himself around Dosu several times now.
It was getting hard for Dosu to breathe… until he finally got one of his arms free. There was a slight ringing noise from his gauntlet before suddenly…
Misumi screamed in agony and collapsed to the ground, his ears were bleeding all over the floor.
"When I used my Melody Arm just now, I made you deaf for life. In addition, I decided to have a little more fun by turning your entire body into a sound conductor… it was easy since around seventy percent of the human body is made of water, a natural sound conductor… You never stood a chance." said Dosu before walking away from the crippled form of Misumi.
22222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222
The water in the bathroom sink ran as the Ronin cleaned the bandages covering his arm.
"I'll have to put these away until further notice to let them dry… until then, I'll use this medical tape." He said before taking a roll of said tape from one of his pockets.
(Flashback)
Temari jumped up to the catwalk while the medics carted Chouji away. Even as they carted him away, a roll of medical tape fell from one of their pockets. They never noticed…
(Flashback)
The Ronin let go of Kin and allowed her to go back up to the catwalk before jumping back to where he was standing. The medical tape was no longer on the floor, rather, in the Ronin's pocket.
(End Flashback)
"Well, it's been about three minutes. Time to get back, I suppose…" he turned to leave the bathroom when suddenly he heard a loud crashing sound.
He paused…
"Well now… it would seem that Ichi-chan is fighting the Youthful Green boy… this should be interesting…" he walked back to the observation stands, "I wonder… which is more powerful? The Green Beast? Or the Monster of Suna?"
22222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222
End of chapter 7.
I know that the chapters for Broken Twins are rather short, but, I'd like to once again remind you that they will lengthen very soon.
…So no worrying!
Forever Signed in Blood,
Slayer End
