You probably know how this is gonna go, it's the preliminaries. Not many ways it can go to be honest. So, anyways, enjoy the show.
Chapter 9, New Toys
"First Match, Uchiha Sasuke versus Akadou Yoroi."
"Heh, I get to test my strength against the rookie of the year and Uchiha heir. What an honour." Yoroi said sarcastically.
"An honour is right. Bow, worthless dog." Sasuke replied in a condescending tone.
"Hajime!" Hayate shouted as Sasuke reached into his holster and pulled out a kunai and threw it at Yoroi, while Yoroi threw several shuriken from his hip pouch. The steel ninja weapons clashed in the air, cancelling each other out. Sasuke noticed that his opponent's right hand was glowing blue with chakra, but his concentration was broken by a flash of pain emitted from the seal on his neck and he quickly found himself face-first on the ground. He looked up to see that Yoroi was nowhere to be found. He found him standing over him, his chakra-empowered fist flying towards him. The avenger jumped out of the way and stabbed another kunai into the ground to stop himself. He swung around on the kunai and fixated his legs around Yoroi's own, knocking him over. The masked ninja fell on Sasuke's legs and hit him in the chest with the back of his arm. Sasuke wrapped his legs around Yoroi's neck and his arms around the arm on his chest.
"Heh, gotcha." Sasuke said with a smirk.
"Oh really?" Yoroi asked, his own smirk hidden behind his cloth mask. He swivelled his arm and grabbed the collar of Sasuke's shirt as his hand glowed with chakra once more. Sasuke's eyes widened as he felt his strength being sapped. 'What's happening?' Sasuke thought, Yoroi's arm breaking free from his now pathetic grasp. The arm slammed back down into Sasuke's chest making him cough while Yoroi's muscular form jumped away. 'All my strength...it suddenly disappeared!' Yoroi rushed forwards, his fist glowing once more. Sasuke sat up, hoping to get in a few hits before his opponent got ahold of him again. But it was in vain, as Yoroi's hand clasped his head and began sapping his strength faster than before. Sasuke's arms fell weak at his sides.
"What the...my chakra, what are you doing?"
"You're just noticing it now?" Yoroi said, his cheeks rising notably behind his mask. Sasuke's cries of pain echoed through the arena. Yoroi's smirk disappeared quickly as his hand started burning and Sasuke's cries turned into maniacal laughter. Flame-like marks were spreading over his neck and face, a purple chakra surrounding his body. Yoroi withdrew his hand and jumped away, his eyes widening in disbelief. "W-What's going on?"
"This...This is my POWER!" Sasuke roared, his voice becoming demonic as the curse seal spread over his body. He rushed forwards, his fist rocketing into Yoroi's stomach and sending him into a wall. Yoroi struggled to free himself from the stone wall, but stopped when Sasuke appeared beside him and flung him across the room. Yoroi stood back up, looking severely battered as Sasuke crouched on the stone tiles. A purple chakra swirled around him as he disappeared in a blur of pure speed. Yoroi didn't have time to look around as Sasuke's foot collided with his chin and sent him into the air, where Sasuke followed with the Kage Buyo (Shadow of the Dancing Leaf). "This is an honour...you will go to hell knowing you died by my almighty hand!" Sasuke spuhn round, a kick aimed for Yoroi's left side. He blocked it, but the masked ninja heard something break when the hit collided. The Uchiha spun again, aiming for the other side which Yoroi couldn't block. He punched him in the chest, sending him towards the ground. "Come back here, I'm not finished destroying you yet!" Sasuke spun once more, catching Yoroi's stomach as he moved. His final kick landed just before his opponent hit the ground, sending him crashing through the tiles with a cry of pain. Sasuke's cursed power hit Yoroi at full force, with Sasuke letting out a primal roar before calling out his attack's name.
"Norowa re ta raion no ikari (Rage of the Cursed Lion)!"
The collision was hidden from the eyes of the spectators by a large dust cloud formed by the crash. When the dust finally settled, a few people's eyes widened to see Sasuke standing over Yoroi's unmoving body, the marks receding back into the original on his neck. The boy simply walked away from his fallen foe, a small smirk present on his face.
"The winner is Uchiha Sasuke." Hayate said while medic-nin rushed forwards to help Yoroi. "Can we now pick the next two fighters?" He asked as the board started spinning again.
"Teme, what happened? You went crazy." Naruto asked when the raven-haired avenger returned to the balcony.
"I needed more power. I got it."
"You almost killed the guy. Now, while I'm all for killing people, it's MY job. You just keep fighting like a kid, okay?"
"Don't treat me like an inferior, dobe. I'm far stronger than you."
"You forget. I was stronger than you before, then we BOTH got the same power. That means I'm still stronger." Naruto told him, making the boy growl in annoyance.
"Whatever. The match is over." Sasuke noted, turning back to the arena.
"Who was it? Oh, Sakura and Ino. Nothing special then. Probably just loads of flashbacks."
"Who's the next one?"
"Uhh...Tenten and Temari. So, anyway, what should we have for lunch?" Naruto asked, returning to their mundane conversation.
A while later...
'So, Temari beat Tenten, Kankuro beat Misumi, Kabuto beat Chouji, Shino beat...someone, Neji beat Hinata and Gaara beat Lee. Brutally, I might add. That means all that's left is me, Neru, Shikamaru and Kiba. Please, Kami, say I can kill Kiba?' Naruto thought to himself as he watched the board spin. It finally stopped and Naruto smirked at the outcome.
"Would Nara Shikamaru and Romano Neru please come down to the arena?"
"Good luck, Neru. You'll need it, with his brain."
"Thanks Naruto-kun. When I win, maybe we can go somewhere private to celebrate?"
"Maybe. Just get down there."
Neru jumped over the railing, landing in front of the lazy Nara.
"Can we get this over with? I'd rather be playing shogi."
"Yeah yeah, just let me pummel you, then you can go back to your game." Neru said before running forwards, senbon in hand. She found, however, that she couldn't move. She looked down to find her shadow linked with Shikamaru's. He raised a hand which the dark haired girl copied. 'C'mon, there's gotta be a way out of this...got it!' Neru closed her eyes and focused on something that had been lying dormant within her ever since her resurrection. The power of the Darkness. She focused on it so hard, sweat began to form on her brow. Eventually, she got it. Her eyes opened again to reveal a yellow iris around an otherwise perfectly normal eye. Shikamaru soon found that he could no longer control her actions. In fact, she was controlling his. Her hand reached down to her kunai holster, which Shikamaru copied. It was then the boy realised what she was doing. Neru was left handed. He wasn't. She pulled out a kunai while he just grabbed thin air, and threw said pointy object at her opponent, intent on winning and impressing the blonde-haired object of her affections. Shikamaru thought fast and broke contact while rolling out of the way. He then scanned the room for anything that could be used against her. His eyes rested on the shadows underneath the balconies and a smirk found its way onto his face. He made an unfamiliar hand sign and Neru suddenly felt several presences behind her. She turned to find several black tentacles protruding from the shadows beneath the balcony. Her eyes widened, noticing the resemblance between this and Naruto's Darkness. Even Naruto raised an eyebrow at the Nara's attack. Knowing this attack already, Neru realised that she could not defend against it, and put her hand up, signifying her surrender.
"Romano Neru surrenders, Nara Shikamaru wins by default."
'You did good...Neru-chan.' Naruto thought from above. Both ninja returned to the balcony, Neru jumping on Naruto as soon as she reached the top of the metal staircase.
"Guess I won't be in the finals, huh Naruto-kun?"
"Yeah, I guess. Could you get off me, I need to speak to someone." Naruto said, pushing the girl off of him. "Hey, Shikamaru! Can I speak to you for a sec?"
"Sure, whatever."
"Just wondering, how do you know that technique? I thought it was particular to my...bloodline."
"Your father and mine were good friends, Naruto. And it helped that they had similar abilities." Shikamaru said with a knowing smirk present on his usually bored features.
"My father, huh? So you know?"
"It wasn't hard...Namikaze." He said, whispering the second part.
"I keep telling everybody, don't forget the Estacado!" Naruto complained, making Shikamaru chuckle. He stopped, however, when he saw the board.
"You better get down there. Wouldn't wanna miss this, would you?" He said, gesturing towards the board.
"Hells yes, Dog-boy's goin' down!" Naruto shouted before jumping over the railing. While he had gotten more calm and cold over the years, some of that usual happy demeanour broke through every once in a while. He faced Kiba, Akamaru already standing beside him.
"You ready to lose, dobe?"
"As ready as you are to wear ribbons in your hair, mutt."
"Final Match, Inuzuka Kiba versus Uzumaki Estacado Naruto."
"Finally, someone get's my name right."
"Hajime!" Kiba rushed towards Naruto, throwing a pill to his partner Akamaru. The small dog's white fur turned red and was engulfed in a cloud of smoke, which dissipated to reveal a second Kiba.
"Ah yes, the Juujin Bunshin no Jutsu. It won't help you." Naruto said calmly, his eyes closed.
"Oh yeah? GATSUUGA!" Kiba roared, spinning into his clan's most powerful attack. The two tornados flew towards Naruto, who simply reached to his belt, pulling out his Darkness Guns. Seeing Kiba and Akamaru begin to spin around each other to maximise damage, Naruto aimed his weapons at the centre of the attack, between the two tornados.
"Yamiton: Kurai Daburu Tama." He said, before firing both guns, the lightning merging with the shockwave to create a large ball of white lightning. The lightning ball impacted the centre of Kiba's attack, exploding and sending him and Akamaru flying to opposite sides of the room. Naruto grabbed Akamaru with a Demon Arm and walked over to Kiba, putting a gun to his head.
"I'll let you surrender if... (whisper whisper)."
"Hell no!" Naruto squeezed the trigger slightly to prove his point. "Fine...I'd just like to let everyone know, that I suck."
"And?"
"And that I'm a girl..."
"What else?"
"And I like ribbons in my hair, and I want to kiss all the boys." Kiba finished reluctantly.
"This may be the best surrender of all time." Naruto said with a chuckle.
"Winner, Uzumaki Estacado Naruto." Hayate said between laughter. Sarutobi, he himself chuckling as well, stepped forward and addressed the remaining genin.
"Now, the rest of you will be proceeding to the third phase of the exam, so please take a slip of paper from the box," He said, holding up a small wooden box with a hole in the top. When everyone had taken one, the Hokage gave the box to a random Chunin. "Now that you all have one, please open it and tell us your number, so the final round's match-ups can be finalised."
"Seven." Temari.
"Two." Neji.
"Five." Kankuro.
"Eight." Shikamaru.
"Three." Gaara.
"One." Naruto.
"Six." Shino.
"Nine." Kabuto.
"And that means Sasuke will be number four. With that done, the final rounds will look like this," Sarutobi said, holding up a piece of paper.
Round 1: Uzumaki Estacado Naruto vs. Hyuuga Neji.
Round 2: Sabaku no Gaara vs. Uchiha Sasuke.
Round 3: Kankuro vs. Aburame Shino.
Round 4: Nara Shikamaru vs. Yakushi Kabuto.
Round 5: Winner of Round 4 vs. Temari.
"Now that the final rounds are finalised, you have one month to prepare for the tournament. Use this time wisely; hone your skills, learn new abilities, train yourself in any way possible to defeat your opponent. Now, go." The Hokage said before disappearing in a swirl of leaves, the other Jounin following suit.
'One month, huh? Plenty of time. I hope that arena has insurance, 'cause I'm sending it to hell.'
That's the preliminaries done with, which means next will be the month training, meeting Jiraiya, summoning, all that stuff. By the way, if anyone recognised Kiba's surrender, you get an e-cookie. Enjoy it. On an unrelated note, I was thinking on giving Naruto an alternate summoning scroll, instead of toads. In fact, I think it would tie in well if he had a Darkling Summoning Contract. But if you have another idea, don't hesitate to suggest it, you never know, it may just feature in the next edition of Naruto Estcado, A Fox in the Shadows! Until next time!
