The Eternal Chimera – Chapter 9
Well I know I said that I wouldn't be updating through the uni period as I would have too much work to do, but I found myself with an evening free so I decided to write this.
I'm not sure if I will be able to update again through the uni semester as I get given one 3000 word essay per week which chews up most of my life (and then I have other subjects…I feel like crying when I write it like that).
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
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"How did you manage to sustain such brutal injuries?" Kabuto asked his master.
"It's of no great consequence, not so long as you hurry up and heal them. I just got a little careless." Orochimaru hissed back.
"Of no great consequence? You have 17 of 24 ribs broken or in some way damaged, your left arm is fractured and your liver looks like it's suffered a massive impact. If I was asked to guess I would have said you pick a fight with your ex-teammate and let her walk all over you." Kabuto told Orochimaru the extent of his injuries as he started to use the shosen jutsu to heal the injuries.
"Fortunately no one is asking you to guess how I received my injuries, but there is someone ordering you to do your job. If you really must know, then that Kyuubi brat did this."
"He drew on the power of the Kyuubi then?" Kabuto surmised, awaiting confirmation.
"No, even better, he turned into a golden dragon." Kabuto thought his master had gone insane when he heard that.
"I…must have misheard, because I thought you sa…"
"You heard correctly, he turned into a dragon. Imagine the possibilities if it were genetic. I could breed him and have an army of dragons, perhaps with the curse seal." Orochimaru's eyes glazed as he envisaged that and many more things.
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Meanwhile back at the tower in the centre of the Forest of Death all eyes were trained on a giant electronic billboard that wall scrolling through the names of the contestants in the chuunin exam. The board stopped on four different names. Finally the random selection was complete and four names were displayed.
"Would Subaku no Gaara, Aiji Katagaki, Hideo Minori and Sumi Kanbasu please enter the ring?" Genma called to the nominated genin.
Aiji, from Ame, and Hideo from Kusa both entered the ring by vaulting over the side, Gaara disappeared and reappeared in a swirl of, looking utterly bored. Sumi, another Suna ninja had gone deathly pale. She looked from Gaara to the other contestants and then to Genma before announcing her decision.
"I wish to withdraw. I forfeit" Genma didn't pursue the matter but simply looked at her and gave a nod of acknowledgement before continuing with the first round.
"Very well, then let the match commence."
Aiji and Hideo were breathing hard; it was plainly obvious even to those viewing from far up above in the stands. Most just attributed it to being slightly anxious; the Suna nin knew the true reason.
Aiji and was looking at the other two contestants, sizing them up and trying to come up with a decent strategy that might let led him to victory; Hideo was doing much the same thing. However, it was Gaara that made the first move. The boy simply raised a clenched fist to shoulder height with a straight arm. All eyes were cautiously watching what he was about to do.
Gaara suddenly opened the clenched fist; at the same time both Hideo and Aiji fell to the ground screaming in pain gripping their lungs. Aiji had no idea what kind of jutsu this was but it was evident that Gaara was the originator; from his position on the floor he desperately threw a kunai at Gaara in the hopes of at least breaking his concentration and ending the jutsu. Everyone watched the flight of the kunai as Gaara did nothing to defend or evade, just as the kunai was expected to hit its mark, a wall of sand formed in front of Gaara and stopped the kunai cold, before dissipating and letting the kunai fall to the ground.
Hideo had realised what was happening, Gaara could somehow control the sand and was making it rip them apart from the inside out; now that he looked closely he could see the sand suspended in the air.
"I for…" he never got to finish the sentence as a sickening grin came across Gaara's face and made a violent sweep of his hand, causing the sand in both his opponents chest cavities to fly out. Their eyes widened, it would have been almost comical in any other context, this was just gruesome.
"He was about to forfeit, you could have let him live and the result would have still been the same; you moving on to the next round."
"He did not tender his forfeit early enough." Gaara replied in a monotone. Grudgingly Genma called the match in Garra's favour; up in the stands Gaara's teammate Kankuro could be heard making jokes.
"Well, just like they say; two types of ninja, the quick and the dead." He said with a smirk on his face.
Most chose to ignore his comment, while the teammates of the newly deceased glared at the boy, being kept in check by their respective senseis.
The arena was cleared and the next match was called. The names stopped and the contestant called forth.
"Would Subaku no Kankuro, Misumi Tsurugi, Dai Ando and Ryuuji Fujiwara please make their way down to the arena?"
Misumi, Dai and Ryuuji all vaulted over the railings of the stand, Kankuro simply walked down using the stairs, frustrating everyone no end with his snail's pace progress.
When he got to the fighting area, Misumi cast him a look of loathing for making him wait that long.
"Begin!" Hayate cried, Misumi wasted no time in charging Kankuro; apparently he was the type to hold a grudge and was in the process of dealing retribution. Everyone watched on as it seemed that Misumi was far too fast for Kankuro to evade; Misumi's arms lengthened to proportions that shouldn't be humanly possible, wrapping around Kankuro and constricting until a sickening crack was heard.
Everyone looked on in mild disgust at the ability, watching as Misumi released his hold over Kankuro, the boy's body falling to the ground dead.
"Shouldn'ta irritated me, idiot." Misumi said to Kankuro's dead form as he turned to the slightly pale remaining adversaries.
Ryuuji knew that he was at a severe disadvantage, he was from the Takigakure and many of his jutsu revolved around water usage. To use water jutsu right now he would need control as legendary as that of the Nidaime Hokage, in short his main arsenal had been removed. His taijutsu was not quite as good as his teammates' and he could only really use kunai and shuriken with any decent proficiency.
Misumi grew tired of waiting for his opponents to move so he started on the offensive once again. As they were standing in a slightly modified triangle formation, with Ryuuji and Dai standing closer to each other than either one was to him, he extended his arms and performed a sweeping motion, attempting to catch both his opponents in the manoeuvre. Dai reacted faster than Ryuuji and managed to evade, Ryuuji was caught in Misumi's iron grasp.
Misumi grinned sickly at Ryuuji. Misumi retracted the rest of his body to where his hands were situated, approaching Ryuuji at devastating speed, with no way to dodge and not enough time to form a jutsu, Misumi collided with Ryuuji with incredible force, sending him crashing into the wall behind and knocking him out.
"So, just you and me?" Dai muttered to Misumi.
"Appears so; wouldn't want to forfeit, could save your life." Misumi replied darkly, giving a small indication to Kankuro's dead body on the arena floor not far away.
"Not a chance." The Kumo nin responded as he drew eight kunai into his fingers.
He threw all eight kunai at once, Misumi easily dodged as he closed the gap between the two. What Misumi didn't realise was that Dai had put a very powerful negative charge into each of those kunai using some low level ration manipulation to affect the metal composing the kunai.
He tried to flick his hand to his kunai pouch, but had to change plans as Misumi lashed out with a long range back hand. He blocked the hit, but was too far away to counter. Misumi was doing nothing more than flailing his limbs in Dai's general direction, but if the dents that the hits were putting in the stone ground were any indication, style or not, those hits would hurt if they connected. He realised that if he went in too close then he would get wrapped up by his opponent and wind up dead from a broken neck.
Dai was dodging proficiently, but the ground around him was slowly losing its integrity as Misumi flailed his arms, not giving him the time to get to his kunai pouch. Suddenly Dai eyes widened as the ground under foot crumbled away, leaving him unable to dodge another hit, he was struck by Misumi and was sent to the floor some five meters back.
Misumi didn't have to wait to be told, he was already closing the gap, intent on finishing the match how it had started. His arms extended, aiming to wrap Dai up much like he had done to Kankuro. Dai managed to duck dodge and weave in and out of the seeking arms before he was finally caught.
The pain was evident in Dai's eyes as Misumi slowly began constricting the life out of him. Desperately he was reaching for his kunai pouch, struggling to hold on as he tried to gain the only thing that could save him. He felt his hand clasp over a shuriken an immediately started pumping positive ration chakra into it. From up above the crowd could see eight kunai starting to buck in their place on the ground or in the wall.
Everyone watched intently as the battle drew to its conclusion. For the second time in the course of the match a sickening crack could be heard as Misumi had broken his opponent's body. Unfortunately for Misumi, he had not done this fast enough and the technique Dai was trying to use took effect. Dai had pumped the eight original kunai so full of negative ration chakra that they couldn't help but be attracted to the kunai in Dai's hand charged with a very powerful positive current, the kunai in his had acting as a magnet for the rest.
Dai and Misumi had not changed orientation from when Dai threw the original eight so when the kunai came out of their moorings, they charged straight at the positively charge kunai in Dai's hand, right through Misumi who happened to be in the way. All eight pierced his chest cavity killing him almost instantly.
"Well this match is over. The result of the second preliminary..."
He stopped for a second as he though he swore he saw movement from Kankuro. Given a few more moments, Kankuro stood up and removed the package from his back, it unravelled to reveal another Kankuro with chakra strings attached to his fingers, a henge dispelled from the original revealing a puppet.
"The winner for the second preliminary is Subaku no Kankuro." Genma pronounced
Shikamaru had a smirk on his face.
"He won without doing a single thing? Now that's my kinda ninja." He mused, his friends shaking their heads.
A woman with blonde hair went down and collected Dai's body, sealing it into a scroll. When she walked past Naruto took more note as she walked past on her way back to what had to be her genin team. While her physical appearance was something to behold, a slender face, with beautiful eyes, it was her presence that Naruto noticed. It was again different from everybody else. It was like Gaara, but so very different at the same time.
'Rei-chan, what about you? Can you detect anything?' Naruto asked Rei, expecting her to sense the same thing as him.
'Sorry Naruto-kun, she seems perfectly normal to me.' Rei responded
Genma shook his head at the way the match had played out before turning to the giant board for the next set of competitors.
The board stopped flicking names and stopped on three familiar names
"Would Neji Hyuuga, Sakura Haruno, Ino Yamanaka and Rin Fuushi please enter the arena?" Genma's voice rang out.
It was set to be an interesting match, particularly for those watching from Konoha. Two of the three top graduating kunoichi from three most recent class would be battling. Added to that everyone was aware of the attempted kidnapping of Hinata when she was younger, while it was unlikely for such a kind person to hold grudges, it was also known that Neji had lost his father in the political furore that followed; and Neji was the kind of person to hold grudges.
All four were now present on the field so without any further delay, Genma started the third bout.
"Begin!" he called, leaping back out of the line of fire.
No sooner had the command been given, Ino and Rin had started forming hand seals.
"Raiton: Raimari!" Rin exclaimed
"Fuuton: Daitoppa!" Ino hollered
Rin had finished her hand seals first, but it made no difference as her lightning based jutsu was cancelled out midflight by Ino's wind based jutsu.
The attack was directed so that it would two of her three opponents, Neji and Sakura. Sakura had not expected the wind and was blown away and into the wall. Ino threw several kunai at Sakura; she was tempted to engage Neji in a taijutsu match, but had sparred enough with Hinata to know that she wouldn't have a ghost of a chance against such a talented taijutsu user, particularly as someone who relied more heavily on ninjutsu and genjutsu.
Sakura had regained her feet after a minor collision with the wall; she looked at Ino approaching Neji cautiously and saw the Kumo kunoichi going through more hand seals. She made her decision; if Ino was trying to engage Neji then she would take on the Kumo girl.
Neji saw Ino approaching and completely disregarded her. He turned to Rin who was going through more hand seals, activating his Byakugan and prepared a jyuuken strike as he closed the gap between the two.
Seeing the gap being closed so rapidly, Rin realised that she would have to abandon her jutsu in preference of getting out of range of the strike that was coming. The abilities of the Byakugan and the style of the jyuuken were well known throughout Kumo and it was a sore point with many of the older generations that they had been cheated out of a person with the Byakugan working when they requested the head of Hiashi Hyuuga in exchange for killing one of their own envoys that was participating in a treaty negotiation.
Ino was stumped; she was closing in on Neji, an obvious indication that she was going to engage, when he turned around and attacked a different opponent who was far further away.
Sakura had finished going through hand seals and had announced her jutsu
"Ninpo: dokugiri no jutsu!" no sooner had she said the words, she had belched a great blackish purple cloud of noxious gas. She wasn't hoping to have to use this jutsu so early in the chuunin exams, hopefully keeping it for the final matches, but against an opponent like Neji there was no choice but to go full throttle from the go.
She was silently thankful that Megumi-sensei not only made her understand the extraction of poison from the body, but the production of it as well.
The cloud raced towards her opponents, Ino and Neji managed to avoid, but Rin who was in midair had no hope as she was in the middle of backpedalling from Neji's oncoming taijutsu assault. The cloud hit and a short moment later Rin emerged looking exceedingly pale.
Neji was furious, there was no way on this earth that some other no-name genin was going to detract from his vengeance against those that took his father away from him. He coated his hand in chakra and surged forwards, intending to land a lethal blow, to be the one that finished the girl. While the poison was slow and more painful, it was also treatable, he would finish it.
Rin saw her danger, but was in no position to dodge, her lungs were burning and her muscle screamed at every movement. She resigned herself to was to come. If she was lucky she would still come out of this fight with her life intact.
Neji's hand was inches from the girl's hear when his hand stopped dead in the air. The jounin sensei for the Kumo team had stopped his hand midstrike.
"Forgive me proctor-san," she said turning to Genma "I've already lost one student today; I will not lose a second. My student will forfeit and seek medical attention for the poisoning." She continued, ignoring Neji's look of pure rage at being denied his revenge.
Genma nodded before making the announcement, "Rin Fuushi is disqualified for outside assistance. The match will continue."
Up in the stands Gai Maito was shaking his head in disappointment, he hadn't thought that he needn't to tell one of his students to keep their cool, least of all a Hyuuga who prided themselves on being stoic and holding a proper image. More disappointing was to take all his rage out on an innocent that had nothing to do with any of the pain that Neji felt.
Down in the arena Neji was practically shaking with rage, realistically it was only his hands that were trembling, but to those that knew his well enough knew that it was more than just that. Neji prided himself on being calm and collected in battle, using taunts to get under his opponents skin. When annoyed in training, his attacking still had all the composure that it normally would; the attacks themselves were far more relentless and unforgiving. For any jyuuken user not to pull their punches it usually meant death for the adversary.
The look he fixed upon Sakura was one of pure loathing. She had taken away his revenge, his form of justice and now he was going to make her pay for denying him.
Sakura realised her trouble when Neji started bearing down on her, she only had a moment to look at Ino before both their minds were made up; if they wanted to survive this they had to work together. They were not Konoha nin any more, not to Neji anyway, they were nothing more than targets to be eliminated.
Sakura was going through her options, genjutsu would be practically useless against the Byakugan and taijutsu was practically suicidal on her own. Their only true hope lay in ninjutsu.
"Ninpo: dokugiri no jutsu!" Sakura called, it was only supposed to slow Neji down, not actually hit.
Ino had other ideas though as she watched Neji navigate around the smog. She countered his movement till they were on opposite sides of the cloud, Ino already going through hand seals.
"Fuuton: Daitoppa!" Ino grinned as she watch the cloud change its course and head for Neji, Sakura was racing around to where Ino was now hoping to catch the tail of her wind based jutsu.
"Katon: endan!" She exclaimed, performing a much weaker version of the Uchiha signature jutsu 'dai endan'. She got the effect that he wanted and the fire was caught in the end of the wind jutsu, increasing its power slightly.
The paired jutsu were flying towards the giant cloud of toxic gas, as soon as it had touched the cloud itself caught ablaze.
Up in the stand Naruto and Sasuke were wide eyed for two reasons. The first was that Sakura knew such an awesome jutsu, the second, that combo was awesome. When she was back on the team with them they would be able to get Sakura to use dokugiri, Sasuke could use any one of the katon jutsu at his disposal and Naruto could easily use daitoppa being a wind type.
The spectators didn't have to wait long as there was a change in the formation of the jutsu almost as instantly as it had been set alight. The fire was spinning into a vortex.
Everyone heard Hinata gasp as she realised the technique Neji had used as they watched the inferno that was the poisonous cloud slowly dissipate.
"Kaiten." She breathed.
"What? You know that jutsu Hinata?" Kiba asked, not fully understanding the predicament that Sakura and Ino were in.
"Kaiten." Hinata repeated, "It's one of the most prized techniques taught only to members of the main branch, and even then they may be unwilling. Branch clan members aren't even allowed to access the section of the library that that technique is kept in."
"What's so special about it?" Misao asked
"It involves precise chakra control and being able to release chakra from every tenketsu in the body while spinning. It creates a dome of chakra that deflects practically any attack."
Down on the competition arena the three combatants all heard Hinata's explanation.
"You heard what Hinata-sama said. Knowing this will you still fight? Will you still fight a fight that you know that you can't win, trying to struggle against the destiny laid before you?"
Ino snorted, while it wasn't the most lady-like reaction, it certainly summed up what she and many others in the room felt at the moment.
"There is no such thing as destiny; there is only what you make happen yourself."
Up in the stands, Naruto was listening very intently.
'If only you knew Ino, sometimes there is such a things destiny." Naruto thought as he thought of his immortality.
'That is not true and you know it.' Rei practically growled.
'How so, I'm immortal? I don't even share the same fate that the rest of these people do, where they will die, I will keep on living.'
'Don't tell me you agree. Surely you haven't forgotten that there is always a way out.'
'There is not a way out for me. I can't grow old and I can't die a mortal death.'
'Then don't die a mortal death. Die an immortal one. You can still summon the Shinigami and end your life that way. The prospect is not great and I wouldn't have you do it, but remember, you always have the power to change your life at least in that method.' Rei started out ferociously, becoming softer as she continued.
'...Thank you...' It wasn't everything that he wanted to say, but he felt that it summed everything up best and he knew that Rei would understand.
Down on the arena floor Neji was finishing his own monologue about how destiny really does exist, explaining the cruel practice of the Caged Bird Seal that the Hyuuga employed to keep the branch members of their clan subdued.
All three competitors settle into a fighting stance, while it was supposed to be a battle royal, it seemed that Ino and Sakura had formed an alliance, defending themselves against Neji.
It would likely be the last bout as many expected Neji to triumph despite the two on odds.
Ino smiled as she got an idea, the Byakugan was a dojutsu that allowed the user to see chakra in all its form, knowing this she decided to use that great advantage against Neji.
Neji saw her forming hand seals, "It's useless, I can negate any jutsu you use."
Ino simply smiled as she announced her jutsu "Fuuton: daitoppa!"
The first time Ino had used it Neji didn't have his Byakugan active, this time he did and just for extra measure she pumped a little extra chakra into the technique. The result was that Neji had a chakra rich wind directed straight at him, blinding him momentarily as all he could see was the chakra in the wind.
Ino wasted no time in moving to her next technique.
"Doton: shinju zanshu no jutsu." She whispered, trying to give Neji as little indication as possible about the plan of action.
When Neji had regained his sight He saw three kunai sailing at him, one aimed at his head, one at his stomach and another at his groin, he also had a moment to notice that Ino was missing. The kunai were no more troubling that a mosquito, but Ino was nowhere to be seen even with the Byakugan.
'Underground!' Neji thought to himself, almost furiously for taking that long to work it out.
He started his technique immediately, the kaiten simply deflecting the kunai.
Ino had planned this, even if she couldn't approach from above ground, the ground underneath Neji was completely untouched by his jutsu, once inside that protective shell she could grab him and pull him down to his head as she had seen Kakashi-sensei do to any of the boys once they got too cocky.
She reached up though the ground to grab onto Neji's leg and regretted is almost immediately.
"AARRGGHH" despite being underground the sound was still amazingly loud.
The hand was retracted immediately. The jutsu ended and Ino came up a short distance away nursing a hand that looked as though it had had a disc sander applied to it. Her left hand was devoid of any skin, tendons and even bone in one or two given places could be seen.
"The kaiten is a constant application of chakra. Even if you got inside the shell itself, you still had total with the chakra that I emit from my body that is constantly rotating."
Neji broke into a run before Ino had the chance to move, still nursing her heavily damaged hand many went wide eyed as they saw the strike he was aiming to perform. His hand stopped just inches away from Ino's heart; he stopped and turned to Genma. Genma nodded and acknowledged that the hit would have been potentially fatal if it had connected.
"Ino Yamanaka is hereby removed from the battle." Those who knew Ino well enough knew that the look of pain was not from the pain in her hand, but the disappointment in herself.
Neji turned his attention to Sakura, his eyes held nothing, they were dead, a look that he would only reserve for an enemy out on a mission.
"You should not have interfered." Was the only exchange between them, he darted forwards, determined not simply to end the match, but to make Sakura suffer for her interference with his revenge.
Sakura could only dodge and hope to counter as Neji lashed his at him.
Neji was using straight out thrusting motions to attack Sakura most thinking he was aiming for the tenketsu. Though Sakura could not see the tenketsu herself, she had a fairly good understanding of where most of them lay as well as any other notable features though her studies with Megumi. Neji wasn't just aiming to defeat her, his tactics; the targets he had selected could maim her.
Many watched as Sakura nimbly dodged the blows, against any other male opponent (except for perhaps Misumi Tsurugi) she would have had more of a chance to counter as she would have been faster and more nimble on her feet. Unfortunately for Sakura her opponent was Neji Hyuuga, trained in a style that required both great dexterity as well as rapid motions.
Neji changed tactics in an instant and launched a simple upper cut to the solar plexus when Sakura presented an opening. Sakura, so concentrated on protecting the extremities that Neji seemed to be aiming for that she left her core practically unguarded, something that she would regret dearly.
It was all the opening that Neji needed, his hands coated with chakra, he thrust four very sharp jabs into Sakura's elbow joints as well as her knees. As soon as her knee joints had been hit Sakura collapsed under her own weight.
Up in the stands, Hinata gasped for the second time in that match.
Try as she may, Sakura could not stand; her arms and legs could do little more than flail feebly. No one but Hinata had realised what Neji had done. How could they? It required Hyuuga eyes to see. Neji had put far more chakra into the blow than was necessary.
"The winner of the thirds round is Neji Hyuuga." Genma announced
She quickly vaulted over the edge of the viewing area to where Sakura lay. She examined Sakura as he medics simply tried to get her into a stretcher, expecting her to make a full recovery from a simple jyuuken strike.
"That was completely unnecessary." She practically growled as she glared at Neji.
Kakashi, Sasuke and Naruto heard the comment but had no idea what she meant.
"Hinata, it was a simple jyuuken strike, I've seen you strike in those zone through training and very one has always been fine." Kakashi said, trying to appease the apparently infuriated girl. It was one thing to see any of the other girls angry, but for calm, kind Hinata it was beyond unusual.
"No, I reduce the amount of chakra when I aim for those areas. He increased it. Those four points are the largest tenketsu in the body, the only place with more chakra is the reserve pool, where all the body's chakra flows from. They are vital because tied in close with those tenketsu are major nerve pathways. He didn't just shut down the chakra network he severely damaged the underlying nerves. It'll take a miracle for Sakura to walk again, let alone run or do anything that is required of a ninja."
Recognition swept across Kakashi's face a moment before Hinata had spelled it out for the group. I t was fortunate for this as he was required to jump down into the competition arena to stop Naruto and Sasuke from doing anything too foolish. Asuma had jumped down as well, taking Naruto while Kakashi took hold of Sasuke.
Through Asuma's arms Naruto yelled at Neji.
"You could have just ended that by knocking her out. What did you prove by doing that?"
"That she was never fated to be a decent ninja. She had no chance, she never came from a clan, didn't have any skills that lent itself to victory in battle, she could have never won in the first place. I was only reminding her of her place."
Up in the stands Tenten, Neji's teammate, looked like she had been physically hurt her by her teammate's words, not coming from a ninja clan herself. In all of this Hinata appeared to be the most furious.
"What you have done won't be easily forgiven nii-san." Hinata said with as much contempt as she could muster.
By this stage Gai Maito had joined the convention, moving towards Kakashi.
"Kakashi, I'm sorry. The blame rests with me for not being a better sensei and correcting Neji's incorrect mentality." Gai offered Kakashi, bitter disappointment in his student and himself evident in his voice.
Kakashi simply remained silent, not trusting himself to respond. Kakashi wasn't the only jounin to feel some resentment towards Neji Hyuuga. Even though Sakura was officially listed as under Kakashi's tutelage for major mission, it didn't stop the feeling of loss welling in the remaining jounin sensei that had taught Sakura.
Genma cleared his throat.
"As important as this is, could we please return to the stands, I have the remainder of the fights to continue with."
With that the group cleared off the competition floor and went back to the stands. Many of the Konoha nin glaring at Neji, including one of his own teammates, while the other just looked disappointed.
Genma had turned his attention back to the giant electronic board, now flicking through the different names. The board stopped and he made his announcement.
"Would Hisa Haiboruto, Shinobu Mayasaki, Aoto Miyake and Nagi Nakamura please make their way to the ground level." Genma called. As their name was called out, each nin; one each from Kumo, Taki, Ame and Kusa began to move.
Once all four had arrived by jumping over the railing Genma started the match.
"Begin!" He hollered before jumping back.
The match held no real interest for the observers from Konoha and the result was a swift victory for Hisa from Kumo through vast use of a large repertoire of raiton jutsu.
The floor had been cleared, and the board was once again scrolling through names.
"Shikamaru Nara, Kin Tsuchi, Otoya Kawano and Sachio Matsuo please head down to the arena.
Much like Kankuro had done, Shikamaru simply strolled down the stairs, aggravating his opponents in the process.
"Begin!" Genma announced to the genin hopefuls as soon as Shikamaru was in a ready position.
It would have taken extremely keen eyes to notice the small hand flick that Kin performed as soon as Genma gave the command. In fact it would have taken fine eyes just to see that she had indeed done so after the starting command as both Otoya and Sachio slumped to the floor, she had pierced the neck at one of the jugular vein pressure points with senbon needles causing both boys to fall unconscious almost instantly. Shikamaru had noticed the fine movements and simply moved his neck out of the line of fire.
Shikamaru nodded at her ability with the weapon and made sure not to get pinned by them.
"You had to be difficult didn't you?" Kin groused at Shikamaru, who only replied with a grin.
Shikamaru took out six kunai and placed them in between his fingers on each hand. He threw them one aimed at Kin, the other five completely missing. As there was such a large gap between the kunai, Kin decided to dodge the kunai instead of block them. She tried to move her hand to her kunai pouch, but found her movement restricted. She looked at the ground to see her shadow connected with Shikamaru's; with his shadow split into two more slithers aside from the once connecting themselves. Then she realised that whatever her opponent did, she mimicked.
"What's the point? Now whatever you do to me you do to yourself." She said to Shikamaru.
"Can't you just be quiet when you're about to be defeated? One of the major drawbacks of this jutsu I suppose, the victim can still use their mouth, otherwise I'd have it active on Ino practically 24-7."
"You wait till you get back up here you lazy baka!" Ino an indignant Ino called back.
"In any case, I threw the kunai as a distraction, I sent my shadows along with the shadow of the kunai and you happened to dodge the kunai. It was never the plan to hit you with those kunai, just to distract you to capture your shadow. The thing is, I sent a shadow along with the other kunai as well. My father doesn't need anything to do that, guess I still got a little way to go."
Shikamaru looked over his shoulder so Kin could see behind herself and look at what the other two shadows were attached to. She saw the two boys that she had knocked out in the first moments of the fight back on their feet. They were still very much unconscious, but somehow Shikamaru's jutsu had brought them back upright in order to mimic his movements. Shikamaru turned right around and walked away from Kin, making her walk to the slightly slack, unconscious forms of Sachio and Otoya. When Shikamaru thought that his three opponents were close enough he drew a kunai making his captives do the same.
He raised the kunai to neck height before speaking again.
"You know, you can still use your voice." Shikamaru reminded her.
Kin caught on quick. He was telling her to forfeit, she had two kunai at her throat and there was nothing she could do about it.
"I yield!"
"The winner of the fourth match is Shikamaru Nara." Genma made the official all.
Shikamaru released the jutsu; returning to the stands where he was promptly smacked upside by Ino.
"Baka!" was the only thing she said as she turned to see the board scrolling through more names as Sachio and Otoya were both removed so they could regain consciousness. Shikamaru could be heard muttering darkly about troublesome women.
"The next match will be between Subaku no Temari, Tenten Higurashi and Misao Makimachi."
"I thought that there was going to be all four person battle royals except for the last match of five." The sensei from Kumo asked.
"No idea, I just call the contestants as the board presents them. We'll have to wait and see what it coughs up for the remaining matches." Genma replied patiently.
The match up was poor for both Misao and Tenten, both of whom specialised in ranged throwing weapons. Fortunately for Misao she managed a slightly better showing than Tenten as she had one or two minor jutsu that aided her somewhat. It wasn't enough to overcome the older and more experienced Suna nin as she blew every projectile off course, had an answer for every jutsu and kept them at a distance, preventing them from engaging in taijutsu with powerful blasts of wind from the fan that she usually kept attached to her back.
"The winner for this round is Subaku no Temari." Temari smirked at the announcement before making her way back to the viewing area.
Every one waited for the board to display the names of the next set of combatants. Before Genma had even made an announcement one of the competitors had vaulted over the railing when the board came to a rest at his name. The other two followed suit, not bothering to wait for Genma to call on them.
Rock Lee, Dosu Kinuta and Tsubu Hada, another Suna ninja were already and waiting for the signal to go. It didn't take long to arrive, but for Lee any waiting was too much as he was practically bouncing in anticipation. Tsubu was getting increasingly more distracted by Lee, whether it was because of his peculiar behaviour or due to his horrid sense of fashion nobody could tell.
"Begin!"
Lee disappeared in a shot only to reappear where Dosu was originally standing, his fist extended. Dosu was flying towards a wall at incredible pace, colliding with it and knocking him out almost instantly.
"POWER OF YOUTH!"Lee shouted. Tenten had seen the effect of alcohol on her green clad teammate and had to wonder if this was the effect of another drug, perhaps caffeine.
Tsubu was officially freaked. A spandex wearing mini-me was shouting at the top of his lungs about the 'power of youth', not to mention that it appeared that he had caterpillars for eyebrows and that hair cut, it just sent chills up his spine.
"Lee, show him secret taijutsu technique number 13."
"YOSH! Lucky number 13, Sensei? Then you'll let me use it?"
"Only this once." Gai said solemnly.
A grin came across Lee's face that seemed to indicate that Christmas had come early. Prepare yourself for one of my most formidable techniques. Tsubu was practically at his breaking point, but did his best to prepare himself for whatever onslaught was about to come.
Suddenly an image of a beach at sunset appeared behind Tsubu. Many who trained with Lee and Gai recognised the technique already. Lee started prancing to Tsubu as a look of abject horror came across his face not knowing what to expect.
"Tsubu!" Lee cried out happily as he crushed his opponent in a hug that was normally reserved for his role model, Gai.
Tsubu gagged.
"Tsubu!"
Tsubu gagged even harder, many were unsure if it was because of Lee's insane grip or whether it was because he was in such close proximity to something so horrid as Lee's eyebrows and spandex suit.
"Tsubu!"
This time Tsubu practically vomited.
In a corner Kurenai was practically in tears, a genin with absolutely no talent in the areas of nin or genjutsu had somehow created an image that could not be dispelled like any method of genjutsu disruption know to a genjutsu mistress.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!‼‼‼‼" Poor Tsubu had finally snapped. He was bent over, grabbing his head, apparently he could not handle all of Lee's 'youth'.
"After most unorthodox tactics I recognise that Tsubu Hada is no longer fit to fight."
'Or open doors.' Genma thought to himself.
"I call this match in favour of Rock Lee."
"YOSH! I'M THROUGH TO THE FINAL ROUND."
Genma shook his head as he turned back to the board, deciding to put the ridiculous match behind him.
"The next match will be between Shino Aburame, Zaku Abumi and Take Yamashita." Each genin moved to join Genma on the competition floor as their name was announced.
"Begin!" The command was acted upon almost immediately.
Zaku raised his hands and used a jutsu, blasting pressurised air at both of his opponents.
"Zankuha." He announced, air discharging from the small holes in his hands.
Both Shino and Take dodged to the sides away from one another. Take removed some shuriken from his holster and let loose at both Shino and Zaku. Zaku feeling confident chose to blast the kunai out of the air, while using his other arm to blast at Take, not even considering the almost stationary Shino, who had only moved twice since the battle and only to dodge an attack.
Take smiled at Zaku's choice of action, he had hoped that he would remain stationary; despite out ward appearances Take was quite fast. His bulky build fooled most into thinking that they would have a speed advantage over the boy.
Zaku realised that he would not have a chance to build the necessary chakra for another blast after missing take, he prepared for a taijutsu battle. Take came at him hard with a straight out left jab; it was parried by Zaku, who then tried to use a counter punch to the now exposed ribs. Take twisted out of the blow, using the rotation to send a round house kick at Zaku's head. The kick was ducked under as Zaku attempted to sweep Take's legs from under him.
All throughout the exchange both boys were keeping an eye on Shino, who was completely stationary. Shino's face betrayed nothing of what he was planning. While being able to fight your way out of tight situations was indeed valuable, the Aburame valued being able to avoid such situations in the first place. Shinobi like Kankuro and Shikamaru would forever hold his respect for only using a few jutsu to beat their opponents, using their intellect instead of outright power.
Those in the stands were also having a hard time understanding Shino's reluctance for battle. Only those with sharp eyes could pick the little bits of the ground steadily marching towards Shino's two opponents, currently locked into a fierce taijutsu battle.
Take had noticed that his movements were getting a little sluggish. It was taking more and more effort to lift his limbs. He had also noticed the slowing of Zaku's movements. Zaku threw one too many a sloppy punch and with a true effort, Take turned the punch against him and threw him to the floor a small distance away. Zaku hit the hard floor and he got a clear view of ground level; what he saw had him absolutely freaked. There were thousands of small bugs swarming around him and Take. He jumped up, the movement taking far more energy than it should have.
"You were taking so much notice of me and Take that you failed to notice the growing army of kikai surrounding you." Shino informed monotonously, while he stopped a short way from Zaku.
Take was looking around himself; he was an island in a black sea of kikai bugs.
"Go!" Shino directed the bugs.
They swarmed Take first, covering his body, draining the remainder of his chakra in seconds; all the while Take was screaming in agony as some bugs ate more than just his chakra. Zaku held up his hands, one facing Shino, the other facing the swarm of kikai.
"You were good, but you can't dodge from here." Zaku said with a fierce grin on his face.
He forced chakra through his hands, but nothing happened. He forced more through, his arms started to bulge before being blown off at the elbow joints, apparently where the holes started. Many in the crowd winced at the scene.
"When you were thrown to the floor, some of my kikai took the opportunity to creep into those holes in your arms. It appears is that those holes are directly infused to two of your major tenketsu." He informed, not even stopping to check if Zaku was listening
"Once they were in there the chakra had no way to escape. The first time they managed to eat all the chakra you pumped in there, but the second time you pumped chakra in at a rate far higher than they could consume, so with no proper outlet, your chakra created one."
"The winner is Shino Aburame." Genma mad the victory official as Take's sensei came and gave him a chakra pill while the medics tended to Zaku; two picking up the boy on a stretcher, while a third collected the arms that had landed a few metres away.
"The next match will be between Hinata Hyuuga, Ami Tanaka and Kyouritsu Tada."
Most had not realised that the board was running through name selections again as they were observing the clean up from the previous match.
Kyouritsu, a boy from Kusagakure, and Ami both vaulted over the railings. Hinata being a slightly more conservative person, took the stairs, though having the consideration not to take as long as either Shikamaru or Kankuro.
Genma looked between the three combatants, determined that they were ready and gave the call.
"Begin!"
Hinata activated her Byakugan while Ami drew a pair of tonfa that were holstered on her belt.
All three regarded each other carefully. Kyouritsu must not have fully understood the implications of the Byakugan and the jyuuken fighting style as he rushed Hinata, evidently thinking that a person that was using taijutsu was less dangerous than a person using weapons.
For Hinata, his movements made his intentions painfully obvious; he may as well have been announcing his attacks before he executed them. She only had to wait for him to strike before evading and gripping his arm. Just as she was about to deaden the sensation in the boy's arm, she let got just as a tonfa passed right through the space that her arm originally occupied.
Ami wasn't going to allow Kyouritsu to be taken out of the fight that easily. He would have survived Hinata's strike, but would have been easy pickings for either one of them as the fight progressed. He seemed more interested in attacking Hinata than Ami so having him in the fight for the moment was beneficial, because the moment Hinata gave Ami her undivided attention was the moment Ami would start losing the battle.
"Man this is so awesome!" Kyouritsu said enthusiastically. "Once girl, desperately trying get here hands on me, the other valiantly defending me so I can help in whatever way possible!"
"O…k…I think he's slightly touched in the head." Temari said up in the stand, many just sweat dropped.
"It's like it's something straight out of Icha Icha." He said in an almost longing voice.
This simple sentence had a profound effect, many of the genin boys in the audience paled, knowing Ami's fierce hate of the book. Kurenai could be seen glaring at Kakashi who was trying to plead his case of not knowing the boy from a slice of bread. Gaara broke the almost stagnant silence.
"There is going to be blood soon, mother can sense it." Nobody doubted him.
"Could we please resume the match?"
Hinata raced, Kyouritsu was still slightly distracted by whatever musings were going on in his head. He snapped to attention at the very last second dodging with only a hair's breadth to spare.
"She pursues me so vigorously, she must be attracted. Ami was so…she didn't know what she was but it wasn't helping her fight. She quickly came to Kyouritsu's aid, forcing Hinata to go on the defensive then staggering her attack with the Kusa boy so Hinata wouldn't have the chance to counter.
"It's so tempting to just give in, to allow the blue haired maiden to have her wicked way with me, allow her to catch me and do with me as she pleases, but where would that leave my violet haired mistress? And me thinks it is far more fun to play hard to get."
Hinata was blushing at his insinuations, Ami was dumbfounded.
"This would be so much more interesting if he could actually come out with something better than this garbage. Even the stuff the cyclops reads is better than this." Anko was growling.
"Hey, I pretty much stopped reading when Naruto came into my life." Kakashi defended himself
"You still read, Kakashi, you always will. That's why you're always gonna be a mild pervert in my books." Kurenai responded.
Kyouritsu was deliberately being perverted in hopes of distracting his opponents. Unfortunately it was getting him nowhere: sadly he wasn't intelligent enough to recognise this. Ami was now seriously debating if she should just take the idiot out herself so she wouldn't have to deal with his stupid ramblings and try to take Hinata on her own.
Hinata changed tactics she rushed Ami, careful to dodge several side tonfa strikes from Ami's left hand then having to dodge a thrust with the short head of the right hand tonfa.
"Now she tries to remove her competition for my body, just how far will the blue haired maiden go. Fortunately the violet haired mistress can hold her own." Kyouritsu continue with his absolutely pointless tactics.
"Perhaps I should stop their epic battle, I'm sure that I could convince them that there is more than enough for me to go around."
And boldly he went fourth into their melee and grabbed each of their hands. He drew their hands close before kissing their hands, then roughly tugging them until he had an arm around each of their bodies, his hand coming to a rest on each of their derrières.
Hinata and Ami both went bright red, Kurenai looked livid, though Anko was smirking; apparently she had an inkling of what was to com. All of Hinata and Ami's male friends went deathly pale and said a solemn prayer for the foolish boy.
Kyouritsu misinterpreted their red faces "Don't be embarrassed, this is just my way of showing that I care."
Before he could blink, Kyouritsu's head was trapped between Ami's right arm and the long tail of her tonfa, her left arm securing it in place, leaving him at her mercy; she could easily snap his neck from this position.
"And this is me showing you that your advance was extremely unwanted." Ami said in barely above a whisper, "Is there anything you wanted to add Hinata?" She asked sweetly.
Hinata nodded then approached.
"You know that the Byakugan is useful for damaging soft tissue aboveall else. I can remove the chakra pathway to your softest tissue if you'd like." The offer sounded genuine to.
"No, what do you want, say it and I'll do it, just not that."
"Then forfeit."
"I forfeit." The words were rushed, stumbled out as though his very life depended on it. And to an extend it did with the way Ami was positioned. More pressingly on his mind was the service Hinata had offered.
"I think the girls have been spending too much time with Anko-sensei." Sai said as he watched the remainder of the match unfold.
"What was that, Sai-kun?" Anko inquired.
"N-nothing, never mind"
"I thought so." Anko said.
Back down on the arena floor Ami smiled at Hinata.
"Ami?"
"Yes, Hinata?"
"Sorry about this." Hinata's chakra laced fingers were centimetres away from Ami's heart, she had used the opportunity to get close to her opponent and then put them in a compromising situation.
Ami nodded in defeat.
"The winner of the ninth match is Hinata Hyuuga."
Before the combatants had even started their trip back to the stands the next round selection was being made. By the time they rejoined with their teams the next combatants had been announced.
"Sasuke Uchiha, Yoroi Akado, Iya Sakui and Aoru Otome."
"Proctor-san, there isn't, like, a penalty for my teammates if I, like, quit now is there?"
"No, the rest is individual, but you will give up the chance to be considered as a chuunin." Genma replied, not sure if the kunoichi-wanna be actually understood the purpose of the exam.
"Like, not thanks, who wants to be a chuunin anyway? I've got more important things to worry about! Just look at my hair after that ordeal in the forest for death, it'll never be the same! And the state of my beautiful fingernails…"
"Man that is so sad. It's idiot like them that give proper kunoichi a bad name." Kurenai muttered, meanwhile Ino and Sakura both shuddered at the thought of them possibly being like that if Sasuke hadn't changed, and then the rest of the group with him.
"So Aoro Otome from Kusagakure has forfeited the match. Would the remaining competitors please come down?"
Sasuke, Yoroi and Iya entered the combat area, all three surprising everyone and using the stairs.
"Begin!" Genma's voice rang through the room.
The fight was short lived. As soon as the command was given Sasuke opened with a flurry of shuriken. Tied to each was a thin trail of ninja wire. His two opponents let the shuriken past before realising the mistake. By the time they saw the wire it was too late and they were tied together. Blurring through hand seals, Sasuke announce his jutsu.
"Katon: dai endan!"
The jutsu passed harmlessly over head, doing only superficial damage. It singed both Iya and Yoroi's hair off as well as Yoroi's mask revealing very bad case of acne. While the jutsu had missed the evidence was there, if Sasuke wanted to the pair would be dead, the fact that they had their hair damaged meant that they couldn't do anything about getting out of the way.
"The winner of the tenth match; Sasuke Uchiha!" Genma pronounce, with Sasuke allowing himself a small smirk.
"Well, seeing as there are only four combatants remaining, I won't bother going to the board. Will Kiba Inuzuka, Chouji Akimichi, Sai Komatsu and Naruto Uzumaki please join me for the final round?" Genma announced almost tiredly.
"So the old crew, hey?" Kiba snickered.
"Feels like were competing for the practical section for rookie of the year all over again." Sai admitted.
"Enough with the reminiscing if you don't mind…begin!" Genma gave the all clear and three of four burst into action.
Sai used his sumi bunshin, while Chouji was part way through a baika jutsu. Kibahad fed Akamaru a soldier pill and had used jujin bunshin to make him into a more feral self, while making Akamaru more humanoid. Naruto remained completely still.
"What? You're not even gonna try and beat us? You're gonna let us walk all over you?" Kiba asked, almost laughing at how easily it was gonna be to knock Naruto out of the comp. Naruto grinned back.
"Watch closely." he ordered. "Kage bunshin no jutsu."
The newly formed bunshin walked over to a nearby wall with no one nearby or above it, Naruto practically ran to the other side of the room as far away as possible from the bunshin or his opponents.
"Bunshin bakuretsu no jutsu!" he announced. The bunshin detonated, leaving a 10 m hole in the wall. Many in the room went pale, those that knew Naruto better realised how much trouble they were in.
"When did you teach him that?" Anko demanded of Kakashi.
"I never did, this is the first I've seen him use it. Though he did steal the forbidden scroll, remember?" Kakashi said in a low voice so that Anko could hear.
A look of understanding swept over her face before returning her attention to the match.
"Kage bunshin no jutsu!" Naruto announced for thesecond time in the match, this time the whole arena was filled with Naruto clones. There wasn't two metre of free space without a Naruto clone.
"Well done, Naruto. But how do you plan on surviving this as well? You'll get caught in the blast as well."
Naruto smirked at Sai, before poofing out of existence.
Once of the clones nearest to Kiba spoke.
"Did you really think that the boss was dumb enough to get caught in his own justu?
"There isn't anything out here but kage bunshins, but you can take the risk, you won't be killed, but it will definitely hurt like hell."
"Sorry I can't allow that. You detonate all these clones and someone in the stands is likely to get hurt, that is against the rules. Dispel these clones safely and we can continue the match." As Genma spoke Sai, Kiba and Chouji all let out a sigh of relief.
All the clones dispelled, but when they were gone there wasn't a Naruto left on the field.
Kakashi smiled, unlike the rest, who had focussed on Naruto's clone as it blew a hole in the wall, he watched both. He and of course Genma, who was required to watch all aspects of the battle had seen Naruto do a quick henge as the clone blew up the wall. He was now sitting pretty as a rock that looked as though it had been left from the damage of a previous battle.
"That can't be legal!" Kiba whined.
"Actually it is," Genma affirmed "you'll just have to wait for him to reappear."
With nothing they could do about it the boys continued their match. All still having their initial jutsu in effect they started to attack.
"Gatsuga!" Kiba called, spinning around so fast that it looked as though he were a horizontal mini tornado. Sai's sumi bunshin was destroyed in the attack, but Kiba bounced right off of Chouji, who was rolling around the arena at outrageous speeds. He was heading for Sai, who nimbly dodge out of the way, Chouji used the wall like a metal ball does a bumper in a pinball machine, he bounced of it and changed direction far faster than many though possible.
Sai only was regarding his options and as it stood he could only see one open to him at this very moment. The sumi bunshin was not suitable and he had not yet perfected the ch ō giga. Just as Chouji missed Kiba and tried to bounce off another wall, he drew three ink pots from his pouch and launched them at Chouji and Kiba. While they were still flying he used the most basic of fire jutsu.
"Katon: endan!"
It was a little known property of the ink that he used that upon heating it expanded to ridiculous proportions, however this want the most interesting thing. When the ink cooled down it set rock hard.
Kiba and Akamaru were in the middle of dodging and Chouji was in no state to dodge without the use of a wall, so both were covered by the attack. The ink cooled quickly and it set so hard that both Kiba and Akamaru were completely immobile. Chouji didn't fare much better, despite his size it had him glued to the wall that he was about to bounce off of.
Anko had expected as much, he had used the
"OK Naruto, you can come out now. The other two can't do anything!" Sai called out to Naruto; little did he know that Naruto was literally right next to him in the form of a rock.
Naruto ended the transformation and swiftly detached one of the chakra bracers Hiko had given him. He forced it onto Sai's arm before pumping it with as much chakra as he could, making it far heavier. The weight was too much for Sai and he was dragged to the floor by his arm.
Genma observed all four combatants; Naruto was the only one capable for free movement so he called the match.
"The winner for the final match is Naruto Uzumaki. Will all victors please join me down on the competition floor?"
Most of the genin moved swiftly, not wanting to keep the proctor waiting, with exception of both Kankuro and Shikamaru.
"Right now that we are we need to assign pairs for the final rounds. Please pick a number and call it out once you have it, this will determine the fight order as well as your opponent."
"Ladies first!" Naruto offered, allowing Hisa, Temari and Hinata to have first pick.
"Two!" Hinata called to Genma.
"Eleven!" Hisa chirped.
"Three." Temari read aloud, someone in the background writing their names and numbers on a board.
The boys picked out their numbers. Sasuke drew a seven, Gaara an eight, Lee a six, Neji number one, Shikamaru number four, Kankuro a nine, Shino a number ten and Naruto a number five.
"Right so the match ups are Hinata against Neji in the first, the second will be Temari against Shikamaru, the third is Naruto against Lee, Sasuke and Gaara will be fourth with the final match up being Kankuro against Shino. Hisa Haiboruto will have a bye for her first match, fighting the victor of the fifth match." Genma paused to take a breath and wait for any questions, seeing none he continued.
"The finals will be conducted in one month, use that time to train while foreign dignitaries gather; they will be watching the final matches and your village's worth will be decided based on your performances, so put your best foot forward for both your own promotion as well as your village's honour and future."
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Chapter End
I know this is an unusual request for me, but I'm going to ask for some feedback for this chapter. There were a lot of fight scenes in this and I'm more than willing to admit that I suck at writing them. What I'm not more than willing to do is to remain crap at writing them. Please tell me how to improve, not simply that they sucked because I can get that far on my own. Tell me what was working, what didn't and what I should include or consider next time.
Basically things I wanna know are whether there was enough detail, or if I need to grow an imagination when it comes to fights…stuff like that.
Thank you,
Fish.
PS: sorry for goofing around with Lee's match, but if I did 11 serious matches in a row I'd go insane. I still want have some fun while writing, even though writing fight scenes isn't my fave. Well, at least I got a laugh out of that even if no one else did.