Chapter 10:High Stakes Battles Begin!
Clash of Powerful Enemies!
"Ariana of the village hidden in the sand, and another shinobi from here in Konoha, Nara Ino!" Ino looked up from eavesdropping on Zaku and Raijin's conversation. Zaku looked at her and smiled. "Be careful Ino, and good luck." She nodded and cleared her mind. She was normally a pretty fun loving person, easy going unless you really pissed her off. But she was in her special mind set now, she had learned to shut herself off, to focus on nothing but her objective. Her father was the infamous strategist Nara Shikamaru, and he had trained her personally and taught her this method. She stood there for a second with her eyes closed, and Zaku knew what she was doing. He smiled and gave her space. Even though she was far from the strongest fighter here, Ino could topple titans with her strategies. Ariana had walked down into the arena and was waiting. Ino opened her eyes and nodded. She leapt out of the window and made her way to the center of the arena. The judge looked back and forth between the two.
"Okay, you ready? Begin!" He said and quickly backed off.
Ariana pulled a kunai out and got ready. Ino smiled and pulled out a kunai of her own. This Ariana wasn't stupid, Ino could tell. Neither of them had an obvious fighting style, nor had either of them fought in the preliminaries, so it was hard to tell who could do what. They attacked, both of them striking at each other in melee combat with their kunai. Ino swept at her feet, but Ariana jumped it and back flipped, throwing a handful of shurikens. Ino knocked them away with her kunai. Ariana threw down a smoke bomb out of her pocket and black smoke engulfed the area. Ino jumped backwards and threw a kunai with an exploding scroll into the smoke. She jumped away as the scroll exploded and cleared the smoke. Ariana came falling from above and threw her kunai at Ino. It hit her in the top of the head, and she exploded into smoke.
"A clone?" Ariana said as she landed. There was a faint sound behind her, she turned and flipped away just as a shadow swiped were hers had just been. "So you show your true style!" Ariana said as she landed. Ino Smiled from across the arena and let her shadow shrink back to her. "A near miss." She said and shook out her hands. Ariana pulled a scroll from behind her back. "I guess that since we're not playing around anymore, I can begin." She flung the scroll open and spun it around her like a ribbon. She bit the end of her thumb and smeared her blood across the long scroll and slammed it down onto the ground.
"A summon scroll?" Ino said, this could be bad.
Symbols and writing spread out from were Ariana's hand hit the ground and formed a circle around her. The ground around her exploded into a wave of smoke. Ino braced herself and looked into the smoke; summons could be a big problem depending on what they were. The smoke cleared and three giant figures were standing there. They were identical, all of them were nine feet tall and had their heads totally wrapped. They had unhooked straight jackets on and baggy black pants with no shoes. Ino smiled to herself and powered up her chakra. Summons were otherworldly creatures, normally demons, who were pulled from their realms by scrolls or jutsu. Blood was needed to summon a demon regardless, but the most powerful summons required a blood contract, and could not be controlled by scrolls. The summons ran at her flailing like giant mad men.
"Shadow Bind Jutsu!" Ino yelled and her shadow lanced out into three spikes. She easily caught the summons in her jutsu and held them. They stopped for a moment, and then slowly started to power out of it.
"What! Such raw power…. Against three of them I doubt I can hold them in place for long. It would be a waste of chakra to try…"
"This is why I picked these particular summons, no dominate skills, but they have immense physical power." Ariana yelled to Ino.
"Well than I guess that it's a good thing that I've nearly mastered the shadow style jutsu." Ino said as she made a hand seal.
"What? I've heard that the shadow style is one of the most difficult styles of jutsu in the entire world to use, let alone master." Ariana said to herself. "Some spend their whole lives trying and can never master it, and she is trying to say she has come close at her age?"
Ino held her arms out straight and opened up her hands. She faced her palms up and the shadows beneath the summons slowly began to swirl and grow. Shadow tentacles came out of the shadows and slowly wrapped around the summons. "Shadow Crush Jutsu!" She closed her hands into fists and the tentacles tensed for a second, than crushed the summons easily. They exploded into smoke as they were destroyed and Ariana gritted her teeth.
"You… You tricked me into underestimating you. I used up a lot of chakra to summon them…"
"I know, that was the point." Ino said smiling. Ariana reached for another scroll, and found that she could not move. "What! When did you!" She looked down and saw that a tiny line of shadow was stretching out behind Ino and across the arena and connecting to her shadow. Ino slowly walked towards Ariana, and Ariana was forced to walk towards Ino.
"I've caught you in my jutsu now; you're like a little fly in my web." She grinned devilishly and cracked her neck. Ino could be quite dark when she needed to be. Ariana gulped and tried to break from the shadow binding. "You don't have a hope to get free little fly." She laughed as tentacles slowly arose from the shadows as they got closer to one another. Ariana frantically struggled and tried to get away, to do something, but she could not. They stopped about five feet from one another and the tentacles slowly began to tighten. Ino held her hands up and the tentacles tensed.
"I give up!" Ariana screamed at the last second. The crowd who had been sitting silently waiting for the outcome broke their silence with some cheers, and some disappointment at no real fighting.
Ino sighed as the judged announced her victory and she let the jutsu fall. She smiled to herself, sometimes fear was as effective a weapon as any blade. Not to mention she didn't have to exert herself much.
Zaku laughed and shook his head. He couldn't believe that she had won that easily. She got up to the room and was grinning from ear to ear. Kiba clenched his fist and started towards the stairs, it had to be his turn next. Zaku watched him walked out and wondered how much stronger he had gotten.
"It was easier than I thought." Ino said smiling. Zaku laughed and shrugged.
"You'll have that sometimes I guess." He said.
The judge announced that the next match was to be the last of the first round. "The last two participants are Kiba of Konoha, and Shojimaru of the mist!" Shojimaru snapped to attention as his name was called, it was almost as if he had been sleeping with is eyes open before. He looked around for Kiba, but saw that he was already in the arena. He walked down to the stairs and slowly seemed to be waking up. Mako walked over to the window and looked out.
"So, from what I hear you and Kiba are on the same team, but I'm guessing from the way you two acted that you're not the best of teammates?" Zaku looked over to him and nodded.
"Yeah, you could say that we have our differences, but it's not like Kiba is a monster or anything." Mako nodded and watched Shojimaru make his way into the center.
"That's too bad, the best way to fight a monster, is with a monster of your own."
Kiba looked Shojimaru in his beady eyes. Kiba cracked his knuckles and grinned. Akumaru growled at Shojimaru and the fur on his back raised. The judge started the fight and headed to the side of the arena, he wanted nothing to do with this. Shojimaru looked down at Kiba and opened his mouth enough to show his rows of razor sharp teeth.
"I'm going to rip you apart little mutt." Shojimaru said in a deep watery voice. Kiba growled and gritted his teeth. His chakra began to climb and he began to shake.
"You're pissing me off guppy, and people get hurt when I get pissed off!" Kiba punched Shojimaru in the face as hard as he could, but the shark man did not flinch.
"It takes more than that to slow me down you little shit!" Shojimaru swung hard but Kiba ducked the swipe. He ran up his much larger opponent's body and back flipped off of his chest and threw a kunai in mid air. It bounced off of Shojimaru's chest with no effect.
"Shit!" Kiba said to himself at the failed attack. "Akumaru!" He commanded and the dog leapt into the air. Shojimaru tried to grab him, but Akumaru was just out of his reach. The dog let a stream of urine jet into Shojimaru's eyes as he flew over him, blinding and enraging him.
"AAAAGGRRRAAAHHHHH!" He screamed as he scratched at his burning eyes.
"Beast style jutsu!" Kiba powered up his claws and viciously slashed at Shojimaru's stomach. He furiously attacked Shojimaru, but to no effect. His clothes were ripped, but his skin was like steel. Kiba jumped backwards and screamed in frustration. "Akumaru! Maximum Garouga Jutsu!" The dog and Kiba fused together in a flash of light and Kiba stood in his six and a half foot tall were-wolf form.
"Come on!" He screamed and hit himself in the chest. Shojimaru dashed out at him and they grappled. Shojimaru wrenched Kiba's hands back and slowly started to over power him. Kiba screamed and kicked Shojimaru in the stomach and threw him to the side. He landed on his hands and knees and Kiba jumped onto his back. Kiba tore into Shojimaru's shoulder with his teeth and viciously thrashed it around. Shojimaru brought an elbow back hard and sent Kiba flying off of him. The shark man got to his feet and looked down at his shoulder with a surprised face. Kiba licked the blood off of his mouth and grinned. "You're not so tough guppy." He said in his deep growling voice. Shojimaru smashed into him and they tumbled into a tree, smashing it to pieces. He grabbed the fallen tree trunk and hefted it like a giant club. Kiba got to his feet and was smashed by the tree and sent flying across the arena. The crowd cheered for the knock down drag out fight. Kiba caught a hand on the ground and skidded himself to a stop. Shojimaru charged him with the tree swinging. Kiba caught the tree and flipped Shojimaru through the air. The man shark let go in the air and fell straight down onto Kiba. He landed on him hard and pinned him to the ground. His arms moved like pistons punching Kiba brutally and pounding him into the ground. Kiba bit one of Shojimaru's fists as it came down and savagely tore at it.
"AAAAAGGRRRRAAAHHHHH!" Shojimaru pulled his fist back and rolled off of Kiba. Kiba leapt to his feet quickly and shook the blood off of his face. He jumped and landed on Shojimaru's chest, slashing brutally at his face and jumping back off. Shojimaru grabbed Kiba around the neck and pushed him back to the wall. He smashed his head into the wall and chunks of concrete came crumbling out. Kiba reached out and put his hands around Shojimaru's neck and started choking him. Shojimaru smashed Kiba's head into the wall again and Kiba started to lose his grip around his neck. Shojimaru screamed at the top of his lungs and tried to smash Kiba's head into the wall again. Kiba let loose a primal roar of pure fury and twisted his hands powerfully. He heard a sickening snap and Shojimaru's heavy body fell limp. Kiba pushed him off of him and stood up. He stepped on top of Shojimaru's body and howled loudly. The crowd exploded into cheers and Kiba howled again. Adrenaline rushed through him and he raised his fist and howled a third time.
"Winner, Inuzuka Kiba!" The judge announced and Kiba fell back into his normal form. Akumaru formed beside him and started barking along with the crowd. Kiba was covered in blood and with his clothes he looked like some kind of cage fighter. "Yeah! Yeah!" Kiba yelled and pumped up the crowd. They couldn't tell from so far away, but there was a look in Kiba's eyes, a look that showed something new in him. He could feel the blood on his body and it was covering him in the sweet aroma of death. A blood lust that he had never before felt was growing within him. He didn't even notice that he had gone back to feral form instead of normal after the fight, it just felt normal now.
Zaku looked down at Kiba walking back to the waiting room. Kiba was certainly different now; Zaku could see it in the way he walked.
"This means that I have to fight him now." Ino said absently. Zaku looked over at her, and then nodded. It hit him all at once why Sasuke had told him not to bother with things like relationships. He was worried about her, had was thinking of how savage Kiba had become. Could Ino beat him? If she could, would she come out of it uninjured? If she won, either Shuno or Mako would be her next opponent. There was no way out of this without a hard fight. And he had to fight Raijin in the next round, here he was worrying about Ino, and he was facing probably the toughest fight he had even had. What was worse was that he didn't even know how Raijin fought, the best he could do was assume he fought like Gaara, and it was a bad idea to assume. They took a short intermission for the audience to do whatever they needed, and for the Shinobi to rest and get ready for their next matches. The judge came back out and held a clipboard up.
"Ladies and gentlemen I have here the matches for the next round! Starting off we will have Orichi from the sound village, versus Kinata Dosu from Konoha! Than we have our own Hyuuga Zaku versus Raijin of the sands! After that we have another great match up in Aburame Shuno from Konoha, and Mako of the village hidden in the mists! And finally, to end the second round we have two fighters from Konoha, Nara Ino and Inuzuka Kiba! These two are teammates ladies and gentlemen!"
The crowd cheered at the announcement of all of the fights. So far this Chuunin exam had far surpassed previous exams, and the best fights were yet to come.
"Let's begin the first match up!" The judge announced, and Orichi and Dosu went down to the arena.
Dosu cracked his neck and spoke. "If you don't mind, I'm going to make this quick." Orichi gritted his teeth and powered up his chakra.
"If you think I'm a pushover, you're in for a nasty surprise." Orichi said. Dosu shrugged and charged straight at the sound ninja. Orichi made a hand seal and performed his piercing sound jutsu. Dosu didn't even flinch, as if the horrible screeching in his ears didn't even bother him. "What!" Orichi held his hands out and fired a blast of sound. Dosu leapt high above the attack and held his hand out. Snakes stretched out of his sleeves and bit Orichi in the shoulder than retracted back inside of Dosu's sleeves. Dosu landed behind Orichi who tried to turn around, but fell to the ground convulsing before he could do anything.
Ino raised and eyebrow as she watched. "The exact same attack as before?" Zaku nodded and looked on. "Yeah…" He said absently, his eyes showed him something about the attack that none of the other fighters could see.
"The winner is Kinata Dosu, in his second win under a minute!" Dosu made his way back up to the waiting room. Zaku looked at him as he walked by and smirked. Dosu's eye widened for a second, than he quickly calmed down.
"Now for our next match up, Hyuuga Zaku and Raijin!" Zaku snapped back to what was going on, it was his turn. Raijin looked over at him.
"It is time Zaku of Konoha, you're really going to wish you were a Jinchuuriki." He said as he leapt out the window. Zaku followed him out and spoke as they walked towards the center.
"I draw my power from other sources, demon-host." Raijin looked back at him and laughed. "And that is why you are going to die." He said in a more cheerful tone than he should have. Zaku smiled and shrugged it off; Raijin could play mind games all he wanted.
The judge backed off when they got there. Zaku got into the Juken stance and powered his chakra. Raijin cracked his neck and his knuckles. "Let's get this started then." He said. The ground beneath them cracked and rumbled as Raijin's eyes rolled back in his head. He made a hand seal and started mumbling. "Gaia Manipulation Jutsu!" Chunks of the ground arose into the air and Raijin flew up to the top of the stadium on a piece. He yelled and threw his hands forwards, the pieces of ground all came flying at Zaku. Zaku leapt onto one, flipping off of it and jumping to another. Raijin moved his hands around and the huge pieces of ground started swirling and smashing into each other violently. Zaku dashed from one to another, climbing higher and higher. Two of the pieces collided as he landed on one of them and broke to pieces.
"Shit!" He flipped backwards and landed on another one.
Zaku jumped and threw a kunai at the piece Raijin was standing on. It stuck in the bottom and Raijin laughed at him. "To bad Konoha!" Zaku smiled and jumped to the ground. Raijin realized his mistake a second to late as the exploding scroll attached to the kunai detonated. He went spiraling to the ground amongst the rubble upside down. "Stop the games Zaku! Fight me with something worth my time and cut it out with the kid's stuff!" Raijin yelled as he fell. He righted himself and landed on his feet easily.
"I'll make you show me something good, it's either that, or die!" All of the chunks came spiraling down in a rapid decent towards Zaku. Zaku gritted his teeth and powered up his chakra.
"I wanted to hold back for as long was possible, but I guess that I have to take this fight seriously now!" Zaku held his right arm out and grabbed his forearm with his left hand. Green electricity surged off of his right hand and smoky green energy started to swirl around his arm.
"Juken Style! Vorpal Blade Jutsu!" the energy turned into a swirling blade of green electrical energy. "You wanted the good stuff, here it is buddy!" He screamed as he charged at Raijin. The chunks of rock came crashing down at him in a flurry of destruction. The giant pieces of earth were slashed to pieces within seconds and Zaku came flying out of the debris. Raijin laughed and hit the ground; spikes of stone came ripping out of the ground. Zaku slashed them apart and didn't slow down. Jets of sand sent Raijin flying away and out of reach.
"Dammit come back here!" Zaku screamed as Raijin flew away. He hit the buttons on the bracelets and anklets he was wearing, sending them flying off and smashing into the ground like heavy weights.
Naruto looked over at Sasuke and frowned. "How much do those little things weigh Sasuke!" Sasuke smiled and looked over at him.
"Well we started with the normal ten pound versions, but he kept making me increase the chakra density." Sakura looked over at him and asked.
"Just how much did you stop at Sasuke?" Sasuke looked back at the match and smiled again. "A hundred a piece." He said casually.
"What!" They all said together.