OKAY! I'm back. XD When last we left our favorite ninja they were in the middle of observing Tenten's battle in the 3rd exam prelims. (ZOMG! She lasted more than five seconds!) Why don't we pick up at that point, eh?
"Fuuton: Tastumaki Kachuu no Jutsu!" The name echoed around the arena as there was silence except for the sound of rushing wind from the orb of swirling air that Tori now held in his hands.
"How can he keep it so contained?" Lee wondered out loud.
Neji, who was positioned further down the rail, activated his Byakugan in order to confirm a suspicion he had. "I was right," he muttered. "He injects his own chakra into the air and then swirls it around, taking the air along with it. Doing so, he can control the air flow within a certain distance, depending on the amount of chakra he outputs."
"Just a moment ago," Kakashi continued, "he trapped the kunai in the vortex, keeping them suspended and then spread his chakra out very quickly, sending the air shooting toward the sides of the air and the kunai along with it."
"Now the question is," Kaio said shifting his gaze to the left a little. "Can Tenten come up with anything to stop it…?"
Down on the arena floor, Tenten was thinking of a way to do just that. If I try a head on attack, he'll probably just block it with that air vortex of his. Maybe I can find a way to occupy him and then sneak attack…? Slowly, Tenten removed a small scroll from her back pouch. Then she went into a series of extremely quick movements, whipping the scroll open, and running her hands along the inside of it. She flung each weapon as it appeared, though it happened so fast that they all seemed to be flung at the same time. The smoke from each weapons summon created a screen for Tenten to hide in as she executed her next move.
Tori didn't seem all that impressed with this turn of events. Without batting an eye, all of Tenten's weapons were sucked into his Vortex and remained there. Then he was aware of movement behind him. Tenten had snuck around to attack him from behind. She was still in mid-air when Tori executed his countermove. Using one hand to contain the Vortex, he used the other to send off another Wind Blast, only this one was much stronger. "Kaze Haipa-Bakufuu!!" (Hyper Wind Blast) Tenten was flung against the far wall and pinned there by the wind as Tori released the kunai he had contained in the Vortex straight toward her in the same movement.
Being pinned, Tenten wasn't able to dodge as the kunai struck. Surprisingly, nothing hit her directly. Instead, they mostly hit around her, either pinning her clothes or striking the wall around her, though some of them did get uncomfortably close. Just when Tenten thought she could breathe a sigh of relief, she spotted one last kunai that Tori had held back. And it was headed dead center for her head. The only thing that could possibly save her this time was that it had been launched in a sideways spin. Like some deadly roulette wheel it spun, all the time coming closer and closer. Finally, it struck home. With a ping, the kunai fell point first into the ground after the handle had dealt a hard blow to the side of Tenten's head. (C'mon guys, did you honestly think I was gonna kill a Canon off?)
Tori turned away, the wind vortex dissipating, as Tenten slumped to the ground unconscious, her clothes ripping where the kunai had been stuck in them. He didn't apparently seem to care whether he had killed her or not, just that the match was over. He retrieved his talons and went back to his spot on the balcony.
Lee looked extremely disappointed as the medics carried Tenten out. "I really thought she might win this time…" he muttered.
"Well, we did half expect this result," Sakura pointed out.
"Yea," Kaio agreed. "What's done is done. Time to focus on our own matches."
The scoreboard of fate began to choose its next victims…
Over the next hour or so, several more matches took place. Neji easily defeated a Suna ninja while Hinata and Kiba had tougher times with their opponents, though somehow managing to win out in the end. On the other hand, several other competitors stood out among the rest. One of Tori's teammates, Houzan Tachibana, developed a reputation for an animal like viciousness in his Taijutsu, beating his opponent almost to the point of death. Meanwhile, an older Konoha ninja named Zauchi Sanjito showed another version of the power of effectively combined Taijutsu and Ninjutsu, utilizing a staff and Doton (Earth Style) jutsu to bring the match crashing down on his opponent. And Kuja's teammate, Tsurougi Kirai demonstrated her sword and tactical prowess, taking down her opponent without so much as a scratch to either side, merely maneuvering them into a checkmate situation.
Kaio was getting increasingly excited as each match went on. "I can't wait to get in there!" he repeated over and over. Finally that time came.
Hyuuga Kaio vs. Hiamoka Kuja
Kaio glanced across the arena to where Kuja was smirking at him. Kaio turned and gave a knowing wink to Sakura and then leaped down in the arena to meet Kuja in the middle of the floor.
"Now this," Lee said, leaning closer to the rail, "should be interesting."
Down on the floor, Kuja faced Kaio, a smirk planted on his face. "I've been waiting a long time for this, reject. You're going down!" Kuja was dressed plainly, with denim pants, a black no sleeve muscle shirt and black wristbands. In any case, it showed his very muscular frame. His forehead protector was tied in the obvious place, beneath his spiked black hair with bleached tips. "Now tie that thing on," he said, pointing at Kaio's forehead protector that hung from his belt loop, "and let's get this started."
"If you insist…" Kaio said, a playful smile on his face as he untied the cloth band. Then he bent down and tied it around his left ankle, leaving one end of the band hanging loose. He straightened up, grinning into Kuja's face who looked as if he were about to explode.
Sakura was left in the dark yet again. "What's going on?" she asked. "Why is Kuja so mad about that?"
Lee explained, trying to contain a slight smile. "Kaio has an interesting habit. He always changes the place where he ties on his forehead protector based on how serious he thinks the fight is. The higher up it is, the more serious he will take it. So…" Lee explained. "Tying it down on his ankle, the lowest possible it can go, is like an indirect insult from Kaio. And Kuja knows it, too."
"Combatants ready?" Ibiki asked. Kaio nodded, standing completely relaxed. Kuja nodded once, short and quick, prepared to charge as soon as Ibiki gave the word. You could almost see smoke rising from his steaming temper. "Begin!!"
True to his temperament, Kuja struck first, leaping across to bring his fist slamming into Kaio's unworried face. Only when he got there, Kaio wasn't. "Missed," Kaio said, from off to Kuja's left. Kuja immediately swung another haymaker in that direction, but once again whiffed it.
Kaio appeared a short distance from him, making a "Bring it" type of gesture. Kuja's rapidly rising temper got the better of him and charged, leaping up into the air above Kaio. Kaio stood there as Kuja came down, raising an eyebrow at his opponent's attack. At the very last second, he back-flipped out of the way as Kuja brought down a literal earth-shattering punch. Kaio remained close by, staying on his hands to go into a helicopter kick. However, he was just far away enough so that the only thing that struck Kuja's face was the trailing end of Kaio's headband, adding insult to insult.
Kuja scrambled up and took off after Kaio, face and pride stinging. "I'm gonna freakin' kill you!!" he screamed. Kaio said nothing in return but maintained a "Catch me if you can" attitude, leading Kuja on a brief run around the arena.
Several spectators snickered at Kaio's antics and the absolute fool he was making out of Kuja. Others, like Neji, found it to be complete idiocy. "If he knows he can't touch him, why doesn't he just finish it instead of wasting time and energy…?" Neji murmured
"Because that is not Kaio's style," Lee answered. "He wants to see how much fun he can have with Kuja before he has to finish the match. Or he gets bored. Besides," Lee said, turning back to the arena. "It does not seem like Kaio is having to exert himself very much…"
"That's… ENOUGH!!" Kuja finally shouted. "This is ends now, you freakin' reject!" Kuja formed a quick handseal. "Ninpou: Suji Akuserure!!" (Ninja Art: Muscle Accelerate) Kaio stopped and stared inquisitively as Kuja's already muscular body began to get even more… well, muscular. This didn't come from a super dosage of steroids however. (Though I wouldn't be surprised if Kuja used them…) Instead, Kuja focused his chakra into his muscles, making them grow. Tendons stood out all over Kuja's as his muscles grew to the max possible limit.
"Nice trick," Kaio quipped, not seeming the least bit worried. "You made an idiot into an even bigger idiot all on your own."
"Shut it, reject!" Kuja demanded, his voice slightly deeper now. "Now I've got the strength and power to smash you flat in one punch. Take this!!" he shouted, bringing his fist down on top of Kaio, shattering the ground upon impact. Kuja smirked. "Game over."
"Now I wouldn't go calling your own match," came Kaio's voice. "It's not exactly fair, wouldn't you say?"
Kuja searched around for Kaio frantically, but couldn't find him. "Where are you?!" he demanded.
"Right on top of you," came the reply. There was Kaio, lying nonchalant as you please on Kuja's oversized back. "Funny thing about power," he noted. "It ain't worth a thing if you don't have the speed to actually hit your opponent. Now watch this!!" Kaio flipped off Kuja's back almost lazily, but when he hit the ground he came back with full power. "Hajiton Dageki!!" (Flip Style Strike) Kaio landed on his hands then shoved back off twisting in mid-air, flipping over completely once before contacting both his ankles with Kuja's neck, knocking him flat. Kuja hit the ground with a huge thud.
"Nice going, Kaio!" Sakura shouted from the sidelines.
"It's not over yet…" Lee warned.
"Actually, I think it is…" Kakashi corrected.
"Huh?"
"Just watch…"
Kuja glared at Kaio from his position on the floor. "Watch what?" he spat. "That did nothing to me!!"
"On the contrary," Kaio said. "It did everything to you. With all those muscles getting in the way, you're in a position where you can't get up. A beetle on its back, so to speak. And your technique doesn't have an counter technique to shrink those muscles back down to size, so you're stuck until your chakra runs out from keeping those muscles up."
Kuja strained to disprove Kaio's theory, but when he had expanded his muscles, his limbs had remained the same length so just adding more bulk on to them and the area around them seriously limited his mobility, just as Kaio had said. He lay there struggling. "I'll finish you, dammit!!" he roared. "You're still nothing but a reject!!"
Kaio turned his back on him walking away as Ibiki called the match. "Just remember that this reject is the one who beat you," he said, refastening his forehead protector to its former position hanging from his belt loop. He ignored Kuja's shouting and cursing continually as a team was called in to drag him out of there, returning to his place between Sakura and Lee, who congratulated him.
"There's one thing I've been meaning to ask you though," Sakura said. "Why does Kuja continually call you a 'reject?'"
Kaio rubbed the back of his neck embarrassed a little. "Well, it's all very complicated, so maybe now's not the best time…"
"I'll explain." All of them turned, surprised, down the rail to where the voice had spoken. Neji looked up, glaring directly at Kaio. "He is the reject of the Hyuuga clan! Him and his entire family were disowned years ago!!"
Kaio continued rubbing his neck. "You got me…" he muttered.
Whoa, big reveal. Way to go, Neji. Anyway, next time, more info on that and more third exam magic. Read and review, you know the drill. Laters.
Hyuuga Kaio appears courtesy of 00zags
Hiamoka Kuja appears courtesy of 00zags