Tanebi
Chapter 11: Finals
Hey everyone and welcome to the newest installment of Tanebi. My computer has been down and I just got back from the greatest city in the world, Chicago. So, let's start with the reviews.
Miseryluvsdeath: Wow thanks. I'm not so sure about best or second best, I just try to create the best story that I can.
Wind797: Yeah it was kinda obvious, but at the same time, I liked it. Kuranai, along with everyone else is still very curious but she doesn't know why IS even exists. It would be weird, but can you imagine how scary Kyu/IS would be?
Catsi: I think our PM's pretty much answered everthing didn't they? Your suggestions were very good. Naruto simply got Temari via luck of the draw. No real story there and that is one reason why I skipped it.
Panchopanda: I'm glad you like it and I hope that you continue to like it.
Prague: I can understand the disappointment, but Ino and Shika wouldn't make a good match … now. Also, I'm not really good at doing Ino fights. Naruto and Temari really doesn't have much of a story. If you want though, I could add it in if (and it looks like I will) take Catsi's advice for a revision on the first ten chapters.
Dragonshaun: I guess that means you like him as a villain huh? Glad you like it.
Kaiser Spartan: That won't happen actually for a while.
Harry Foureyes: It did and I thought that I answered it, but I guess I didn't. Sorry. I don't think she will go into denial and it more like, as Catsi would say, give her a sense if security around Naruto and will help make her defection easier. Yeah, Tayuya and Ino I doubt would ever be friends. I think you'll be happy with what I do with the fight.
Inarealpickle: Yeah it was. They just don't realize it yet.
Zero Sakura Cross: No offense taken. Actually, I don't mind people getting critical because it helps me out. I think that rushed look is because I REALLY want to get back to the main story. I will take a bit extra time to try and polish it though.
Lexor: I need them alive unfortunately. Oh well, he can do something else.
Guyver Unit 1: Actually, I am planning a rewrite of chapters 1-9. Same story, but it will be a bit more polished and have a few "extras" as well as taking out the inconsistencies that I have been informed of.
Whew. Lot of reviews.
One final note before starting. If you don't read the reviews, with advice taken from Catsi, I am planning a rewrite of chapters 1-10. Same story, concept, everything, but will be a bit more polished and have a little bit extra added to it. Now that is all settled, let's get started on the final match of the chunin exam finals.
Also, special thanks to Catsi for some help on some extra stuff on the first part of the chapter.
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Sakura was confused. Once again, Sasuke had decided that her life was not important to him. Both times were not justifiable, even for her. After all, the first encounter was with Hinata, and that could be stated as trying to take down a deadly clan for her was. However, this time was different. This time he wanted to get Lucien for the simple reason of revenge. She recalled the look in Sasuke's eyes when he charged at Lucien moments ago. His eyes were blazing and full of hatred. It was as if he wanted to kill Lucien for the incident that happened in the exams all those years ago. But what concerned her more was the fact that it didn't even seem like he cared about what happened to her. She recalled that every single time he looked at her, his eyes shone with excitement and happiness. However, now looking back on it, she saw that Sasuke never once looked at her the same way that Naruto ever did.
Now, she had switched back to Hana. She was still completely shocked as to how Hana could be alive. It had not even sunk in yet that not only was Hana alive, but she was actually an enemy to Konoha. When they were younger, Sakura always saw Hana as the older sister that she never had. She would always come to her for advice on things like, how to grab a boy, what to do when the boy is grabbed, and why the boys in their lives were special. Actually, in Hana's case, she had too many boyfriends to count.
Of course, she could have gone to Ino about how to go about this, but that was never really appetizing. Even though she and Ino were still somewhat friends beyond the insults and rivalries, she still didn't want to go to her for stuff like that because they were after the same thing and she couldn't quite trust her trust Ino to give her sound advice. She knew she couldn't go to Kuranai about the topic because she wouldn't help her. Kuranai was always so serious that Sakura honestly thought that she never had a date in her life. She didn't want to go to her mom about it, because, for an unknown reason, she absolutely hated the entire Uchiha clan and she loved Sasuke. That only left Hana. Even though she didn't like Sasuke at all, she knew that Hana would at least attempt to put her bias aside and try and help the young girl.
It was under her suggestion that Sakura train a bit more. She told the girl that Sasuke would only like stronger girls and training would help the rosette to grab the attention of the young boy. Sakura usually now tried to avoid those talks because Hana would then put her through a hellish training where she would get chased by all three of her hounds, attacked by the chunin, and worked all hours of the day and night. It was much tougher then any other training she'd ever endured.
It astounded her as to why Hana would betray Konoha. Hana was such a level headed and intelligent girl that this betrayal shocked her completely.
Hinata was now traveling to the side of the two and the formation had changed. Lucien was still leading the way as the leader of the operation. The strange girl from Kumo beside him and it didn't look like they were entirely on the same page. Behind them, Hana carried Sakura protectively aside from Hana, and Neji watched the back for trailers alongside Tenten, who was covering up their tracks with suggestions from Hana.
Sakura highly doubted though that anyone from Konoha would come to her rescue. The party that was going to try and rescue her was now all but taken out, and she doubted that Sasuke even cared enough to try and get her back from these enemies.
It was actually the second time that she worried that nobody would come to her aid. However the first time, when she was captured by Lucien in the ambush, she somewhere in her heart truly felt that Naruto might come to her aid and stop her from being killed. It was the first time she thought about such ideas and did not once question what they were and where they were coming from.
FLASHBACK
Sakura had no idea what to think. Naruto had just gotten himself disqualified from the entire exams just to keep a promise to her. What really tuned her face the side of her hair though, was that Sasuke had never even come close to doing anything like that. Sure, he did help her out a lot when she was younger with all the bullies and stuff, but looking back, she was beginning to be unsure if he would risk his reputation just to do a favor for her.
Sasuke had yet to come into her room to check up on her, but she could see his face on the monitor in the hospital. He was livid. His eyes were flexed and his sharingan was spinning at full blaze at the sight of the Tanebi shinobi who was walking out of the arena.
"Hey, boy." Sasuke ordered while rubbing his jaw where Naruto had just kicked him. "It would be best for you to stay out of my business. You are an outsider to this village and unless you want me to do to you what I did to the mutt over there, or maybe what our village did to that Hyuuga girl, then it would be best to take my advice."
"It was a favor for a friend of mine and that has been done." Naruto responded while turning around to face the boy. "Now let me give you some advice, what your father did to Hinata was out of line and if you ever threaten her again ..." Naruto then disappeared and then reappeared at the back of the Uchiha prince startling him completely. He moved so fast, that even with his Sharingan active, he couldn't follow the move. "well, use your imagination." With that, he turned around and left the arena to the chorus of boos and threats.
Sakura took a deep breath and exhaled. She was really nervous about what would happen between Kiba and Sasuke, but for some reason she was even more anxious about what would happen in the between her new friend and Sasuke. She told herself that it was because Sasuke was in more danger at the time because of the recent fight with Kiba, but she wasn't sure at all if she truly believed it.
"Whew, your boy over there really dodged the big one there didn't she?" Tayuya said. "I mean taking on my brother in his condition is really just asking for him to be handled."
"Please. Even tired, Sasuke-kun could wipe any shinobi from Tanebi out of the water on their best day. Sasuke-kun is just that much better then anybody then your pathetic village has. All you are are a bunch of Konoha wash ups that decided to discover their own village. The real talent stayed here. Hell, you're royalty in that village and you nearly got taken out by forehead, a girl with no ninja pedigree at all." Ino said, trying to belittle the Princess from Tanebi.
"Well, we'll just see which village is better when Lucien-kun takes out that Uchiha boy tomorrow in the finals. Too bad it's going to take me about a week more to get medical clearance to train and fight or else I would do the deed myself."
"Please, you couldn't take forehead. Why on earth do you think that you can even come close to defeating the best gennin that Konoha has to offer?"
Sakura was starting to get fed up with the two kunoichi arguing. She was also starting to get a bit offended with the fact that Ino seemed to keep indirectly insulting her. By her side, she saw Lucien just pinch the bridge of his nose in what seemed to be fatigue.
"So, do you ever look over to that girl and think to yourself, 'why am I dating her again?'" Sakura asked.
Lucien chuckled a bit at the question. "I'd be lying if I never thought that. However, Tayuya has obvious faults, everybody does. But the thing is, whenever I start to get those thoughts I just think about all the good things that she does. That erases any doubts and I feel lucky to have her."
"What good qualities though? I mean, she's brash, curses all the time, and lacks any sense of tact. Not at all like Sasuke-kun."
"It's somewhat an act. She likes to be tough and she likes everyone to think that she's tough. Take my word for it, she can be very nice, caring, and gentle when she wants to be. Just don't tell her I said that or I'll be forced to deny it. Anything else on your mind?" Lucien asked with a knowing look in his eyes. It seemed as if he had been sensing what Tayuya had also been sensing between the two.
"Yeah. It's about … Naruto." Sakura hesitated. "Does he always go around making promises to strangers and actually keep them?" This question caused Lucien to laugh so hard, it interrupted Tayuya's and Ino's bickering, but it confused and angered Sakura deeply.
"And just what over there is so funny?" Ino asked.
"Oh nothing. Sakura just asked if your brother always makes promises to strangers." At that Tayuya also broke out laughing uncontrollably.
"Sister, you have no idea the half of it. Oh do you remember the time when he accidentally proposed to that priestess in Demon country and said that he'd let her bear his children?" Tayuya asked.
"Oh yeah. Kushina-sama man, I thought that Kushina-sama's head would explode after that."
"Trust me Lucien-kun, you have no idea how much paperwork she had to do to get Naruto out of that one. Even now, she's trying to find some type of loophole in the contract so that it can go through."
"Wait hold on a second." Sakura interrupted. "Tell us exactly what happened." She sounded deeply concerned and if one could sense it, they could also pick up a hint of sadness and disappointment.
Tayuya then proceeded to tell them about one of their first missions which was to Demon Country where they met the high priestess and her daughter. Like most girls who meet Naruto, fell in love and used very vague wording to get Naruto to try and marry her. Sakura couldn't help but giggle at a few of the parts, but at the same time, she felt a bit angry with the unknown girl.
"How about the time when he jumped off that bridge to try and save that family heirloom for that kid in Kumo, only to find out that it was nothing but some mass produced plate?" Lucien added.
"Or the time when he put his Rasengan through a tree to get that cat down in Kiri and the tree smashed through the guys house." Tayuya added.
"Remember the Fuma incident?" Lucien added.
"How could I forget? That was when he accidentally felt up that Fuma bimbo Sasame."
"For the last time Tayuya, I thought that was a guy and I didn't know that she would get so obsessive over me to move her entire clan to Tanebi." Naruto said as he appeared in the room. "More importantly, just what brought on this story?"
"Well, Sakura asked if you always make promises to people that you hardly know and … well … you can figure out the rest." Lucien said.
"I do not always make promises to people that I hardly know." Naruto defended.
"Need I remind you about the incident in Demon Country?" Lucien asked.
"For the last time, how was I supposed to know that help me continue the line of priestesses meant marry me?"
"Well, Lucien-kun and I figured it out right away, and I think that the pervert had his notebook out and began to jot down some notes for that perverted book that he writes." Tayuya said adding a sheepish grin while Lucien raised his eyes indicating that he was grinning and Naruto groaned. He really didn't want Sakura to find out about that. For some reason, he really didn't want Sakura to think that he was becoming a pervert. Sakura and Ino however were completely shocked and intrigued at the same time.
"Perverted book? What perverted book?" Sakura wondered.
"Have you ever heard of the series "Icha Icha?" Tayuya asked earning a nod from Ino and a groan from Sakura. "Well he writes that."
Sakura watched the jocularity between the group and wondered why she couldn't have been on a team like this. Even though they were fighting about some of the stupidest things, they truly looked as if they had each other's backs and cared about each other deeply. In her own team, Sasuke and Kiba would be about ready to kill each other about now.
During the stories though, Sakura kept comparing Sasuke and Naruto. Sure, Sasuke would have never done any of the stupid things that Naruto did, but at the same time all those tings that Naruto did were out of kindness and goodness. On missions, it sounded like Naruto tried on a deep level to connect with the client and out of the goodness of his heart do the right thing. Sasuke would usually complain about how the missions weren't worth his time and never even tried to get personal with the client. Even on the mission, Sasuke would only do the bare minimum and spend the rest of the time training with his trainer who would always accompany them at the request of the Hokage.
They kept arguing until a woman wit long red hair came into the room. Sakura could probably tell that this was the leader of Tanebi, because she clearly looked like an older Tayuya. The first thing she did was scan the room. She then walked over to where her daughter was and looked at her bed chart. After gazing upon it, walked over to where her daughter was and gave her a big hug which cause the other girl to squirm in ways Sakura had never imagined.
"I'm very proud of you Tayuya. You fought well and earned yourself a rope belt the minute we get back to Tanebi." Tayuya told her mom thanks and then Kushina walked over to where Sakura lay. She looked her up and down with a critical eye before speaking to her. "You know, you also fought one hell of a match. You did your village good out there. Keep up the good work."
Sakura was speechless. Even her own Hokage would rarely speak like that to his own shinobi in public and this woman spoke like that to a girl from a different village. It was nice and a very good compliment to get from such an accomplished kunoichi. To reaffirm that she gave Ino a slight gaze and just shook her head, before turning to Lucien.
"You have a big match tomorrow. Say your goodbyes here and get rested up. I'll visit you shortly to make sure that any soreness you have is gone. You need to be at your best." Lucien nodded and kissed Tayuya on the cheek before leaving the room. She then turned her attention to Naruto and her previous looks had been replaced with one mixed with confusion and rage.
"And as for you, why on earth would you go down there and interrupt that match? You had the easy road to the championship and you just blew it."
"I know you're mad Kaa-san, and I have no excuse or reason for why I would do something like that. I guess, I just didn't want to see that boy get killed by his own teammate."
Sakura was shocked. Naruto didn't tell his mother about the promise that she made him give her. He was going to take all the punishment from a very intimidating woman just to cover her tail. She felt very glad that he would do that for her, but at the same time felt really sick. He kept her promise and was going to take her beating, but she wasn't going to allow that.
"Excuse me, Oyabun-sama?" Sakura spoke up lightly.
"Yes?" Kushina said impatiently as she turned her glare onto the now sweating bullets Sakura.
"I am the reason why Naruto got involved. You see, I'm the teammate of the two boys who were just fighting and I was really worried. You see, Sasuke-kun and Kiba never did get along well and I was afraid that one of them may end up dead. You see, over the course of this month, I got to know your son, and he seemed to be very nice and I thought that maybe he could stop the fight if it got out of hand. So, I ..."
"Got him to promise you to stop the fight if anything got too extreme?" Kushina finished while Sakura nodded. Kushina just slapped her hand on her forehead. "Oh well, you've certainly made worse promises in your life son. Unless that is you accidentally got yourself engaged again?" Naruto smacked his forehead while Sakura turned beet red. "Did you accidentally get yourself engaged again?"
Sakura turned even more red while Naruto added a groan to the slap. She briefly thought about being engaged to Naruto but quickly shook it off. It's not as if it's a bad thing being engaged to him. Actually, it wouldn't even seem too … wait, what am I thinking? Why am I thinking like this about Naruto? I love Sasuke. Sasuke. Even though Sakura tried to fight these strange new thoughts, she couldn't but semi visualize a wedding of her dreams, except this time, she stood at Naruto's side and not Sasuke's.
"It was brave of you to speak up like that. By the way, try calling me Kushina-sama from now on please. Oyabun makes me sound old."
"But you are old you old bat." Tayuya said.
"You know, you remind me a lot of myself at that age, and trust me, that's not a good thing." Tayuya wanted to answer with another comeback, but she never could beat her mother in a war of insults. "Well, we're going to let you get some rest Tayuya. Me and your brother are going to get ready for tomorrow's finals. After that, Kushina left and took Naruto with her.
As they were leaving, Naruto took a look and his eyes met Sakura's. It's been said, that two people who care so much about each other can tell a story with no words, but instead with nothing more then a mere glance into the soul with the eyes. Naruto saw Sakura's eyes, telling him how grateful she was that he was able to stop the fight between Kiba and Sasuke in time, while Naruto's were telling her that it was no big deal and that she was such a great person for being concerned with the welfare of her teammates.
Shared in the gaze was more raw emotion and passion then she had ever shared with another person in her life. Tayuya and Kushina both noticed the gaze and were happy for the boy. They saw something in that gaze that he never gave to Shion, Sasame, or any other fan girl that tried to approach him.
The next day had arrived and the entire arena was buzzing with excitement. The whole arena minus a few people were cheering and waiting for the new champion of the chunin exam crowd to come back to Konoha. Only a few select people actually were cheering for the masked boy from Tanebi to win the title.
Naruto was watching the match with Sakura and his sister along with Ino in the medical ward. The previous night, Sakura had asked for her bed to be moved as close to the opposite wall as possible. She really didn't feel like hearing the two loudmouths that she shared a room with live and in stereo. Naruto decided to follow the same strategy. Of course that's what he planned on telling his sister, but the reason that he chose to be near her was because she had a calming and tranquil effect on him. Sakura was glad as well because she secretly felt the same way about him.
The crowd roared again as the two contestants came to the center of the arena. Well, they roared for Sasuke, but they jeered the representitive from Tanebi. The proctor raised both of his hands and got ready to begin the fight as the two boys engaged in a good old fashioned stare down.
"Just to let you know, I am an Uchiha. Uchiha's always win." Sasuke said.
"If that's the case, then prepare to be the disgrace of the Uchiha clan for losing to one of the scraps from Konoha." Lucien retorted.
The crowd had stopped cheering and was now completely silent as they waited for the two gennin to begin their face off of destiny. The proctor started the match and both boys were off.
Sasuke wasted no time and activated his Sharingan. He figured that maybe with it fully active, he could tell the exact moment when the other boy would begin to go intangible. He knew that the fight would be rough if he could not tell just what the other boy was doing.
The two boys headed right for each other and cocked their fists to try and get the first strike on the other shinobi. Lucien, being the slightly faster shinobi made first contact. He hit Sasuke square in the chest, and right before Sasuke's punch could hit, Lucien went intangible and Sasuke's fist went right through the other boy.
Both boys then came to a complete halt and turned around to face each other again. Sasuke reached down and grabbed his left rib. Lucien hit Sasuke right where he got operated on before the exams even started. The boys once again ran at each other, but this time they were coming at each other with roundhouse kicks. Once again, Lucien, being the faster shinobi hit moments before Sasuke did and was able to completely miss Sasuke's attack. Sasuke was knocked off balance and nearly fell to the ground, while Lucien skidded to a perfect stop.
Sasuke was starting to get very frustrated with this exchange. He was the fastest of all the gennin in Konoha and also had the Sharingan which made all other opponents seem slower. The fact that Lucien was this much faster then him was not part of the plan. He would need a much different strategy if he would hope to beat the other gennin.
Lucien was not doing as well as he had thought either. The contact that he made on Sasuke with his first couple of blows was not as much as he had wanted. The only shot that looks like it did even a tiny bit of damage was when he attacked that left rib. He also knew though, that Sasuke would be on guard for that rib.He figured that the best ticket for him to be successful was for him to just hit one big attack on that rib.
Sasuke broke out of his stance and executed his set of hand seals at a rapid rate and blew his fireball at the masked ninja from Tanebi. The attack took the boy slightly by surprise and he was able to get away. Sasuke again fired a fireball and the Tanebi shinobi was again easily able to get away from the blast. Sasuke now figured out that Lucien could not go intangible through ninjutsu and that gave Sasuke an opening to attack.
So, using ninjutsu is going to be my ticket for success. The question is how I can attack him. He's much to fast for my fireballs to hit him, so that is out of the picture. I could use a lightning style that Ebisu taught me, but those seem to have the same problem. That only leaves the Phoenix Flower. I doubt that he will expect it so that should be the ticket.
I see, Sasuke knows my weakness. The good thing is that I still have the obvious speed advantage and the physiological advantage. I should be still then be able to complete my task.
Sasuke did a new sequence of hand signs that Lucien had never seen before and used his Phoenix Flower jutsu to blow several fireballs across the arena. Lucien was caught off guard and forced to hastily retreat to a safer location. When he hit the location, Sasuke got behind Lucien and used his fireball jutsu at point blank range to try and take the Tanebi shinobi out.
The crowd roared as they saw the Tanebi shinobi engulfed in the flames of Sasuke's jutsu, while Ino roared in the hospital and Tayuya could feel her heart stop momentarily. Sakura looked over to Naruto and saw the blank and vacant look on his face and it killed her. She had never seen him have such an expression of pure hopelessness before in his life. She wanted to reach out and do something, anything to make that look on his face just go away, even for an instant.
Sasuke looked across the floor. He knew that his jutsu hit the boy, but at the same time, he knew that his enemy was still out there. All of a sudden, he heard the sound of sizzling on the ground which indicated a fear. He looked down and saw an exploding tag ready to explode. Desperately, Sasuke leaped away, but not in enough time to fully escape the blast. His right arm got burned in the explosion and Sasuke knew that he would be unable to use any more ninjutsu for the rest of the match. Another concern for him, was that he couldn't seem to find the mysterious boy from Tanebi as well.
He looked around for a long time before he saw a glimpse of Lucien's pant leg come out of the ground. It was a kick and it connected right in Sasuke's left rib cage where the operation had taken place just over a month ago. Sasuke flew back from the contact and could only watch as the opposition arose from underneath the ground.
Lucien's shirt had a huge hole on the left side and past the hole looked like one really large burn. Also, his left pant lag had been completely burned to shreds and his leg was covered in red and black skin. His mask also had a hole on the left side revealing another small burn on his face.
Sasuke was now on the ground and gasping very hard to try and get a breath. His entire side ached and it felt like Lucien had re broken Sasuke's ribs. Sasuke coughed and was alarmed to see a bit of blood mixed in with his cough. At a glance it was easy to see who got the best of the exchange, but internally, they both took a great deal of damage.
Tayuya let out a huge sigh of relief mixed in with a few tears of joy to see that her boyfriend had mead it out of the ordeal alright Sakura also noticed that Naruto was also very happy to see that his best friend had made it out just fine and Sakura was relieved to see that he was ok. In fact, she was so happy that Naruto was alright, that she didn't even notice the critical state that Sasuke was now in.
"So, I see you made it." Sasuke said. "I knew that didn't take you down, but tell me, just how did you manage to live through that attack?"
"Fair enough. I went to the ground the moment I saw your fireball and used it to give me cover. Not enough to keep my left side intact, but enough to save my life. Count your blessings, because at full strength that kick could have jarred your ribs into your lungs and re punctured them, and I doubt highly that you would have survived."
Sasuke knew that the other boy was right and that he had to be very careful from here on out. Had he have not moved at the last minute then this match would be easily over. He could already feel the sting from his broken ribs, but felt that the pain dealt to the other boy was far worse.
Sasuke and Lucien again charged at each other and this time, Sasuke was about to make initial contact, but Lucien went intangible and phased right through the Uchiha heir. Now it was clear that the speed advantage had now swung into Sasuke's favor even with the re broken ribs.
Sasuke rushed right back at Lucien with a renewed sense of charge and was prepared to launch the onslaught that would end the match. He used a wide range of kicks but Lucien either dodged completely or phased through every single one of them. He then tried to use his good arm to punch the boy, but Lucien took that opportunity to use his good leg to kick Sasuke's unprotected bad rib.
Sasuke, in a desperate attempt, blocked his bad ribs with his bad arm and the impact launched him pack against the wall in a state of pure pain and agony. Lucien then walked over and threw kunai to nail Sasuke against the wall by his clothing. He then slowly and methodically walked up and got close to the Uchiha heir and turned to face where the proctor stood.
"Proctor I forfeit this match." Lucien said stunning every single member of the audience.
"What? Why are you quitting huh? Tell me! WHY DO YOU QUIT!?" Sasuke roared.
"You said it yourself. You're an Uchiha and Uchiha never lose. Consider it a favor from me and the Village of Tanebi."
"A FAVOR?! A FAVOR?! UCHIHA DO NOT TAKE FAVORS FROM ANYONE?!"
"Oh what a pity. I mean here I am throwing the match so that you could win the tournament and this is the thanks that I get. Maybe I shouldn't have let you win then." Lucien said smirking. He then leaned down to Sasuke and whispered something in his ear that only he could hear. "Our mission in coming here was to humiliate this village and the Uchiha clan as much as we could. Just imagine the embarrassment and humiliation the Uchiha clan would get if it became public knowledge that the only way that they could win the chunin exam tournament was if it was handed to them like this."
"Oh and what makes you think that your village won't be seen as a bunch of disgraces and dogs for lying down to us?" Sasuke responded.
"You are the crown prince of the Uchiha while I really have no clan. I could just say that I got payed off or threatened by Konoha bigwigs to let you win. After all, you were supposed to dominate, and yet here you have to hire ninja to threaten the opposition into making them lay down for you. Imagine how that would look when making an alliance."
Lucien then turned and walked away as Sasuke was announced as the winner. "I hate you." Sasuke spat out. His broken ribs were starting to get very sore with the predicament he was in. "Next time I see you, I swear to Kami, I'll kill you. And from here on out, I will dedicate my entire life to killing you."
In the Hokage box, Fugaku was livid. He knew the reason why Lucien did what he did and he just wanted to do something, anything to even the score when a thought occurred to him. He instantly figured out a way that he could get revenge on the village for wronging them right here and now.
"Attention all!" Fugaku yelled as he stood up from it seat in the Hokage's box. "The finals are not over. I have just received notice from the hospital that Tayuya Uzumaki has been cleared to compete in the finals. In four hours, it will be Tayuya vs Sasuke in the true final match of this chunin exam final."
….................................................
Man, I really don't want to have a layoff like that again.
Not too much that I feel I need to clear up except that Tayuya really is not ready to compete.
Thank you for reading Tanebi.
Next Chapter: Unjust Match
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