Chapter 11: Genin vs. Chunin
"Ahhh!" Jack yelled as punched at Ligtigh. Ligtigh sidestepped the punch. Jack kicked at Ligtigh's head, but he ducked. He punched again. This time Ligtigh grabbed Jack's fist and pushed it into Jack's face.
"Face it kid, you're way out of my league," Ligtigh said. "And why did you get all mad when I stabbed that girl? You got a thing for her or something?"
"No! She's just my teammate, ok!" Jack replied angrily and punched at Ligtigh's stomach. Ligtigh jumped over his head and thrust his palm into Jack's back causing him to stumble forward and fall on his face. Ligtigh sighed.
"This will be fun," Ligtigh said. "You're terrible." Jack got up and faced Ligtigh.
"I am not terrible!" Jack screamed and whipped out a kunai. He stabbed at Ligtigh's heart. Ligtigh took a step back and took a knife off his leg. He tapped it against Jack's knife. Jack's knife grew extremely hot and he was forced to drop it. Ligtigh grabbed his sword off the ground and swung it at Jack. Jack jumped and dodged the blade. Ligtigh pushed his free hand forward, and Jack flew across the battlefield. Ligtigh started taking knives and daggers and throwing them into the ground around him in a circle. Finally he reached to the sheath with the strange symbol. He felt nothing. What th- oh yeah, Ligtigh thought. He looked around and saw the knife he was looking for had been carelessly tossed aside about 20 feet away from him. He started to run for it and Jack did the same. All of a sudden a shadow engulfed their battlefield. They looked up to see a giant wave of water coming towards them.
"Oh no," Jack murmured. He stabbed a kunai into the ground as the wave hit him and held on. Ligtigh was swept away but managed to grab the mound of dirt the enclosement was under. The wave stopped soon and Jack and Ligtigh continued their run for the knife. Jack reached it much before Ligtigh. "You want this?" he taunted. "Well you can't have it." He put it in his leg pouch.
"We will see about that," Ligtigh muttered doing a series of hand signs. "Ghost swords!" Three swords that looked like they were made of mist appeared in front of Ligtigh. He charged at Jack, and the swords followed. Jack did a series of hand signs. Ligtigh and his misty swords reached him.
"Shadow Wall!" Jack shouted. Everything within fifteen feet of Jack suddenly became very bright as the shadows in them seemed to be pulled away and condensed into a purple-black wall around Jack. Ligtigh and his swords started beating away at the wall. Inside Jack felt every blow, and his chakra was depleted in small chunks. I can't keep this up, Jack thought. He did some hand signs. "Shadow Repulse." The shadows around Jack flew outwards back to their normal positions knocking Ligtigh back, but the swords stayed in place. Ligtigh put his hands in the neutral pose, and two of the swords disappeared. The remaining sword stabbed Jack right through his stomach. Jack fell down to his knees with a grimace upon his face and spit a small amount of blood from his mouth.
"How does it feel?" Ligtigh asked getting up.
"I don't," Jack replied as Ligtigh walked towards him.
"Good. Now give me my knife."
"If you wanted it so bad, why did you throw it away?" Jack asked determined to resist.
"I didn't. That other kid did after I stabbed your little girlfriend," Ligtigh said smiling.
"She is not my girlfriend!" Jack yelled. Ligtigh reached for Jack's pouch. Jack feebly swatted at Ligtigh's hand, but Ligtigh still reached into the pouch. He felt around and grabbed the handle of his knife. He pulled it out and kicked Jack before walking into the circle of knives. He did a lengthy series of hand signs and cut himself on all his limbs with the knife. A purple shroud appeared around him. As suddenly as it had appeared it vanished and the cuts on him healed. Ligtigh put his hands in the neutral pose, and the sword in Jack came out and vanished. The hole that traveled through Jack's stomach healed before even a single drop of blood was spilled. Ligtigh picked up his sword off the ground as Jack got up. Ligtigh backed up a little to pick up a few knives. Jack threw some shuriken at Ligtigh. Ligtigh lifted his sword so the shuriken bounced off the flat of the blade. Ligtigh ran up to Jack and swung his sword at him so he got hit by the flat of it. Jack was thrown off his feet to the side. How… how did he move so fast? Jack asked himself. He swings that sword like a knife now. He wasn't doing that before. Ligtigh grabbed the hooked end of his sword and bent it back to being straight. "How did you do that?"
"Ikstaka put a jutsu on my limbs to restrain their movements," Ligtigh explained. "Now that I have dispelled that jutsu though, I can use the muscles I worked so hard to obtain." Jack got up and took on his fighting stance.
"It won't help you!"
"To the contrary," Ligtigh said. He swung his sword upward leaving a cut only penetrating the first layer of skin from Jack's right hip to his left shoulder.
"Ahhh!" He grabbed his chest and fell to his knees as blood began to come out of the wound.
"You will have to learn to deal with dying at age ten," Ligtigh said. "Just face the facts. You suck at life. You suck at being a ninja. You lose."
"Shutup," Jack looked at Ligtigh straight in the eyes. "I worked hard to gain the respect and admiration I have and I am not gonna lose it now. So you can forget about killing me because I am not going to lose to you!" Jack jumped to his feet and punched at Ligtigh's face. Ligtigh barely got his sword up in time to block it. There was a low ringing noise as Jack's fist connected with the metal. He followed up with a kick which connected with Ligtigh's legs. Ligtigh lowered his sword and stabbed at Jack who jumped above it. He brought his fist down on Ligtigh's and landed on his sword which went down with its owner. Jack pulled out a kunai and prepared to strike Ligtigh down, but Ligtigh flipped him over himself with his sword. Ligtigh got up as Jack did some hand signs from his place on the ground. "Shadow Pick Jutsu." His shadow grabbed Ligtigh's ankles. Ligtigh slashed at the shadow's hands with his sword and ended up cutting the tops of his own feet. Jack got up and did some more hand signs. Two clones appeared next to him and they walked to Ligtigh's sides. They all threw shuriken. Ligtigh managed to block a few, but he was hit in his left side with two and his right with one. Ligtigh gritted his teeth as they hit.
"Coward!" Ligtigh shouted. "You sit there and throw shuriken at me. Come here and fight me like a man!"
"Why should I? I have you right where I want you," Jack said.
"Because it would… um…" Ligtigh trailed off.
"Exactly." Jack said. Ligtigh threw his sword at the Jack directly in front of him. Jack barely ducked in time to let the sword fly over his head and into a tree. Ligtigh did a series of hand signs.
"Ghost swords!" Three misty sword appeared around Ligtigh. Two of them went out to the sides and impaled the clones which disappeared in clouds of smoke. The other slashed at the shadowy hands still retaining him. Jack's face reddened as the tops of his hands grew a cut which healed as quickly as it had come. The shadow released Ligtigh who dispelled the swords, and it returned to its owner. Ligtigh ran past Jack and yanked his sword out of the tree. He ran back at Jack and stabbed at him with the sword. Jack backed up just enough to dodge the attack. Ligtigh attacked again with a slash. Jack backed up again. Ligtigh pulled out a shuriken and threw it. It hit Jack square in the chest. He fell down as Ligtigh slashed again which caused Ligtigh to miss. Jack pulled out a kunai and stabbed at Ligtigh's foot. Ligtigh moved his foot, and Jack stabbed the ground again. Ligtigh brought his foot up and kicked Jack in the side of his head. A tooth and some blood came out of his head. Good. That one was loose anyway, Jack thought as he felt around his mouth with his tongue. He grabbed his tooth off the ground and kicked Ligtigh in the chin. He put the tooth in his pocket as Ligtigh stumbled backwards. Ligtigh began slashing, cutting and stabbing as fast as he could, and Jack either moved back or to the side. This went on for a little bit until Jack felt a tree at his back. Ligtigh stabbed at Jack who jumped. The sword got stuck in the tree, and Jack landed on it. Jack kicked at Ligtigh's head, but Ligtigh grabbed his foot. Ligtigh threw him over his head and yanked on his sword. To his surprise, it didn't budge.
"It doesn't look like your muscles are helping you now, does it?" Jack's voice came from behind Ligtigh.
"Just shutup. You are going to lose anyway," Ligtigh responded as he tugged on the sword again. Jack grabbed two shuriken and threw them at the back of Ligtigh's legs. Ligtigh's hands tightened around the handle of the sword, and he lowered himself to his knees. How did this happen? I am smarter than this, Ligtigh thought. I should of seen this coming. Jack got up and walked over to Ligtigh.
"You are the one who will die here," he said. He lifted his foot and put it on the handle where Ligtigh's hands remained plastered to the metal. He ground his foot into the flesh. Ligtigh's breath quickened, and his knuckles whitened. "You will pay for what you did to Jill."
"You do like her… I know you do," Ligtigh said. "It's so… obvious."
"Well… so what if I do!" Jack said the slightest bit angry.
"It's not bad. It just means your growing up. I remember my first crush like it was yesterday…" Ligtigh trailed off.
"I think we are a little off topic," Jack commented. Suddenly Ligtigh stood up and kicked Jack in the chest. Jack was knocked over so his foot came off Ligtigh's hands. Ligtigh yanked the two shuriken out of his legs and tossed them carelessly at Jack missing him by a foot. He managed to yank his sword out of the tree and brought it down towards Jack. Jack pulled out a kunai and stopped the blade from reaching him momentarily. However the blade lowered slowly towards Jack who was not strong enough to hold it off. Unknown to Ligtigh, Keith jogged out onto the field and saw Jack struggling against Ligtigh. He started running at them and jumped with his leg extended. Ligtigh was knocked back and rolled a small amount across the ground.
"I learned that move by watching old Chunin exam clips," Keith said to Jack.
"Leave this fight alone," Jack said not looking at Keith.
"Come again?"
"Let me fight this guy by myself," Jack said. "That is all I desire."
"Why would you turn down extra manpower?" Keith asked befuddled.
"I want to fight him myself," Jack reiterated. "So go back into the enclosement and watch."
"I… ok," Keith said. "You sure?"
"Positive."
"Ok." Keith jogged back towards the enclosement.
"You shouldn't have turned him down," Ligtigh said. "because you are going to need all the help you can get." Ligtigh put his sword on his back and pulled out two knives. He jumped the distance between him and Jack. Jack pulled out a second kunai as Ligtigh slashed at him with the knives. He blocked with his kunai knives and the two exchanged blows for a while. "Getting tired yet?"
"No," Jack said struggling against Ligtigh's knives.
"Well I suppose it depends on your training… or lack there of," Ligtigh said. "I was trained for strength, not endurance. You are probably pretty balanced between those two categories."
"I'll still beat you!" Jack said. He aimed a kick at Ligtigh's legs. Ligtigh took the moment to stab Jack in his left arm. Jack's attack connected with its target knocking Ligtigh off balance and causing him to fall over. Jack looked at the knife at pulled it out of his arm making sure it wasn't cursed. He threw it at the prone Ligtigh, but it hit the sword on his back. Ligtigh got up and whipped the sword off his back. Continuing in that motion, he slashed at Jack who barely had time to jump back. Ligtigh ran up to him and head butted him in the stomach. Jack was sent flying backwards, and he bounced off the ground before skidding to a halt. Ligtigh followed up by jumping above Jack and pointing his sword at Jack so that when he fell he would impale Jack. Jack rolled to the side when Ligtigh was a few feet above him so the sword stabbed his sword stabbed the ground. Ligtigh pulled the sword out of the dirt and brought it down on Jack. Jack rolled, but the blade still managed to catch his back and make a cut across it. Ligtigh ran over to where Jack lay and place his foot on Jack's chest.
"I told you you would lose," Ligtigh said. He raised his sword and brought it down on Jack's chest.
