Preliminaries
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, I only own my OC. (Female OC)
Summary: "Death, it's a funny thing really. There are people that fear the cold harsh whisper of death, while others welcome it like an old friend. Whenever I ever thought of someone dying, I always felt scared. I thought I was scared of dying, until I actually died."
Note: All information that I have I have gotten from Narutopedia, I hope I do not offend people by getting some information wrong! And if I do, I apologise in advance.
Also the Shīringu is mine alone, it belongs to me!
NARUTO
"This is a preliminary to the third exam with participation in the main battle on the line." Haku says looking at all of us with a smile.
"Huh?" Naruto says looking confused.
"Preliminary?" Sakura repeats.
Shikamaru protests, "What do you mean preliminary?!"
"I don't understand the point of this preliminary." Sakura says to Haku with confusion written clearly on her face, "Why aren't we doing the next exam with the remaining test takers?"
Haku answers, "Usually we would carry on. However, it seems as though the second test was too easy as so many of you have passed. In the rules of the Chunin exams, a preliminary will be held in order to reduce the number advancing."
"No way!" Sakura shouts.
"That wasn't easy in the slightest." I mumble to myself. We had to frickin' go against a legendary Sanin. Snake paedophile...
"As Hokage-sama said before, there will be many important guests coming to the third Chunin exam. So we cannot have pointless matches and our time is limited as well." Haku explains to us.
When Haku saw that no one protested this time, he continued to speak, "Those of you who wish to drop out, please speak now. Otherwise the preliminaries will begin immediately."
"Immediately, you say?!" Kiba shouts and glares at Haku. I send Kiba a dark look; no one hurts Onii-chan or speaks to him in that manner.
Ino looked crestfallen, "But we finally made it through the second exam."
"This is so troublesome." Shikamaru looks down to the floor.
"Huh? What about our meal?" Choji asks.
I actually felt sorry for some people. We got here two days early, so we had some time to rest and get our chakra back. Out of the bunch, we were probably one of the few teams that were in top physical condition. I wonder how my team will fair now that we've had rest and had time to replenish our chakra.
Naruto gulped, but at the same time had a gleam of excitement in his eyes.
"From now on, it will be individual battles from now on." Haku says with a thoughtful look. He must have forgotten to mention that, "It is your decision, so feel free to raise your hand and drop out."
I look around waiting for Kabuto's to withdraw. But he didn't raise his hand. My eyes widen, how could he have not?! Is it because he never met us in the forest and didn't get the data that he needed? That's the only thing I could think off.
I just glared at Kabuto as he stood there. What was he pulling? It was bad enough that I had messed up the Chunin exams; it's possible I could end up fighting my own team. But with Kabuto, that could mean I could end up fighting him. I send Sarutobi a confused look, I had told him that Kabuto gives up, but he didn't. There were meant to be ANBU ready to capture him when he tried to speak with Orochimaru. There's no way he knew about that, so Orochimaru must have told him to participate in the exams.
"No one?" Haku asks looking at us, expecting some to drop out too.
No one raised their hands.
Haku nods, "Now then, we will begin the preliminaries. The preliminaries to come will be one-on-one individual battles."
Haku looks around, "There are twenty-two people here, so we will have eleven matches. The winners of the preliminary will advance into the third round. There are no rules. You will fight until the other person dies, is knocked out or admits defeat."
I swear I saw a few people smirk, mainly Gaara and Zaku. Gaara was kind of expected because he is bloodthirsty, while Zaku just literally wants revenge on me. And in all honesty, Zaku and Gaara are the two people I do not want to fight. Luckily, Zaku fights Shino and Gaara fights Lee.
"However," Haku says pulling me from my thoughts. "If I deem the match over, I may stop you from causing any unnecessary deaths."
Haku looks to Anko, giving her a signal. Anko speaks into her microphone and a wall opens, it was the monitor that picked out names for the matches.
Haku continues, "This electrical board will randomly display the names of two fighters for each match. It will now display the first two fighters." After Haku finished speaking, the board came to life, and names began to flash randomly. I felt fairly confident; I knew that Sasuke and Yoroi were going to be the first match.
Nara Shikamaru vs. Tsurugi Misumi
My eyes widen and I feel my jaw drop, what?! Shika-kun wasn't meant to go against Misumi, he was meant to go against Kin! I look over to the Sarutobi, he looked as shocked as I did, I told who him the match ups. You don't think he did this on purpose? No, he looks as shocked as me, there's no way. It must really be at random.
Shikamaru groans, "This is so troublesome."
Misumi grunted but said nothing.
"Will the two fighters please step forward?" Haku says.
Misumi quickly walks to the front while Shikamaru simply walks. They stand a few feet away from each other looking at one another.
"Are there any objections?" Haku asks looking to the two fighters.
Misumi just shakes his head.
Shikamaru grumbles but shakes his head nonetheless, "Fine."
Haku nods his head, "We will now start the first match. Everyone other than the two fighters, please move up there." Haku points to the balcony. We all follow his instruction and go up the balcony. I look around and saw that Gaara and his team had isolated themselves, but them the furthest away from everyone. Our team Jonin soon joined us.
Once we were all settled, Haku speaks, "Begin!"
Immediately, Misumi springs into action. He jumps from his spot and aims a kick for Shikamaru. The kick hits, sending Shikamaru back. However, Shikamaru poofed away after being hit, it was a shadow clone.
Up in the balcony, Naruto looks shocked, "We didn't even see him make a shadow clone!"
"That's what you're supposed to do, baka." Sasuke mumbles as he watches the fight.
Naruto looked like he wanted to hit Sasuke, but his attention was soon pulled back to the fight below.
Down below, Misumi was attacking with Taijutsu, only to discover that it was shadow clones.
"You don't think he's actually fled, do you?" Ino mumbles to Choji.
Choji shrugs; he couldn't see the real Shikamaru anywhere.
This pattern continued for a while, Misumi would attack what he thought was Shikamaru, who would in turn not be the real him and poof away. This was starting to take a toll on Misumi, and he was starting to tire.
"What's Shikamaru doing?" Sakura asks looking down.
"He's tiring him out." I answer looking at the fight intently.
Naruto looks at me, "What do you mean?"
"Shika-kun knows he can't beat Misumi in Taijutsu, after all Shika-kun is rubbish at Taijutsu, so he's tiring him out." I answer, but after that I didn't know what he was going to do. I don't actually know what moves Shikamaru can do at this point in the anime. All I know is that he knows his Shadow Possession Jutsu, but that would be a risky move.
Back in the area, Misumi was starting to get aggravated. Due to his aggravation, he missed something from above. Misumi looked up and tried to dodge, but it was too late. It was six shadow clone Shikamaru's. While he was trapped, the real Shikamaru came out of hiding and did some hand seals.
"Shadow Possession Jutsu!" Shikamaru's shadow grew and travelled over to Misumi's shadow. Who didn't even notice the real Shikamaru or that he was casting a jutsu.
Misumi was confused when the six other Shikamaru's disappeared, he tried to move, but he felt frozen. His body felt stuck, he managed to look down to see his shadow connecting to Shikamaru.
"Give up." Shikamaru says with a small smirk.
Misumi tried to struggle, but he couldn't move.
Back up to the balcony, I was observing the match. Shikamaru has the clear advantage. However, Shikamaru and Misumi were in a stalemate. Shikamaru couldn't keep that jutsu up forever, and now what does he do? What else can he do with the shadow possession jutsu?
"I don't quit so easily!" Misumi shouts back to him.
Shikamaru shakes his head, making Misumi shake his head too. Shikamaru takes out a kunai, causing Misumi to copy him.
My eyes widen as I look down at the fight, "No."
Sasuke looks at me, "What?"
I grin while looking at Shikamaru, "He's a genius."
Sasuke looks at me funnily. Obvious he can't see what Shika-kun is about to do, but I surely can, I don't need to have seen the anime to know.
Back down in the area, Shikamaru takes a kunai, and flings it as Misumi. Misumi copies his move and throws the kunai. Each kunai heading for their opponent, Misumi looks scared while Shikamaru looks calm. Misumi gets scared as the kunai gets closer to him, that's when he realised that the kunai was heading for his eye. You would expect the kunai that Misumi sent to also aim for Shikamaru's eye, but because of the height difference, the kunai would have missed Shikamaru completely.
"I surrender!" Misumi shouts.
The kunai coming for his eye disappears along with the Shikamaru before him. Once Misumi was free from the shadow possession jutsu, he fell to the floor in despair, he had lost. While Misumi was mopping, the real Shikamaru came out of hiding.
"Winner, Shikamaru Nara!" Haku announces.
Shikamaru just lazily nods his head and goes to join his team.
Naruto and Sasuke look at Misumi in shock, he had just given up?!
Sakura looks to me confused, "What did you mean that you know what he was going to do?"
"Shika-kun doesn't have that wide of a move set. That shadow possession is his ace, but it can be near useless without Ino's mind possession jutsu. It would have been a stalemate if Shika-kun didn't do what he just did. It's possible that Misumi would have won." I explain to my team.
Naruto and Sasuke look at Misumi with disappointment in their eyes.
"Sasuke!" Sakura says looking to the board.
We all look to the board.
Uchiha Sasuke vs. Akado Yoroi
I felt like my head was going to explode, so now it decides to follow the anime?! I wanted to rip my hair out, but I stopped myself. This match was easy to predict, Sasuke would win. He won in the anime when he had the curse mark, and he would win now.
Haku seemed to hiding a grin, "Will the contestants please come down?"
Sasuke walks down confidently, and soon Yoroi joins them. When they were in front of Haku, he asks, "Any objections?"
"None." Both Sasuke and Yoroi say.
"Begin!" Haku says.
Instantly, they both attack each other. I look away bored, that's when the sudden urge to pee came over me. I look to Kakashi, who also looked bored, "Kakashi-sensei, where's the bathroom?" I ask him.
Kakashi looks at me, "Aren't you going to stay and watch the fight?"
"Why?" I ask, "We already know who's going to win."
Kakashi smiled at me under his mask, "Go through the door and it's the door on your right."
I nod and walk off. I went into the toilet and did my business. When I came out of the bathroom, I was nearly knocked over by someone. I was about to snap at them when I saw it was Kabuto. I glare at him but don't say anything.
Kabuto smiles at me, "Hello Akemi-chan."
"Cut the act." I say.
Kabuto looks at me with concerned look, "What do you mean Akemi-chan?"
"I know you're working for Orochimaru." I say flatly staring at his headband.
Kabuto's eyes widen slightly, but they return back to normal, "Is that so?" His eyes seemed colder now; this was how I knew I was talking to the real Kabuto, the cold and calculating one. The lap dog of Orochimaru.
"What do you want?" I ask with a glare.
Kabuto gave me an innocent look, "Why Akemi-chan, I wanted to use the toilet."
"This is the girl's toilet." I answer flatly.
Kabuto quickly looks to the sign; the sign was indeed for the girl's toilet. He looks a little embarrassed, but I knew it was fake. "Oh! I didn't know!" Kabuto says with a sheepish grin.
"What does Orochimaru want?" I ask getting straight to the point.
Kabuto straightens his back, "Why, I don't know what you mean?"
I smirk, "Oh really, is that why he mentioned you." I was bluffing, Orochimaru had done no such thing in mentioning him, but I wanted to know if he would fall for it.
Panic flashes in Kabuto's eyes, but that is quickly hidden, "I don't know what you mean? Why don't you trust me?" Kabuto asks as he fakes a hurt expression.
"I don't trust people who hide their real village." I glare at him, well more like his Hitaiate.
Kabuto took a step back in shock; obviously he hadn't been informed about my Shīringu. This could play into my favour.
I was about to ask why he hadn't forfeited, but someone interrupted us. It was his other teammate, Misumi Tsurugi, "It's your turn." He says to Kabuto while glaring at me.
I scoff and walk away from them. But as I walked away, I could feel their gaze on my back.
When I got back, Sasuke was smirking and standing confidently with a few scraps. I look to the area, Yoroi was lying on the floor, and he was unconscious.
"I take it you won then." I say as I stand back into my place.
Sasuke smirks, "Of course."
"Where did you go?" Sakura asks me.
"I needed to pee." I answer.
Sakura sends me a look.
"What?" I protest, "My need to pee is greater than watching Sasuke win a battle we all knew he was going to win!"
Naruto looks at me, "You knew?"
I shrug, "It wasn't hard to guess."
I look to the electronic bored and see who was next.
Tsuchi Kin vs. Yakushi Kabuto
Well this was going to be interesting. Kabuto was far stronger than he let on; he was at a Jonin level if I remember correctly. Sure, Kin was alright, but she was be annihilated by Kabuto. I was wondering who she would fight, after all in the anime she fought Shikamaru, but he was already taken. At this moment I was cheering for Kin because of how much I hate Kabuto.
Both contestants went down to the arena.
"Any objections?" Haku asks looking to Kabuto and Kin.
Kin scoffed, "Get on with it."
You know what; I take back what I said. I want Kabuto to kill her. I wanted to rip her throat out; no one speaks to my Onii-chan like that!
Haku ignores her and looks to Kabuto, who simply, nods his head.
"Begin!" Haku says.
Kin throws her senbon, the ones that had wire on them. I noticed them by accident because of the light. But without that and my prior knowledge from the anime, I wouldn't have known. Kabuto calmly dodges them with precision.
It seemed that Kin was trying to lead him into a trap; she had him surrounded with senbon needles. She had made a circle around him, she tugged on the wires, she had trapped him, and there was no escape. The wires would cut through him like cheese. However, she didn't the chance. Kabuto made some hand seals and made chakra scalpels. With a swipe of his wrists, he cut though the wires, making her plan fail.
Once he was out of the trap, he attacked with his chakra scalpels. Kin dodged, but she was clumsy, and because of this clumsiness, Kabuto managed to catch her with his scalpel slightly. But that's all he needed.
Kin fell to the floor; he had paralysed her with that one stroke.
Haku was quickly by her side and checked over her, once he saw that she was unable to continue fighting, he stood up. "Kin is unable to battle. Kabuto wins!"
I look over to my teammates, they all seemed shocked, "T-that was too easy..." Sakura whispers.
I nod my head, "That's because like I said, he's the paedophiles lap dog." Even though I secretly thought she deserved it for speaking to Haku like she did. There was no dishonour by being beaten by Kabuto; he was stronger than he let on, and a genius at that. It would actually be handy if he was taken out before he became a problem. That way he wouldn't be able to absorb Orochimaru and be the little shit that I know he will be.
"Akemi!" Sakura gets my attention.
"What?" I ask looking at her.
She silently points to the board.
Nakahara Akemi vs. Abumi Zaku
Shit.
The one person I didn't want to fight against. He wanted revenge, and he will certainly try and get it. I silently walk down the stairs, not taking any notice of the concerned looks I was getting from Naruto and Sasuke.
Once I stood in front of Zaku, he smirked at me malicious, "I'm going to pay you back for my arms you bitch."
Haku's eyes flashed but he kept his composure.
"I'd like to see you try." I say with a smirk of my own.
"Are there any objections?" Haku asks us, looking at me with a curious look.
We both shake our heads.
"Begin!" Haku says, sending a glare to Zaku before jumping out of the way.
As soon as Haku was out of the way, Zaku jumped for me. I quickly dodged him; I didn't want him to land a hit on me. If he got a hold of my arms, I have no doubt that he would return the favour. However, because I wasn't paying attention, Zaku managed to make a clone and attack me from behind.
At the last second I dodged, but his kunai managed to scratch me below my right eyes. Shit he was trying to get my eyes. I touched the cut and looked at my hand; there was blood on my hands, my blood. I look up and glare at him.
"I'll gouge those eyes out of you, you bitch." Zaku growls as he charges at me again.
I felt myself become angry. I flashed away and reappeared in front of him. I punched him in the stomach. He retched forward, giving me the opportunity to kick him upwards by the chin. With him in the air I threw three kunai at him.
Zaku landed heavily on the floor. He struggled to get up, but he managed it. I was watching him from a distance away. I was actually bored; this wasn't interesting in the slightest. When Zaku was kneeling he laughed.
"Why are you laughing?" I ask him.
Zaku continued to laugh. He moved his good arm so it was facing me; he was going to use his wind jutsu on me!
I was about to jump away, but someone grabbed me from behind and held me in place. I tried to fight the clone of Zaku off, but I couldn't. Dammit, this is what happens when I underestimate someone! I underestimated him by thinking he was useless without his second arm.
"Bye bye." Zaku says as he sends a wind cyclone at me.
The clone disappear as the winds cut me, the winds were like tiny little kunai cutting me. It sent me back until I hit the wall hard. I fell to my knees panting a little. In the cyclone I couldn't breathe. I look up and see Zaku.
I tried to get away but he grabbed my arm and pulled.
"AH!" I scream as I felt my arm being pulled roughly.
Zaku laughed at my pain.
I grit my teeth and take out a kunai; I stab his hand holding my arm. He grunts and releases hold of me. I jump away and examine my arm. Luckily he hadn't been able to do anything to it.
I make the hand seals, "Suiton: Rekkū Suigeki!" With this jutsu I spat numerous amounts of extremely large jets of water from my mouth at high speed. Zaku wasn't fast enough to dodge, causing him to get hit.
While he was distracted, I infused chakra into my fist and attacked him. I managed to hit him on his shoulder, breaking his other arm. I twisted my body so I was able to kick him in the face.
Zaku fell to the ground unconscious.
Haku appeared next to him and examined him, "Zaku is unable to battle. Akemi wins!" Haku says standing up. He sends me a smile before returning to his emotionless face.
I smile back and walk back to my teammates. As soon as I was near them, Naruto swarmed me and hugged me, "I knew you could do it!" Naruto yells with glee in his tone.
I hug him back, "Thank you Naruto-kun."
Sasuke appeared beside me, "What happened out there?"
I look at him, "What do you mean?" Naruto let's go of me and also looks at me.
"You could have annihilated him in minutes." Sasuke says glaring at me.
I sigh, "I felt guilty about what I did to him."
Naruto shakes his head, "That wasn't you, Akemi-chan."
"I know," I say, "But I couldn't help it."
Naruto grinned at me, "Well you won anyway."
"I was really worried when he got your arm." Sakura says joining the conversation.
"So was I." I say with a small smile. When Zaku had got my arm, I thought I was going to be coming away with a broken arm, but I was lucky. He couldn't do anything bad with one arm; it was a two arm job. However, his wind cyclone thing hurt like a bitch.
I felt someone pat my head, I look up to see Kakashi petting my head. I smile but let him continue. He smiled at me from under the mask.
"Sakura, look, you're next!" Naruto shouts getting our attention.
I look at the board to see who Sakura was against.
Haruno Sakura vs. Yamanaka Ino
Are you freaking kidding me?!
I look to Sakura, her eyes were wide. She was going to be facing her ex-best friend. She walked down the stairs like a zombie. Ino looked to be just as shocked as Sakura and walked down the stairs in silence.
"What's wrong with Sakura?" Naruto asks.
I decided to keep quiet; I wasn't really meant to know about this. Luckily, Kakashi spoke, "Ino and Sakura used to be very close friends, but they aren't now."
I turn to look at him, "Why's that sensei?"
Kakashi doesn't say anything, but he looks at Sasuke. Sasuke's eyes widen, but then he glares, "Because of me?" Sasuke asks.
Kakashi nods his head.
"Oh look Sasuke; you're also the destroyer of friendships." I say with a grin.
Naruto chuckles while Sasuke glares at me.
The match between Sakura and Ino wasn't really interesting; I kind of blanked it out. In the anime it seemed to go on for so long. Sakura doesn't have any moves that are worth mentioning, and Ino only seemed to have one, the Mind Possession Jutsu.
I was pulled back into reality when Naruto shouts, "Don't you dare quit Sakura!"
I look down, Ino was slumped on the floor, and her hair was cut and all over the floor. Just like in the anime, Ino used her hair to trap Sakura in her jutsu and invaded her mind.
Sakura/Ino glares up at Naruto.
Sasuke shakes his head, "Ino's won."
"Not necessarily." I say with smile.
From the arena, Sakura begins to shake and she grabs her head, "Get out!" Sakura shouts as she repels Ino back into her own body. I doubt she would have been able to do that without the help of her 'Inner Sakura'.
As soon as Ino was back in her body, she began to pant, "What the hell was that?!"
"What was what?" Naruto asks me. My response was a shrug.
Both Sakura and Ino got serious, they wrapped their Hitaiate around their foreheads and they attacked each other with Taijutsu. They weren't good, at all. They knew the academy basics but that was it. There was nothing impressive to report.
Ino and Sakura managed to land a punch on each other, sending them both back. They were both unconscious. Haku checked them both, "Both candidates are unable to battle. I call this battle a draw!"
Kakashi and Asuma appeared and took their student away. Kakashi appeared next to me, "Do you mind healing her?"
I shake my head and begin to heal Sakura, she didn't sustain anything major. In fact all she got was a couple of scrapes.
"She'll wake in maybe an hour." I say to Kakashi.
He nods his head and looks to the board. I follow his gaze and see who was up next.
Aburame Shino vs. Tenten
I wanted to bang my head against the rail so badly. What was with this following it the anime one minute and then disregarding it the next?! But this would be interesting. When Tenten battled Temari, she was fighting a losing battle. But what could Tenten do against an army of bugs? Besides stab them. I know Shino is strong, which is why I'm pegging that Shino was going to win.
"Begin!" Haku says as he jumps away from Tenten and Shino.
As I expected, Tenten was the first one to initiate an attack. She grabbed a handful of shuriken and threw them at Shino. Shino skilfully dodged, but he didn't dodge them all. One stray shuriken managed to cut his high neck coat on the shoulder. From the tear in the coat, bugs came crawling out.
Shino didn't really do anything, which made him even creepier. He just looked at Tenten with his tinted glasses. He raised his hand and a swarm of flying bugs appears from his sleeves and attacked Tenten. Tenten grabbed her kunai and began to kill the bugs that got near her.
If it was me I probably would have freaked out, I personally hate bugs.
Naruto beside me shivered, "That's creepy."
I nod my head in agreement.
Tenten actually seemed to be doing very well, she was killing bugs left right and centre, and she was getting closer to Shino. When she was close enough, she managed to punch Shino in the face, sending him backwards.
Shino got up decided to attack himself. He lunged for Tenten and begun to kick and hit her. However, Tenten was able to avoid him very gracefully. Tenten jumped away, when panic flashed through her eyes. She took a kunai out and stabbed at her arm, it was a large bug that seemed to be sucking at her chakra.
She tore the bug off her and flung it away, she took out two scrolls. I recognised them from the anime. From the two scrolls, she managed to summon at least two hundred different types of blades and weapons.
With the new weapons she attacked furiously. It looked like Tenten was going to win until Shino managed to plant a bug on her without her noticing. Tenten continued to fight until she felt tired, which was surprisingly quick.
She kneeled on the floor, catching her breathe.
"What's wrong with her?" Naruto asks looking at Tenten.
I look at her, her face was flushed, but it wasn't because of the fighting. I look at her more closely; there was a lump at her side under her top.
"She's been poisoned." I say.
Naruto and Sasuke look at me, "What do you mean?" Sasuke asks.
"Shino's planted a poisonous bug on her, that's why she's tired, the poisons working through her system." Kakashi explain also seeing what I did.
I nod, "I imagine with teammates like Lee and a sensei like Gai that Tenten would have a great deal of endurance. But it's barely even been ten minutes, there's no way that she would be tired this quickly."
"What can she do?" Naruto asks.
I shrug at him, "I don't know. I don't know how strong the poison is, but if it's worked that quickly, I'd say it's quite potent."
"How do you know this?" Sasuke demands.
I raise an eyebrow at him, "Medic."
Sasuke glares at me but doesn't say anything.
Back in the arena, Tenten doesn't look so good. The poison was taking affect of her, but she didn't know about that bug. She shakily got up and attacked, but her attacks were slow and sluggish, not nearly as good as they were before.
Tenten became frustrated, why was she tiring so quickly? She looked down and saw a lump, that damn bastard. Tenten took a kunai and stabbed the bug, killing it. She felt a glare on her, she looked up and saw Shino glaring at her, she couldn't really tell because of his glasses.
Shino attacked, but he seemed quicker than normal.
"He's angry." I say looking at Shino's posture.
Naruto looks at me, "What makes you say that Akemi-chan?"
"His fists are clenched," Sasuke answers instead, "and so is his jaw and his attacks are more furious than they were before."
I nod, he was right, "He's angry that Tenten is killing bugs in front of him."
"Freaky." Naruto mumbled, which I and Sasuke both agreed with.
Finally it seemed that Tenten could go on no longer. She fell to her knees and passed out. Haku checked up on her, "Tenten is unable to battle. Shino is the winner."
On the other side of me, I heard someone scoff. I turn my head and saw that it was Neji. I glare at him. He looked in my direction and glared at me too. Lee, who was standing by Neji, was looking at Tenten in worry.
Oh I can't wait for Naruto to beat the shit out of him, Neji the little toe rag. Hopefully that fight does happen, because Neji is so depressing. I just really hope that Hinata doesn't have the displeasure of fighting him.
"Hey Akemi-chan, look!" Naruto says getting my attention.
I look at the board.
Hyuuga Hinata vs. Hyuuga Neji
"God dammit!" I yell.
I look over to Hinata; she was shaking with fear in her eyes. As she passed me, I patted her shoulder, she flinched when I touched her shoulder, but she relaxed when she saw it was me.
"Good luck." I say with a smile.
I didn't need to have watched the anime to know that Neji hated her. Hinata told me while we were training. She told me how Neji hated her and treated her like dirt when they were alone. If he treated her like dirt in front of anyone, he would be punished severely.
"Akemi-chan, what's wrong?" Naruto asked me.
"I'm worried for Hinata." I say.
Sasuke looks at me, "Why?"
I bit my lip, "Neji absolutely hates Hinata. I fear what's going to happen."
Sasuke and Naruto share a confused look, but said no more on the subject.
Down in the arena, Neji and Hinata stood in front of each other. Neji glaring at her said, "I didn't think that I would be fighting you, Hinata-sama."
"Neji-nii-san..." Hinata mumbles.
Naruto look at the two confused, "Nii-san?"
Sasuke's eyebrows were raised, "They're siblings?"
I shake my head, "No, they're cousins."
"They come from Konoha's oldest noble family, the Hyuuga Clan," Kakashi explains to us.
Sakura steals a glance at Sasuke, "You mean like the Uchiha Clan?"
Kakashi nods his head.
"Hinata comes from the head family of the Clan, while Neji comes from the branch family." I explain, trying to keep the explanation as vague as possible. Hinata had only told me so much, and I didn't want to explain too much in case someone became suspicions.
Naruto looks confused, "Head family and branch family?"
Sasuke was the one to explain, "Hinata is from the Hyuuga heads family, in other words the founders. Neji comes from the branch family, which carried the same bloodline."
Sakura looked awed by his explanation.
"So it's a fight between relatives." Naruto say starting to understand.
I shake my head, "It's more than that. There's bad blood in the family, Neji is resentful toward the main branch."
Sasuke looks at me, "How do you know?"
"Hinata and I have been training together. While we were training I noticed something wrong with her. I asked what was wrong and she explained the feud, and how much Neji hates her." I explain to my team.
"What happened?" Naruto asks me.
I shrug, "She wouldn't tell me exactly what happened."
Back down in the arena, Hinata was looking at the floor while Neji was staring at her intently. Hinata could feel Neji's glare on her, which only served to make her more nervous.
Haku look at the two, "The seventh match will now commence!" Haku jumped out of the way to let them have room to fight.
"Before we fight, let me warn you about one thing, Hinata-sama." Neji says.
Hinata looks up.
"Give up." Neji says as his glare hardens. "You are not suited to be a ninja."
Hinata gasps, her eyes widen in horror.
"You are too kind," Neji continues, "you seek harmony and avoid trouble. You are also easily swayed."
Hinata looks away from Neji.
"You have no self-confidence." Neji says flatly.
"Y-you're wrong." Hinata mumbles.
Neji looks at her shocked that she had even said anything.
"I-I wanted to do this." Hinata says feeling a bit more confident as the adrenaline rushed through her. "I-I w-wanted to do this to prove I could change."
Neji glared at her. "Hinata-sama, you indeed are spoilt. People cannot change."
Hinata looked down at the floor.
"A failure is a failure no matter what." Neji continues.
Back up in the balcony, I was gripping the rails tightly in anger. "Shut up!" I shout to Neji glaring at him. I was nearly going to jump down from the balcony and hit Neji, but I felt two people grab me so I didn't. I didn't need to turn around to know Sasuke and Naruto had grabbed me.
Neji looks up at me with disdain written on his face. "Why don't you keep out of this, you monster."
Haku's hand twitched for his kunai.
"What you are saying is bullshit!" I yell, "Hinata is the sweetest person I have ever met, she is worth twenty of you!"
"Yeah Hinata! Don't let him speak to you like that!" Naruto shouts down.
Hinata looks up at us in shock, hearing what they had just said made her feel happy, someone believed in her. Especially Naruto, now it was his turn to see her, and not the other way around. Hinata nods her head, the look of determination and fierceness that Neji hadn't ever seen appeared in her eyes.
"Get ready, Nii-san." Hinata says as she activates her Byakugan.
Neji scoffed, but went into battle position anyway and activating his Byakugan.
Both Byakugan users lunged at each other, and began to hit each other. But it wasn't usual Taijutsu, it was the special Taijutsu that only the Hyuuga's were taught. They fought with their palms outwards, and each time they thrust their hands forward, there would be bursts of chakra. Each time, they would miss each other, when Neji aimed for her chest, Hinata ducked and attacked while Neji was recovering from an attack.
As I watched the two Hyuuga's fight, I couldn't help but notice something different about Hinata. In the anime she was fierce in this fight, but she seems even more fierce than usual. She was also quicker than before. Maybe the training she and I did did her some good.
Every time Neji went to hit her, Hinata skilfully dodged. The same with Hinata, every time she tried to hit Neji, he would dodge her. This routine continued on for at least ten minutes. It didn't seem like they were getting anywhere. That was until Neji and Hinata both hit each other on the chest. Both locked in place.
In the anime, Hinata hadn't made her mark, but Neji did. However, it would seem this time, Hinata did hit her mark. Both Neji and Hinata had blood trailing down their mouths.
"H-how?" Neji asks in pain.
Hinata, who was also in pain answered, "I-I've had help."
Even if Hinata had made her mark, her endurance levels weren't that great. Hinata fell to her knees and panted heavily. Neji had hit her heart, which was very painful and made it hard to breathe. Neji was also weakened quite a bit, but not as much as Hinata.
Hinata saw an opportunity and tried to strike, but Neji was quicker. He grabbed her outstretched arm and hit a pressure point. Neji rolled up Hinata's arm sleeves, Hinata's arms were full of marks, they looked like chicken pox, but they weren't. They were where Neji was hitting Hinata, blocking her chakra from her arms.
Hinata looks at her arm in shock, "Did you... so you were..."
"Correct," Neji says, "My eyes can see the tenketsu."
Back up in the balcony, Naruto looks slightly distressed and confused, "What's going on?"
Kakashi explains, "In the chakra circulatory system, there are 362 points know as chakra holes. Their width is as small as a needle though, they are also known as tenketsu. In theory, if you hit them accurately you can stop or increase the enemy's flow of chakra. My Sharingan is unable to see those tenketsu."
Sasuke looks at Kakashi with surprise on his face.
"Although, the Sharingan has the ability of insight, it cannot see it that precisely during battle." Kakashi says.
Back in the arena, Neji hits Hinata again in the chest, sending her skidding across the floor. Neji walks towards Hinata, but stops after a few steps, "Hinata-sama, this is the difference in our unchangeable powers. It's the difference that separates the elites from the dropouts. This is the unchangeable reality." Neji says.
"You're wrong. I'm... not... going to... take back... my words." Hinata says weakly as she gets up from the floor. As she was getting up, blood began coming out of the mouth, staining the floor. "This is my way of a ninja." Hinata says finally able to stand up on her own.
Annoyance flashes in Neji's eyes.
Hinata activates her Byakugan, ready to fight. However, it seemed as though she couldn't take much more. Her heart constricted, causing her to cough up more blood. Regardless of Hinata's condition, Neji gets ready to fight, with no look of sympathy on his face; in fact he looked like he was enjoying seeing Hinata in pain.
"Hinata! Do your best!" Naruto shouts down.
"Beat his ass!" I shout as well.
Kakashi gave me a look of disapproval but didn't say anything.
Hinata smiles, the fierceness and determination appearing in her eyes once again. When she was ready, she charged and the fight began once more. Just like last time, they were hitting each other with the palms outwards, but this time there wasn't any burst of chakras.
Hinata seemed like she was doing well, until Neji pushed her back. Hinata began to cough violently, after a few moments, she charged back into the fight.
But this time, she wasn't so lucky.
Neji slipped past all her defences and hit Hinata over the heart again. Hinata's Byakugan began to disappear and more blood came out of her mouth. Hinata fell to the floor.
"Hinata!" I shout.
Naruto clenched his fists.
Haku looked unsure whether or not he should intervene. He looked to the Hokage, who shook his head.
Neji looked down at the fallen Hyuuga, "You are such a stubborn person." Neji says shaking his head. "Your attacks had no effect on me to begin with. It's over."
Neji began to walk away, believing that Hinata was done for.
Haku appeared by Hinata's side, and was going to say she was unable to fight, until Naruto shouted out, "Wait, she's waking up!"
"Don't stop this match!" I shout out giving Haku a pleading look.
Neji stops and turns around, as I had said, Hinata was getting up, very slowly and weakly, but it was something. It took a few minutes, but Hinata was back on her feet.
"Why did you stand up?" Neji asks. "If you push yourself, you're going to die."
When Hinata didn't answer, Neji glared, "Why?!"
Neji began to shake in rage, and that rage activated the Byakugan. The murderous intent was clear on his face.
"Hinata! Get out of the way!" I shout down to her.
Neji charged, with full intent of killing Hinata. However, he didn't get very war. Gai held Neji back, Kurenai held his arm; Kakashi held his other arm, and Haku was in front of the Hyuuga boy.
"Neji cut it out." Gai says to his pupil. "You made a passionate promise with me that you will not argue about the head family."
Neji grit his teeth, "Why did the other Jonins come out? Does the head family receive special treatment?"
I jump down next to Hinata, "No." I say getting Neji's attention, "people actually like Hinata."
Neji glares at me with hate in his eyes. It was very clear that he wanted to shut me up, he tried to struggle the Jonins grip, which only got tighter.
"You will not touch her." Haku hisses glaring directly at Neji.
Neji flinched slightly at Haku's glare and calmed down. He knew that there was no chance that he could fight off three Jonin and a Chunin.
Suddenly, Hinata's heart clenched, causing her to fall to the floor, coughing up more blood. I kneel done beside her and tried to heal her as best I could until the medics got her.
Kurenai jumped to Hinata's side.
Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura also jumped down, Sasuke was just following his teammates. As he passed Neji, Sasuke made sure to glare at him with hatred. He didn't have anything against the Hyuuga other than the fact about what he said to his female teammate.
"What's wrong with Hinata?" Naruto asks me.
"She's going into cardiac arrest." I say trying to help Hinata.
"Naruto-kun..." Hinata mumbles weakly when she sees Naruto.
The medics soon came and took Hinata away.
"Hey, dropout." Neji says trying to get Naruto's attention.
Naruto was going to turn around, but I stopped him, "Don't let him address you as a dropout Naruto."
Naruto nods his head and we begin to walk back to the balcony.
"I see you're listening to the monster." Neji taunts.
I felt Naruto and Sasuke tense next to me, even Sakura tenses when she hears what he called me.
Haku looks at Neji with a deadly look flashing in his eyes, "What did you just call her?"
"The only monster here is you Neji." I answer turning around to face him. I turn back around and walk away from him. I refuse to give him the satisfaction of calling Naruto a dropout anymore. Just looking at Naruto's face made me realise he didn't need to listen to Neji anymore to make him want to kill him. What Neji did to Hinata was enough to make Naruto's blood boil.
Haku glares at Neji as he speaks, "Neji Hyuuga is the winner of this battle."
Neji scoffs and walks back to the balcony, making sure to stay away from me and my team. As he walked back, Sasuke and Naruto were glaring at him.