((My BETA made the comment after I posted the last chapter that 'recently my works have seemed a little rushed'
((My BETA made the comment after I posted the last chapter that 'recently my works have seemed a little rushed'. I looked back and realized that, at least at the very end of the last chapter, he was right. Thus, I took his recommendation to 'take a short break from writing', thus making this chapter as late as it is. Hopefully, my writing will be back to normal for this chapter…
Disclaimer: sigh Still don't own Naruto…Guess I'll never have the money for that new car…))
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Untouched Loser
Kakashi furrowed his gradually aging brow. The Naruto clone standing next to him looked around anxiously, ready to resume the chase. The elder jounin looked down at the pug in front of him.
"Well, Pakkun?"
The small dog glanced back at him. "He was definitely here a short while ago. Seems like he spent a lot of time here."
"But that's impossible! We were here the whole time! No one's come through at all!" declared a guard next to the three. Neither Kakashi nor Naruto dignified that with a response as they took off after a still tracking Pakkun.
"Idiot!" yelled his companion, who still stood by the entrance they were supposed to be guarding. "You should know by now that nothing is impossible! We're ninja for Kami's sake!" the first guard only frowned.
A few corridors down, the Naruto clone snarled. "Can't we go any faster? He'll get away at this rate."
Kakashi frowned at that. He had been one of the first ones Naruto had notified when his first clone was dispelled. The older jounin quickly agreed to help, summoning Pakkun. Along the way, they had told a number of ANBU to keep an eye out for a teenage Mist nin.
Unfortunately, the Kiri nin seemed to be able to somehow disperse his scent as Pakkun was having trouble tracking him, making progress slow. The dog had already told the pair as much, but that didn't stop the anxiousness from their minds.
The pug glanced back at the Naruto clone in annoyance. "We caught up some because of the length of the Mist nin's last stop. As long as I don't lose the trail, should he stop again, we'll catch him."
Kakashi caught Naruto's nod out of the corner of his eye. The white haired jounin almost sighed. If this wasn't such a serious matter, he would be reading his beloved Icha Icha right now…
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Hinashin, being a teenage girl, had to admit: Jiheki looked attractive with half his clothes burned off. The blackened skin took little away from his strong musculature. It was almost enough for her to ask him out on a date.
Of course, she knew there was more to people than their looks. Her mother and father had taught her that. (Seriously, who could be attracted to that obnoxious orange? It was ridiculous!)
Besides, he was her opponent.
And she'd be damned if she lost because of her developing hormones.
Thus, she started forward with a battle cry, activating her Byakugan with a few quick hands seals.
It wasn't long before Jiheki sent his sand at her. She smirked. Now, she could disperse his only defense.
Just before it reached her, she leapt into the air. The sand quickly changed course so that it would be where she would land. With a grin, the Hyuuga began spinning mid-air.
She landed in the middle of the sand as it rose to encase her. With one simple push of her feet, she initiated one of her clan's trademark moves.
"Kaiten!" (Rotation)
In a flash, the metallic sand was thrown everywhere. A second later, Hinashin was out of her spin and charging her opponent, explosive tagged kunai in hand, once more.
Five quick steps and she was reaching out to slash at the Sand nin with her kunai. He dodged to the side, directly into the path of a Jyuuken strike to his leg. He grunted as the limb gave out underneath him.
Hinashin launched herself backward, throwing the explosive tagged kunai just short of Jiheki. The blast sent the Suna genin flying back into the arena wall, causing a small indent. A second later, he fell to the ground, unconscious.
The Hyuuga didn't realize until she landed on the ground that she might have gone too far.
"Shit."
She rushed forward to join the small group of medic nin that went to aid the foreign shinobi as Uchiha Sasuke called the match.
"Winner: Hyuuga Hinashin!"
The Leaf genin watched anxiously as one of the medics took the boy's pulse.
"Is he going to be alright?"
She was surprised when the healer that had been shining a light into Jiheki's forced open eyes responded.
"He'll be fine. Doesn't even seem to have a concussion. The genius kept just enough sand to cushion the worst part of the blow."
He nodded toward the wall, indicating what he meant. The kunoichi turned and, to her surprise, saw sand falling from the indent in the wall slowly, taking on the vague shape of the gourd that had formerly been on the boy's back. She let out a deep sigh of relief.
She jumped slightly when Temari appeared next to her. "Good match," said the jounin emotionlessly, not even looking at the girl next to her.
Hinashin glanced at her. "Hai. Gomen."
The blond Sand sensei waved it off, as if knowing that Jiheki would be fine, before following after the medics as they carried the boy out on a stretcher.
The Hyuuga turned back to look at her teammates. When she saw Rokuden's slight smile and Tenten-sensei's smirk, she couldn't help but grin. She started back toward the balcony, rolling her eyes when her father began cheering…loudly.
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Tounyo was in a relatively good mood. His team had passed the second test without a problem, even getting medical aid for the Stone team they had severely crippled in the process. They had had a full three days of rest, giving them a distinct advantage over the other teams, most of which had finished in the last two days; only the older Leaf and Sand teams had managed to beat the there. He had even been able to watch his teammate take nearly half of his fellow poker player's weapons. Furthermore, none of the team members had fought yet.
This, of course, only made Kizui even more anxious.
But it helped relax the medic nin. He was able to watch the other teams and analyze their fighting styles, finding flaws consistently that he planned to take advantage of should he ever fight them. And there were always flaws, even in the older genin. The sheer number of impurities he found was slowly boosting his confidence.
Locating the weaknesses in battle would be a different story though. It was much harder to focus on the opponent when you had to pay attention to yourself too. You couldn't simply let yourself get maimed, now could you?
He watched with a slight smile as the latest winner joined them once more on the balcony. That had been an…interesting fight. It had been so…spontaneous. A big difference from the usual styles he analyzed.
He offered the blonde a slight nod as she went by, not really surprised when he received a smirk in response.
He looked back at the battleboard as the names started blurring across it, noting with amusement that Kizui was in a prayer position, muttering, "Please, let me be next. Please, let me be next."
The male blonde jumped slightly when Taru stepped up beside him. "Confident, isn't she?" He followed her gaze to find the previous match's winner and snorted.
"Hai, but it's not entirely unfounded."
He caught the small smile that flitted across his teammate's face. "Her father seems to agree."
Tounyo looked down at Uzumaki Naruto to find him proclaimed rather loudly how 'undefeatable' his daughter was. He couldn't help but laugh. The man sounded so much like an amazed child and yet a proud father at the same time.
It was Kizui's groan of disappointment that brought his attention back to the board.
Emerarudo Tounyo vs. Teisuu Uppun.
The blonde raised an eyebrow, wondering who his opponent was. Catching motion in the corner of his vision, he turned to find the only remaining Cloud nin vaulting over the railing.
Tounyo frowned. "This might not be good," he thought blankly. "If he's anything like his teammate, I'll have to watch out for be cautious and watch for set-ups…"
"Kick his ass, Tounyo-chan!"
The genin didn't even have to turn to know that it was Kizui that had said that. "Hai. Hai." The distraction in his voice must have been obvious because Konohamaru-sensei gave some rare words of encouragement.
"You can win this, Tounyo-kun. I know you can."
The male blonde let a small smile come to his face. "Arigato, sensei."
"Have fun."
He glanced sideways at the smirking Taru. He merely rolled his eyes at her antics. Taking his time, he walked down the steps to the arena below, hoping to calm himself down before he got there.
From the icy glare that his foe had fixed him with by the time he was across from the Kumo nin, he could tell his pace wasn't well liked. This caused him to smirk. Perhaps, he could rile his opponent up a little before they got started.
"So tell me," he started as casually as he could manage, the nerves of having an audience to watch his fight getting to him a bit. "How do you stack up to your plant-using teammate up there?" He nodded towards Sutamina briefly.
The Kumo nin, Uppun, lifted his head so that he was talking down his nose to Tounyo. "He may be the strongest on the team, but I'm more than enough to take on you, shrimp."
The blond genin raised an eyebrow. He should know better than to estimate an opponent's strength based on looks. His technique allowed for even his lanky body to dish out damage, as evidenced by the fight against the Stone team.
Of course, he wanted to get a rise out of the Cloud genin, so he didn't voice any of these thoughts. Instead, he took on a mildly mocking tone. "Oh? You're not as tough as your companion? Then, this should be easy."
Uppun snarled, spreading into an offensive stance. "You'll regret making that assumption."
"Hajime!" Sasuke lowered his arm before blood could fly.
Tounyo dropped into his typical stance, fist near stomach, arm in front of him, and legs spread. He was surprised when his angry opponent didn't act immediately. In fact, he merely stood still, glaring at the Leaf shinobi. He tilted his head to the side in slight confusion.
That was when he heard the soft scuffle of feet on the floor, just as his foe's face morphed into a smirk.
"Genjutsu!"
He leapt to the side, away from the scuffle noise. Unfortunately, as soon as his feet left the ground, a hand gripped his wrist and jerked him to a sudden stop, almost making him fall on his face. He looked back to find his enemy with a strong grip on his arm, grinning like a maniac.
"I've got you now!"
Tounyo let a half-smirk settle on his features before yanking on his entrapped hand. His foe kept his grasp strong and even seemed to channel a little chakra into his legs in order to remain stationary. With a disgusting pop, the Konoha genin's arm jerked out of its socket.
Then, in a movement that would have been impossible for anyone without double joints or an out-of-socket arm, he spun backwards, bringing his body closer to his opponent, and brought his good hand around in a strong axe punch.
With a sickening crunch, Uppun's wrist broke under the strike. The boy let out a cry of pain, stumbling back and holding his injured wrist to his chest with his good hand.
The blond Leaf nin quickly put his arm back in socket with a twist of his shoulder, wincing as he did so, before staring appraisingly at his foe. His gaze was met with a glare of pure and utter hatred.
"I must say, you surprised me," declared Tounyo conversationally.
"You're going to pay for that, you little son of a bitch!"
The male blonde rolled his eyes. "Now that I've seen how you fight, I doubt it. You're injured, no less."
The black haired Kumo nin dropped into a more defensive position. "I will not lose to a damn Leaf brat!"
Sighing, Tounyo fell casually into his own stance. "You're hardly older than I am," he murmured quietly, then louder. "Don't say I didn't warn you."
He charged forward, going on the offensive.
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Hitayio was a lot calmer now than he had been earlier. The Kiri nin that had defeated them royally had left. Then, he had been given a few hours for his nervousness to simmer down. Thus, he was much closer to his usual rambunctious, curious self than he had been all day.
It was because of this that he was actually paying attention to the fight below him rather than staring awkwardly at the older Mist team.
His eyes widened as he saw his fellow Leaf nin pop his own shoulder out of socket. "What the hell?"
They widened even farther when he saw the boy spin around with a punch that barely looked strong enough to make the Kumo nin let go but actually ended up breaking the raven haired genin's wrist. "What the hell was that?!"
He hadn't actually expected much of an answer. So, when Tounyo's sensei spoke, he jumped slightly.
"To answer your first question, Tounyo-kun is a medic-nin in training, meaning he has studied the anatomy of the human body. This results in him knowing how to 'injure' himself in a way that is easily fixable if required."
"Your second question is a bit more complicated…" The jounin paused, staring down at the two that were talking briefly. "Tounyo-kun has a unique style of taijutsu that his mother taught him. It's similar to, but different from, Tsunade-sama's style. They both use chakra to power up their attacks. But whereas Tsunade can use only her finger to cause devastating effects, Tounyo must use his whole body."
Hitayio stared at him, curious about his fellow Leaf nin. He also noticed that quite a few others were paying attention.
"You see, Tsunade releases an outward burst of chakra at the point of impact, allowing her to use whatever she wants to cause damage. Tounyo, however, uses his chakra within his body."
"What's that supposed to mean?" inquired the redheaded Hitayio.
"Well, it means that when Tounyo goes in for a punch, he pumps chakra through his muscles, giving them a boost in performance based on how much chakra is used. At this point, he has to use a lot of chakra because his control isn't good enough to limit how much he uses. This means that every one of his punches is very powerful, but also very draining."
"He also has to put his entire body behind each punch to get the full effect of the technique. That's why he often sets up a good, wide base to initiate his attack, so that every possible muscle, boosted by his chakra, is used."
"It is because of this that Tounyo usually waits, analyzing his opponent's fighting style, before striking, more often than not being absolutely sure that his hit will land. Otherwise, he doesn't have the chakra capacity for a long fight. As he masters the style, that'll probably change, but, for now, he's severely limited in the amount of offense he can dish out."
"Hey, sensei," began the white haired genin, Kizui, having realized his teacher was done explaining. "Why's Tou-chan being so much more aggressive than usual?"
Hitayio looked back at the battle below curiously to see that his fellow Leaf nin throwing a cautious punch about every ten seconds, only for the Cloud genin to dodge relatively easily, and slowly circling his foe. The redhead tilted his head slightly in confusion. If he only had so many punches before he was exhausted, why was he wasting them when it was clear his enemy would avoid it?
He was slightly startled when the boy's sensei chuckled. "Oh, he's not. There is no chakra in those punches. He's just realized that, with this enemy, the best defense is indeed an offense. He's keeping the pressure on little Uppun so that the boy can't use that genjutsu he cast at the beginning of the match. Yet, he also realizes that he can't get caught, so he's being cautious about it. He's effectively turned the match into a balance of attack and defense on both sides."
Hitayio looked at the Konoha shinobi below him appraisingly. He had always been good at the class work, but weak when it came to taijutsu. Now, he was proving that he had altered that greatly. Gone was the wimp that could hardly take on anyone in the class. The redhead found himself having a little more respect for the blonde.
That didn't stop him from laughing at the boy's teammates as they continued their odd interaction.
"Since when were you so observant, Konohamaru-sensei?" the kunoichi asked.
The jounin turned on her indignantly. "I can be very observant when I want to be, thank you very much."
"Sure, sure. Whatever you say."
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Uppun was very proud of being a shinobi of Kumogakure. He was even more proud of the village, itself. He loved constantly cloudy skies, the likable people, the powerful ninja, even the stern, but kind, Raikage. Almost everything about the village, he loved.
That was one of the reasons he hated all other hidden villages.
The other was because his father had been murdered by those enemy ninja. The body had had hints to several foreign villages, so it was never concluded as to which shinobi village had killed him.
That was the primary reason he despised every other hidden village.
After all, if you don't know who to hate, why not hate everyone that has the possibility of being involved? It made sense to him. Why shouldn't it to everyone else.
But Arechi-sensei seemed to be the only one that did.
Both of his teammates saw it as pointless. They were both too positive. Too naïve.
He knew how the world really worked. Everyone was an enemy until they had earned your trust.
Kumogakure, as a whole, had earned his trust.
No other village could claim that.
That was why he was disgusted by them all, despised them all. Down to every little citizen, every little genin, every tiny child. His want for revenge was so high that he would take it out on every single one of them.
And yet, at his current power level, he wasn't even managing to take it out on the one measly rookie in front of him.
He scowled, side-stepping another strike, his black ponytail swaying behind him. His right arm was crippled at the wrist, completely useless to him without the ability to grab hold of his opponent.
The Leaf nin had noticed this and was quite openly taking advantage of it, attacking him most often on that side. Yet, all of his lunges were relatively slow, easy to evade. But each strike was made with such precision that that was all he could do.
He couldn't block for risk of breaking more bones on those powerful punches. He couldn't counter-attack because he had his weapon holster on his right hip and was unable to reach toward it without leaving himself open. He couldn't even manage to grab his foe, the strikes were made so perfectly.
It was because of this that Uppun knew they were in a stalemate.
He was too fast to be hit, but too slow to counter in any way. It had turned into a battle to see who could go longest without making and mistake.
And it was starting to piss him off.
"You look tired."
The comment was made so randomly that it almost threw him off balance long enough for his opponent to get a hit in. As he ducked the punch, he glanced at the Leaf nin to find him sweating profusely and breathing heavily.
"You're not looking so hot yourself."
The Konoha nin merely nodded at this, continuing his assault.
But the boy was right, Uppun realized as he found himself taking deeper breaths as well. They were both right. They were becoming exhausted even though it had only been five minutes, neither one being accustomed to long battles.
It would end soon, mistake or no mistake.
The Kumo nin ground his teeth. He couldn't believe he was actually in a battle that he might lose simply because of his poor stamina. He was a quick-kill ninja! How did that happen?
With that thought, he decided to take an enormous risk. A risk that would either give him the chance to grapple or force him to quit due to injuries. Either way, it held the same chance of winning as prolonging the fight did.
He had no other thoughts when he brought his crippled arm up to block his foe's next punch.
The fist collided with a forearm and stopped dead in its tracks, showing how little power was behind the blow. Uppun smirked.
His gamble had paid off.
He took a moment to savor the shocked look on the Leaf genin's face before reaching over with his good arm and yanking the boy forward by the wrist. Just as his opponent lost his balance and began to take a forced step forward, The Kumo shinobi moved toward him, tripping him up with a leg.
With immense satisfaction, he watched the Konoha nin fall face-first to the dirt, reaching across his body for his weapon pouch. A moment later, he had a knee in his enemy's back and a kunai at the base of the boy's skull.
A kunai that wouldn't go down any farther.
With a snarl, he looked up at the proctor that had a grip on the back end of his kunai.
"That's enough. You don't have to kill him. You won."
The Uchiha's words made the Cloud genin clench his teeth. Why should he care if an enemy lost his life at his hands? It was one less foe to have to deal with. Besides, he had broken his wrist, damn it!?
With a look of disgust, he stood up, bringing the weapon with him.
"Winner: Teisuu Uppun!"
The raven haired boy started back towards the balcony in disgust, only to be accosted by a group of Konoha medic nins.
He growled viciously at them. "Go away! I don't need your stupid help!"
"If you want that wrist to heal properly, you do," declared one of them without batting an eyelash. "Now, shut up and come quietly or we force you to. No one in these exams is getting hurt and not getting medical attention."
Glaring at every one of them, he grunted his assent. He knew he couldn't take on that many shinobi, no matter how poorly trained they were.
Nevertheless, he'd only trust them as far as they forced him to, and he definitely wasn't going to spend the night there. He'd rather not be killed by one of them in his sleep.
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After a quick check-up with the medics below, during which he was given a chakra restoring pill to replenish his dwindling reserves, Tounyo walked back to his teammates with a thoughtful expression on his face. Of course, this didn't last long as Kizui leapt up and hooked an arm around his shoulder.
"Aw! Tou-chan was so close, too!"
The blond genin raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, I guess it was."
"Only you could take no damage and still lose."
Tounyo looked back at where his female teammate was relaxing, Hana laying on her head, and chuckled. "You sure are playful today, Taru-chan."
She shrugged. "Been brimming with energy for some reason."
He chuckled again, turning back to the arena. His sensei put a hand on his shoulder. "You should have won that, Tounyo-kun. You had the advantage the whole time." The boy turned annoyed eyes on Konohamaru as the older ninja continued, bringing a hand up in front of him to mimic his words in actions. "If only you could have hit him once, you coulda been like 'Pow!' and 'Pow!' and then 'Whammo!'"
He rolled his eyes at his teacher's childish display. He knew the guy was just trying to cheer him up, but it wasn't really helping. It was little more than a short distraction.
It didn't change the fact that he realized he would have to change his current training regiment.
His stamina, which he had formerly thought was enough to win just about any match, was notably substandard. He now recognized the threat that was to him and his companions.
In addition, he came to the conclusion that not all enemies would make flaws that could be taken advantage of. After all, that was what they were trained for. His last opponent hadn't made any, and he was merely a genin. He could only imagine going up against a fully trained jounin or ANBU.
He sighed. There would be time to reorganize things after the preliminaries. For now, he figured, he should pay attention to the competition, help his teammates any way he could.
He glanced around, noting the significant number of combatants that had been unable to return. He almost laughed when he saw Taka out cold on the floor, a medic next to her, half-watching her, half-watching his surroundings. Counting her, fifty percent of the combatants had been forced to go to the infirmary. Only two had come back as of yet.
He shook his head. He should be there too. He had lost, so why wasn't he? Actually, he should be in his grave. Only Uchiha-san's immediate action had prevented that.
He frowned. It wasn't like him to be so negative. It would only increase his poor mood.
He was relatively sure that the jounin in the area had picked up on that vibe. That was probably why Konohamaru was trying to cheer him up. He could also tell that Taru had noticed it as well and was trying to distract him in her own, weird way. It was…kinda strange to have people doing that for him, aside from his mother. It was usually the other way around.
"Come on, Tounyo. You're supposed to be the optimist in this group. Put on a façade if nothing else works."
He scarcely had the chance before a groan from Kizui caught his attention, reminding him of the real world, where his sensei was still, somehow, monologuing.
"Awwww…I wanted to fight next…"
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Hari was not having a particularly good day.
First off, his teammate had fought and lost. That, in itself, wasn't all that surprising. In fact, considering how close she had gotten to defeating a genius, so-called by his companions, it was actually pretty impressive.
He was not, however, happy to find out that she had been keeping secrets from them, secrets having to do with her strength and abilities, which could have helped them plan had they ever needed those techniques.
He couldn't really say it was entirely unexpected, but it still pissed him off.
She was lucky she was in such bad shape, or he would've already been putting her through a ringer. Who knew what else she was keeping secret? He intended to find out.
The second thing that had turned his day rotten was the battle between Magusa and Sutamina.
He had begun to like both of them in the short amount of time that he had known them, especially Magusa. They weren't really close to him, but he did like them.
Thus, the vicious, one-sided fight between them had been almost unbearable to watch. The power with which Suta had utterly thrashed the Kiri nin was superb, astounding, and awe-inspiring.
But, most of all, it was terrifying.
To think he would bring out such power against an opponent he was already beating. Hari could only assume it was because of the apparent dispute over him that he would do such a thing.
Luckily, the younger looking genin seemed to pick up on the Leaf nin's uneasiness and kept his distance, staying with his sensei the entire time.
It was because of this that he started praying to whatever Kami was out there that his day make a miraculous turn-around when Katame's name came up on the battleboard.
Jakay Shan vs. Rokotsu Katame.
"Yosh!" This exclamation brought his attention to a bowl-cut, big eyebrowed boy in green tights and orange leg warmers. "It is finally my time to let my springtime of youth show!"
Hari sweatdropped when the boy's sensei, who looked nearly identical to him, stepped forward, pumping his fist in the air excitedly. "Yes, Shan! Your youthfulness shall lead you to victory!"
"Oh, Lee-sensei!" The boy turned around with his arms spread.
"Shan!" The sensei initiated a hug as a sunset appeared in the background.
Hari felt his eye twitch.
"Lee." The jounin looked up at his name, finally locating the voice's source as the proctor, Sasuke. The Uchiha quietly motioned toward the girl standing next to him, waiting patiently for her fight to begin.
Lee looked back at his student with tears in his eyes. "Show them the power of your youth!"
Shan turned. "Yosh! Indeed I shall!" With one leap, he was in the middle of the arena below.
It was at that moment that Hari's eyes caught something that made his blood run cold.
There, standing beside Lee, pointedly ignoring his cheering, was Nebin, the one who had taken out his other teammate. Suddenly, he realized that they were on the same team.
And that that team was based heavily in taijutsu.
"Shit." He cursed every Kami out there for giving Katame a fight in which she would be at a heavy disadvantage.
He mentally added that as the third thing on his 'List of Reasons Why Today Sucked'®.
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Shan stretched herself out, preparing her body for the coming battle by loosening any and all muscles. Her opponent watched this with a calm patience that almost unnerved the green clad kunoichi. The proctor, however, made his impatience obvious. He didn't say anything, but the way he was tapping his foot…
When she finally stood and settled into a taijutsu stance, the Uchiha spoke. "You ready now?" His tone was impassive, but Shan caught the underlying annoyance in it.
"Hai," she answered. Then, to her foe: "I look forward to the clashing of our springtime of youths."
Katame merely nodded, dropping into her own stance.
"Hajime!"
In a burst of speed, Shan was rushing Katame, watching the shocked look appear on her face. With slight regret at having such a short match, she swung a fist directly at her opponent's face.
She was surprised when the girl managed to deflect the blow just enough for it to merely launch her at the wall. Using the reflexes of a shinobi, she managed to land on the vertical stone and stick with her chakra.
A moment later, Shan was following her, excitement rushing through her veins. The fact that he foe could recover so quickly from both her shock and her punch only spurring her on.
She had an opponent that, though she couldn't match her in speed, could make for an interesting fight.
When she was close enough, she launched herself into a flying kick. Katame leapt out of the way easily enough, causing the bowl cut girl to hit the wall, sending a cloud of dust flying about.
Before it could even clear, Shan was following her opponent, who was now starting a set of hand seals. With an added boost of speed, she was within striking range well before it could be finished. The green clad genin noted how her enemy's face was still impassive as she dodged yet another blow by leaping away.
The match quickly turned into a game of cat and mouse. Shan would rush in with an attack, only for Katame to duck out of the way, moving out of range in the process, forcing Shan to start over again.
This continued for a good ten minutes.
It was then that the older kunoichi noticed slight mistakes in the younger girls motions, no doubt results of fatigue. With that realization came an additional rush of adrenalin, bringing with it a second wind.
In her next attack, she launched a typical punch for the head, causing her opponent to evade to the side, followed by a swift roundhouse kick. The girl barely managed to put up a guard against the blow, allowing it to merely send her skidding across the floor.
Shan quickly followed.
But it was in this short, in which she didn't have to worry about getting struck, that Katame put her hands together in a single sign, murmuring. "Kage Moudou no Jutsu." (Shadow Blindness)
Everything instantly went dark for the older genin. It took her only a moment to realize that, since a ninjutsu of this magnitude would require more than one hand seal from a measly genin, it had to be a genjutsu.
Shan laughed. Knowing the reputation of her sensei, she had to assume her foe thought her beat with that simple action.
But she wasn't like her teacher in every regard.
She could use chakra. Not very efficiently, but she could still use it for the basic techniques and dispelling illusions.
So, she brought her hands up into the chakra gathering sign. "Kai!"
With that burst of energy, the genjutsu was gone.
Around her was the arena, everyone watching from the stands above. But one thing was conspicuously missing.
Her eyes narrowed.
Where was her opponent?