Key
Normal – Self-explanatory
Italics – Thinking, emphasis and/or flashbacks/chapter names.
Bold – Techniques, Demons/Summons, and/or title
Disclaimer: Still thinking of a real one. In the meanwhile, Naruto still isn't mines. Hehehe, enjoy this long chappie, y'all!
Finally the wait was over.
Here came the third part of the exams, and Naruto was ever so more excited. With the blood that came of loving fighting and brawling, from that natural aggressiveness where he inherited from his dear former tenant before the good fox "checked out".
Good – all of the Rookie Nine were there. Sasuke and his team didn't look worse for wear, even when they were one of the last teams to get here in the three-day limit. Temari and her team had already gotten here first. Shika was here with his team, Lee's team and so was that annoying Oto team, with their "jounin". After knowing Orochimaru's aura, the disguised man stood boldly in the arena room despite there were four Konoha jounin and the Hokage ready to kick his ass if he stepped out of line, and Kabuto-teme, that little shitty Oto team, Baki-san and his team couldn't do anything really to help. He hoped Orochimaru wasn't that cocky to do that – he really didn't want Baki and his desert friends to get killed today. Kin would have been a person on the list to not die but frankly because she was cute. Anything else was nothing to save her.
The Hokage was here, and he spared him a small but noticeable glance before turning to the whole crowd. The glance was only noticed by him and Anko, nobody else, he hoped. And even if it was noticed from everybody else, why would he care? Far as Orochimaru knew, old man Sarutobi was ignorant of his plans for destroying the village.
The Hokage looked well, and smiled. They didn't talk too much in the last few days yet, besides a passing in the hallway and a "congrats" for passing the second part of the exams. The congrats wasn't exactly empty, but it left enough space to be filled in for him. Perhaps this was a "Thanks for the info, Naruto-kun" that was not said that was in the lines of that brief "congrats".
In any case, the next part was about to begin.
"Here starts the third part of Chunnin Exams." Sarutobi said, answering Sakura when she asked what they were doing in this arena. "All of you will be fighting. This will be label 'part one' of the third part of the exams – a preliminary round, if your will. The rules are simple: Defeat your opponent at all cost, use any fighting technique and if you can, avoid the killing of an opponent. The examiner will jump in at any time to call the match as he deems fair and can prevent any killing being done but if he chooses not to, then that is fair as well."
A few people stiffed at the word "killing" being thrown around by Sarutobi. On one face of a certain redhead, a ghost of a smile was there. Sensing the awkward air, the old Hokage coughed and cleared his throat. "Now, I don't approve of killing your opponent but unfortunately, that's something that is sometimes unavoidable in a ninja's career."
'Something I'll try to avoid for now.' Naruto thought, while nodding at the old man's words.
"At this point, if you don't think you can continue on, please raise your hands and you can leave." Sarutobi saw a hand immediately jet up. "Alright, Mr…"
"Kabuto Yakushi, Hokage-sama." The white-haired boy bowed. "Thanks."
Kiba frowned. "You know, with the way you admitted before with "
Kabuto smiled at Kiba. It seemed sad but it held a hidden agenda. Kabuto always had a "hidden agenda". "Kiba-kun, I'm too weak at the moment. The attack my team fended off just a few hours ago in the forest has made me too weak to continue on. I'm sorry, maybe next year I'll pass."
Kiba shrugged, "Good luck to you then."
Naruto frowned and growled to himself as he held back a glare. 'Once a snake, always a snake. I was hoping he stayed so I could have seen someone kick his ass or get the chance myself to crack at him.'
Sarutobi nodded to Kabuto. If he knew something was up with the boy who still had a good amount of chakra, and no relative damage on him. "Very well, Kabuto-san, you are permitted to leave. You cannot stay to see the fights however. Be well, and you always have another chance at the Exams six months from here." He then turned away from the boy who walked away. Sarutobi had to catch the small backward glance of Orochimaru as he watched his apprentice walk away. "Anybody else?"
Shikamaru really wanted to raise his hand but the troublesome Ino made him put his hand down. So damn troublesome, that woman. He sighed in defeat – Ino and his mom were sure scary.
Sarutobi smiled when he realized all the teams from his village was present, making him more proud. "You all have heart, and I welcome you to the third part of the Exams, which will be the last part of it. This part is a tournament-style Finally, the Finals, in where two ninjas will fight for the title of 'winner' but do not think that if you lose and you will not become a Chunnin; if you make it further in the tournament, you will have more of a chance to become Chunnin. This is more of an evaluation of your skills. It will base on how fast you can end the match, your tactics, and your endurance. It will also base on how you listen to the rules and follow them. I bid you good well and the supervisor of this round will be Hayate Gekkou."
A cough rang through and a sickly-looking man walks through. "Thank you, Hokage-sama." He had a short coughing fit. "Greetings, I am Hayate Gekkou and I will be the official examiner of this part of the exams. This is going to be the basics of the preliminaries. One: Two people will fight at a time and their names should show up on that monitor there." Hayate raised his hand to show the black screen on the marble wall. "This should reduce the people who are present in the exams. Two: Each match will end in any condition said. These conditions are: knockout, a draw, disqualification or double disqualification. The way one can be disqualified if one forfeits or gains help from another ninja in battle but that does not include summons and/or animals." Kiba Inuzuka sighed in relief. "Other than that, there are no basics and anything goes. As Hokage-sama stated, I will jump in any time I see fit to do so. If you all understand that…" He paused to let out another cough. "…Then we begin."
Hayate motioned the everybody up to the balcony above the fighting arena. Naruto grunted. 'Aw, man. I remember now there wasn't any seats here. Call me lazy, but shit, I wanna sit down.'
'This exam… I hope I'm strong enough though. I get to prove to everyone that I'm stronger now.' Sakura said as she stood next to Kiba and Sasuke. 'To Kiba, to Sasuke, to everyone!'
Sasuke grunted, a determined looked on his face bloomed. 'This isn't an exam for me to raise my rank, it's a place where I can evaluate my skills and see if I'm strong enough to kill… Itachi.' He clenched his hands at that name. 'If I can't defeat any of these losers, I know I can't defeat Itachi then. Gaara, Rock Lee, that Hyuuga, Neji; I'm looking forward to test myself against them… even you, Kiba.' He looked at the smirking Kiba, as he argued with Sakura about some silly topic. 'You have been changing in the last few days… that snake man, and then that Amegakure team attacking us… it's been telling me constantly that you have grown stronger, but if we are to fight, I'm not gonna let our comradeship come between us. I will, defeat you.'
Team 7 looked on as Hayate declared the first two on the screen.
Stop The Future
Chapter 17, And There Will Be Blood, Chakra, and Pride Spilled, Part 1
First Match – Kiba Inuzuka vs Rock Lee
As the yellow lights on the monitor came up, flashing him and his opponent's eyes, Kiba gulped a lot. "I'm fighting Lee? Ah... shit."
"What's the matter, Mutt-kun? Afraid?" Sakura smirked.
Kiba laughed nervously, "Well, kinda. We seen Lee fight and yeah... he can kick our asses all down the street without a care in the world."
Sakura nodded, "So I guess you're gonna have to fight to your best huh?"
"I suppose." Kiba sighed.
Sakura frowned. Inwardly, she did not like this side of Kiba Inuzuka. He was usually fiery, ready to fight, but now he was just worried over failing against Lee. Did that bout in the forest with that man really do more than physical damage? "Listen, Kiba, even if you do lose here, so what?"
"So what?" Kiba was still surprised she didn't call him "Mutt-kun". "If I lose-"
"There's always a next time right? If you first don't succeed, try again, right?" She smiled gently, even going so far to rub his back. She was hesitant at first, but no need to be afraid of showing you care, right?
Kiba stiffed a little, but slowly relaxed as she rubbed his back. Strangely, hearing Sakura say that really did help him feel better. "Yeah, ya right. There is a next time – even if I get my ass kicked by Lee."
Sakura giggled a little. "It's not the healthiest attitude, but it'll do." She grinned then. "Now, go get 'em, Mutt-kun."
Kiba mockingly sighed, and rolled his eyes in mock-anguish, not hiding the mirth in them. "There's my team support."
"Stop making kissy-kiss faces with Sakura and go down and get your ass kicked already, mutt." Sasuke folded his arms and scoffed.
Is it me or this lighting makes Sakura's face look like she's blushing?, Kiba pondered to himself, but he couldn't stop the angry rebuttal directed towards Sasuke. "Shut the hell up, bastard! I'm gonna kick Lee's ass, so bad he'll feel it for weeks! Best believe that!"
"That's very unlikely." The black haired boy scoffed again. However, a small smile came onto his face. "...Good luck."
"Thanks." Kiba grinned. An understanding was growing in the boys. "Time to rock."
Sasuke nodded, and watched Kiba walk down to the arena.
Tenten nodded to Lee on her side of the platform. "Don't overdo it, idiot. I rather not Kiba's cute-self get messed up too bad."
"Yosh! I can't hold back my excitement!" Lee smiled brightly to his teammate. "Kiba-kun! Prepare yourself for Konoha's Sublime Green Beast Of Gales, Rock Lee!"
Tenten sighed, shaking her head. "He's gonna overdo it, isn't he, Neji?"
Neji nodded. "Indeed he is."
The exuberant Lee and the fired up Kiba had made their ways to the arena and in front of Hayate. The man hacked up a cough before covering his mouth and putting his left hand in front of him. "Match 1: Kiba Inuzuka vs Rock Lee. Are both competitors ready to fight?" Rock Lee bobbed his head rapidly while Kiba's nodding almost looked like he was shaking his head "No".
Hayate grunted. "Alright, begin!" He hopped out the boys ways.
Kiba stared down at Lee, as Lee slipped in his Strong Fist fighting style. Akamaru had jumped out his jacket and decided to be at his side. He gritted his teeth. Knowing how Lee easily kicked Sasuke's teeth in the week that they trained together, even before the rest of his team came, and Kiba was still a close second to that bastard Sasuke, he knew this was gonna be a hard battle. He did also have speed at his advantage, and Akamaru could help. "Alright Lee, show me what you got!" Kiba said, slipping into his own fighting stance. "Shikyaku no Jutsu!"
Lee grinned, "Yes, Kiba-kun! Fight your strongest for I will as well!"
Kiba growled out, that familiar blood lust running through him. He tried his best to block out his "animal" side as much he can from taking Lee's life. Not like he wanted to. He always felt like this when he went into this fighting style. Kiba wasted no time thinking, as he sped to Lee. Not the smartest idea, but definitely not the dumbest. He slammed an elbow into Lee, being pleased that he could get in the boy's defenses. From prior knowledge – thanks to Gai-sensei loudly proclaiming it – he knew that Lee could not use ninjutsu at all, so that meant Lee could not fight at long-range at all, besides the usual projectile throwing.
He was just glad this technique made him a helluva fast.
Lee recovered from the elbow strike, flipping back to feet. He still grinned largely. Kiba growled out, and ran towards Lee as fast he could muster. He grunted lowly when he saw Lee dodge his strike like slow-motion. Quickly rising a hand to block Lee's bone-crushing fist, he sighed to himself knowing the boy didn't get a crack at him. Kiba turned on his heel, and tried clawing at Lee's face. The boy dodged the strikes barely before shocking Kiba's stomach muscles with a kick. Kiba crumpled to the pain, as Lee took the time to come back, and jump in the air.
Kiba knew what was coming but couldn't dodge in enough time. "Konoha Senpu (Leaf Whirlwind)!" Lee shouted out, as he kicked at Kiba's head with a high kick. The attack slammed into Kiba's jaw, as he howled in the air. Lee did not stop his onslaught there, as he went for a successful session of kicks and aerial strikes.
Kiba collapsed in a heap of sweat and blood on the floor, gasping for air and out of pain. Lee went back down to the floor, grinning apologetically at Kiba. "Sorry, Kiba-kun but you must come at your best to beat me."
"Come at... my best, huh?" Kiba coughed, hacking up a good amount of blood in a ball. "Well, let's see you come at me now. Akamaru, let's go!"
The dog barked and quickly jumped on his back. Kiba growled out, "Juujin Bunshin (Beast-Human Clone)!" Off his back, Akamaru was now an equally murderous looking Kiba.
Lee looked astonished, "Oh wow! What an excellent technique!"
Kiba grinned dangerously. "Thanks. I suppose you earn this. You proven to me anyway that my speed is definitely not gonna help me with this battle, so me and Akamaru are going all out!"
"Splendid! I am honored I get you at your best, Kiba-kun!" Lee again put one arm behind his back and an open fist in front of him.
"You won't feel 'honored' after this!" Kiba ran on his two feet again, slipping his hands into his pouch.
Two purple orbs stood brandishing in his hands. Tenten blinked, "Are those smoke bombs?"
"I see. He's going to outflank Lee in the smoke with his 'clone', so to speak of." Neji Hyuuga nodded at his teammate. "Interesting."
Lee looked at the orbs and, like Neji, he knew of Kiba's plan. Quickly, he jumped from the smoke's radius, by jumping back onto the railing of the balcony in front of them. Jumping back to the battle, Lee tried slamming a kick into one of the Kibas. The one Lee aimed at quickly moved at the way, spinning in the air and tried striking at the boy with a claw. Lee rolled at the way, and jumped back.
Kiba grinned, "Gotchu." Quickly making hand seals, the boy shouted out, "Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!"
Out his mouth, a compressed orb of fire was shout out to Lee. Lee gasped and moved as fast he could to avoid the ball's destructive pathway. The ball made its way to a nearby wall, making a serious dent in it. Lee grinned excitedly. "Excellent, Kiba-kun! You know I cannot fight at long range, so you make the ball! Excellent work indeed!"
"Leave to him to tell Kiba his weakness." Tenten sighed while folding her arms. "Lee never shuts his mouth sometimes."
Neji shook his head as well. Lee sure was a silly one.
"Interesting, Kakashi. Seems like you stepped up and trained your students." Kurenai grinned over at the man.
"Of course, what do you take me as, Kurenai-chan?" Kakashi grinned.
"A lazy-ass." Asuma deadpanned.
"Good guess, Asuma. But when it comes to train, I train them until they cannot move anymore." Kakashi grinned at the man. "They know their elements already, and I worked with them for a good one and a half months on their elements. Kiba's got fire as well does Sakura. Sasuke's got lightning."
"Whoa, they know nature transformation already early in their life? You definitely have been training them." Asuma grinned. "Well then, looks like this match-up definitely got more interesting."
"Ah, yes, Kakashi! You have definitely trained your youthful student! But my student will prevail!" Gai grinned at the gray haired man.
Rather than ignoring the man, Kakashi grinned out to Gai, "We'll see about that now, shall we?"
"Wow, Kiba has definitely been training." Naruto grinned. He turned to Sakura. "You guys know nature transformation, don't you?"
"That we do." Sakura grinned. "Looks like Mutt-kun got this. Lee needs to get in close in order to fight him. If Mutt-kun keeps away, he's got this."
"'Mutt-kun', huh, Sakura-chan?" Naruto grinned in a teasing tone. "So familiar with Kiba now, eh?"
Sakura had a small blush on her face, but she did not back down. "Hmph, jealous, Naruto?"
"Not at all." Naruto smiled back, not minding the glances from Hinata. He knew Kiba was a great fighter, especially at taijutsu, but Lee was a greater fighter. He knew where to strike to make it hurt even more. 'Besides, Kiba's got to worry about Lee's 'speed boost'.' The blond haired boy looked at the boy in green. 'Once Lee drops those weights, Kiba's gonna have a harder time defeating him.'
'Damn, that fireball still took a lot out of me. At least a good half of my chakra is gone.' Kiba grunted. How could Sasuke ever do these balls without a worry? And the bastard's balls – that didn't sound right, so thank god he didn't say that out loud – were still bigger than The guy must had some large amount of chakra. Then again, he used two ninjutsu techniques before the Great Fireball Technique. That could explain why he felt so drained. Eh, no time for thinking. Lee still probably could kick their asses.
Kiba and Akamaru rushed through the arena to the Lee who was still cooing over Kiba's fireball. "Pay attention, and stop smiling at my fireball's crater!" Kiba scolded the boy, as he came to strike him down with a clawed fist.
Lee grabbed his fist, and Akamaru, and with amazing upper body strength, he threw both of them in the air. Kiba gasped, and watched hazily as Lee went for the kill and smashed a kick to his partner, and launched a kunai to the real Kiba. Kiba moved in the air, dodging the kunai blade in its entirety. Kiba knew Akamaru was down for now, and let the pup catch his breath, before he threw him back into the fire.
Lee grinned out again, ready to go when Kiba was.
Kiba growled, and quickly threw Akamaru something out of his hand.
Team 10's Ino quickly noticed it. "Hm? What's that thing that Kiba threw at his dog?"
"Looks like it's some type of pill..." Shikamaru was just as confused.
"It's a soldier pill." The last member of the team answered their questions. The two shifted their eyes to the rotund Akimichi. "They're special pills the military came with throughout the great shinobi world wars we had. They were designed to replenish a ninja's chakra, stamina and make you feel like you had three straight days of sleep."
"Oh wow!" Ino gasped out. "That sounds awesome."
Chouji nodded slowly. "There's a downside to all of this though – after the effect of the pills wear off after extended battling, the pills can result in high levels of fatigue and anxiety."
"That means overdosing on the pills is a no-no." Asuma nodded at his Akimichi student. "The knowledge of those pills definitely earned you some points, Chouji."
"It's those pills again." Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the standing dog again, who looked again ready to fight.
Sasuke Uchiha stood up all night, staring into space and thinking about what happened.
And it was definitely not worth the trouble.
He was tired. He wouldn't admit it to the refreshed Sakura or the damn mutt, but he was tired as hell. It was a wonder he was functioning as they jumped from tree to tree.
Suddenly Kiba, who took the lead as they jumped through the trees, stopped. "Wait, Sasuke."
"Hm? What you want mutt?"
"Listen, not that it's any of my business and all that 'looking hard' shit is cool and all, but I know you're tired." Kiba bluntly said him.
"Hmph. I'm not." Sasuke huffed, trying to brush off Kiba's attempts to rub it in my face.
"Look, you look like shit right now, and we only got two days to get another scroll and head for the tower, so, let's get you some help."
"Whatever, mutt. I'm fine. I'm not gonna keel over before we reach the tower, if that's what you believe." Sasuke was ready to jump, but was anchored down by Kiba's hand at his wrist. Sasuke's glare was palpable. "I just said-" But nearly choke in surprise when Kiba stuffed something in his mouth.
Like any person's general response, Sasuke quickly hacked it out, and spit it out in his hand. In his palm, sat a suspicious dark brown orb. "The hell is this?"
"It's a special pill that my family makes." Kiba grunted out. "It's a stimulant. They make you feel like you can fight for three days straight, doubling your chakra, and relieving you of any exhaustion. We need everybody at their best. I gave Sakura and you it, okay? Now shut up and swallow it."
Sasuke looked at his palm for one second contemplating this again, before shutting up and swallowing the pill. In a few seconds, he felt energy course through him more than he ever felt. He grunted, as Kiba let go of his wrist. Sasuke had to admit, he did feel like he could fight for three days straight, like he rested for three days as well.
"...Thanks." Sasuke muttered. He did need the pill Kiba provided. He did before feel sluggish and tired as they moved, as much as he liked to hid it from the two, who he thought would bother him about it and asked if he wanted to sit down and rest. They couldn't afford it – they needed to really move. But now, he was energized and ready to go. Kiba did... deserve a "Thanks" for this.
Kiba muttered also, as much awkward as he was. "Don't mention it... Like I said, I need everyone at their best, so that includes you too."
Sasuke nodded, and jumped at the next tree branch. He couldn't hide the small smile blooming on his face.
Both boys not knowing how good the pills come in handy in the next hour against that pesky Amegakure team, Team Oboro.
Knowing the effects of the pills, he knew Akamaru would be even more dangerous than before. The dog jumped up, now brandishing a red fur instead of his white fur from before. Kiba swallowed a soldier pill himself, and with the Sharingan, Sasuke could see Kiba's chakra flare inside him, doubling after the pills.
"Alright, Akamaru, time to do it again!" Kiba let the pup jump onto his back and growled out, as the two performed Beast-Human Clone Technique again. Sasuke saw this technique in the forest before and prepared to see the attack again.
Instead however of two drills that he was expecting, Kiba's Akamaru jumped off his back and spun himself into a drill. Sasuke watched in interest and then shock as Kiba went for the tiger hand seal. Tiger hand seal signified a fire technique, so what was Kiba doing? Tiger, then horse, then rat, and tiger once again. Suddenly his answer was clear as Kiba literally lit Akamaru on fire as the drill came towards Lee. Shouting out, he yelled, "Katon: Katsuuga (Fire Release: Fire Passing Fang)!"
In an explosion as the drill man contact with Lee, Gai gasped out. "What... what was that?"
Kakashi grinned. "You better watch out for my 'youthful' student, Gai. He's got a lot of tricks up his sleeve."
Sakura gasped out, "Oh wow! How did he light Akamaru on fire like that without hurting himself? That's amazing!"
Sasuke grunted. Kiba's fire attacks were getting more powerful,Sasuke thought to himself with a small smirk. Looks like he to worry about something next time they sparred or even fought in this exams.
"Whoa!" Ino yelled out. "Kiba's insane! He's definitely gotten stronger. No doubt it's over."
Shikamaru nodded, agreeing with his blond teammate. "And I'm betting the rest of Team 7 definitely did as well." Shikamaru narrowed his eyes at Kiba.
Chouji grinned, "But we gotten stronger too."
Kiba smirked at his handy work. "That should be over then." He then gasped out as Lee crouched on top of the ram hand statue, looking like he barely had a scratch on him at all from Akamaru's attack. "How the hell did get up there?"
Gai smirked at Kakashi, "Looks like my Lee's still faster than Kiba, even by a little." Gai then yelled out at Lee. "Lee! You can take them off now!"
"Take what off now?" Kakashi asked.
"Wearable weights!" Gai grinned.
"You mean Lee been fighting with weights on all the time?" Sakura looked at the man. "Does he always wear weights?"
Tenten grinned, "Yep. You know what that means, right? He's been kicking your asses with them on all this time."
"No way." Sasuke muttered. "That's impossible."
"Way." Neji grunted out. "It's very possible."
"Weighs, huh?" Naruto grinned, not bothered at all like the rest of Team 7. "Lee's pretty much full of surprises, huh?"
"You haven't seen them yet." Gai grinned back at the young Naruto like a shark smelling blood in the water. "Take 'em off, Lee!"
"But Gai-sensei, you said I only can do so as a last resort and only when innocent lives are at stake." Lee said back to the man.
"I know I did, but you can do so now!" Gai gave the boy a thumb's up. "Fight with all your might, Lee!"
"Really? Really?" Lee shouted excitedly, and sat down on the statue's fingers. "Oh boy!" He then took off his leg warmers, revealing his weights on his ankles.
Lee grinned down at Kiba, and showed several weights on each of the two strips he had in each hand. "Ah, Kiba-kun, now I will remove my restraints now that I see what you can do! This battle is so excellent! Bravo, Kiba-kun! You are an excellent fighter!"
Kiba grunted, ignoring Lee's compliments. "Weights? He's been fighting with weights on all this time?" But he still was confident. 'Even if he did have weights on, how much of a boost in speed will it be now that he got them off?'
Kakashi seemed to ask the same question. "What will taking off his weights do? He would pick up more speed, sure, but how much would it be to help him?"
"Oh, enough, I would say." Gai's smirk was still on his face.
Kankuro grunted out, standing in front of his team. "I think the weights are totally dumb. So what if he ditch them?"
"Yeah, even with all those weights off weighing him down, how is he gonna win?" Temari smirked. "Dropping a few pounds of weights – like serious, how is that going to help him win?"
"Hmm, I wouldn't judge too quick." Their sensei, Baki looked down at Kiba and back up at the strange green boy.
"..." Gaara didn't input anything from his opinion. Not that it mattered. He would get the blood from either one of these fighters in the next round. Nothing could beat his sand.
Gai smirked as he heard clamors of interest and doubt run throughout the arena. Everybody had no idea how good the boost would be. He would be definitely pleased when they realize how the boost would be.
He was even more pleased to hear the deafening slam when such weights slammed onto the ground shut everybody up.
"What the hell?" Sakura yelled out.
"How much weights did this guy have on his legs?" Sasuke looked astonished as the weights dropped down and crashed down with a loud 'BOOM'.
"Enough." Both teammates of Lee said to answer the Uchiha.
Kakashi shook his head, holding his hand over his mask. 'Gai, you are definitely a handful.'
Temari and Kankuro gasped, Baki as well, while Gaara looked up in some interest, cocking his head at the loud sound.
Hayate, the examiner of this battle narrowed his eyes, but gasped when he no long saw Lee on the statue. Kiba gasped himself watching his dog go down so easily to a bone crushing roundhouse kick. Kiba barely could react when Lee flashed in front of him. Kiba rolled, but gasped in pain when a fist was struck towards his back, and another one at his stomach. Lee grabbed his shoulder and threw him over head. Blurring out of sight again, Lee kicked Kiba in the stomach with a powerful flying kick.
It took everything in Kiba to not get knocked out but he forgot to not yell.
Howling in pain as he fell to the floor next to his unconscious dog, he tried his best to get back up. Lee, like he just done the Body Flicker Technique, burned in his burning sight again. Grabbing the hem of his jacket, Lee slammed him to the ground again. He however did not let go of his jacket and sent a fist to the stomach of the dog boy. Coughing up several amounts of blood, Kiba fell to the floor yet again.
"Kiba! Get up!" Sakura yelled over at her side of the balcony.
"It's no use." Gai grinned. "Lee's too much for Kiba now. Much faster and much stronger. His help is down for the count and Kiba can use any more real techniques to keep Lee away/." Confidently, Gai yelled again, "Lee – finish this up! Even when I said you can take off your weights, you are not allowed to use 'that technique', so beat Kiba another way."
Kakashi narrowed his eye at Gai, "Wow, such sportsmanship you have, Gai."
"You know it's the truth, Kakashi." Gai smirked. "At least I'm not bragging. Besides, I'm trying to keep your student from serious injuries. If Lee got serious, no one could stop him. Finish it off Lee!" Gai yelled the last part at Lee.
"Yes, Gai-sensei!" Lee smiled apologetically at the downed Inuzuka. "Sorry, Kiba-kun. I will be quick and finish this."
"Such confidence in me." Kiba chocked up a smirk, while his eye being half-open and the other being completely closed in pain. "Fine, let's finish this." He stood, and watch himself be lifted in the air with a kick aimed at his jaw.
That was it, he knew Lee was behind him – with a technique that defeated him and Sasuke in their spars. "Kage Buyou (Shadow Of The Dancing Leaf), right?" Kiba asked Lee, who flew behind him.
"Yes, Kiba-kun." Lee smiled once again, and then wrapped his hands around Kiba's lower stomach. With a heave, Kiba was thrown to the ground again with a powerful waist throw. Kiba fell face first to the ground, not having time to escape the fall's impact.
As soon as he watched Kiba dropped to the ground, he ran up to the unconscious boy and coughed, quickly calling it in Lee's favor. "Winner: Rock Lee!"
"Wow! What a match!" Naruto grinned, as Hinata and the silent Shino nodded rightfully. "I gotta give Kiba some props but Lee totally kicked ass there!"
"Indeed he did." Shino nodded. It would... be difficult ever fighting the monstrous Rock Lee should his match be next and he would win. Kiba was already a challenge last time he fought him, but Lee had been faster, stronger and better than the Inuzuka.
"Damn, really happy that Lee-san won, but I wanted Mutt-kun win." Sakura sighed. "That's definitely gonna hurt his pride."
"He'll get over it." Sasuke grunted. He also was somewhat disappointed in Kiba losing, but he did do good against Lee, however even he could admit that Lee was fighting on a whole knew level and it looked like the boy could still do more.
"He fought his hardest, Sakura-chan. That's good enough to earn some respect, even when going up against someone who was stronger and more experienced than him." Kakashi folded his arms. He was trying his best to block out Gai's happy slaps on the back of Rock Lee as the boy made his way back up to the balcony. Kiba did fight hard – no shame in that.
"So, is he gonna get promoted then?" Sakura pondered.
Kakashi shook his head. "No, I don't think he will sadly. I'd hate to break it down to him after he wakes back up." He watched medical nins pick up the unconscious duo of Kiba and Akamaru and whisked them away to a clinic to treat their wounds. "But I suggest you both forget him for now, and prepare for your matches." He watched both of his students both turn their heads to the monitor as it flashed in yellow lights with names flashing up randomly.
The next match would be showing up.
One name stopped at "Ino Yamanaka". Said girl stiffed up, in wonder and fear of who she would fight. She didn't know what to feel when the named stopped at "Temari".
Second Match – Ino Yamanaka vs Temari
"You're fighting that sand girl, huh, Ino?" Shikamaru said. He then called the girl over. "Remember in the forest when we saw that team? She fights with her fan, the guy with puppets and the short, creepy red haired one fights with sand."
"If you ask me, they're all creeps." Chouji muttered, with Shikamaru nodded slowly at his comment.
"Fan, huh? She's a wind user too then." Ino muttered to herself, watching the other blond girl step down without a care with that fan in her possession.
"That makes her a short-to-mid-range fighter, Ino." Asuma helped. His own knowledge as a fellow wind user would help. There were no rules saying he couldn't give them tips after all. "Keeping close range isn't a good idea if that's what you were initially thinking, but keeping some distance from her isn't such a good idea either with that fan of hers. That fan is gonna be used as a medium for her attacks. That means she might be a long range user as well. You don't specialize in any long range techniques and the Mind Body Switch Technique cannot go that far, best for short-to-mid-range fighting."
"What about my other techniques, sensei?" Ino tried helping the man out.
"You do have a nack for poison and senbon throwing, but I don't know if that will be enough. At best, she could just blow away it and you wouldn't do any damage. I'd say: get in close-range, get out, dodge any wind-related techniques and repeat." Asuma said. "Try your best in this fight though – you might even surprise yourself."
Ino nodded and walked down to the arena. Asuma let out a sigh, as he desired the urge to smoke a cigarette. He knew he couldn't with Kurenai near him like this. "Of all the people Ino could fight, she fights a wind user – someone that could counter her attacks."
"What a mess." Shikamaru shook his head, agreeing with his sensei. "Hope this ends well."
"Yeah, but all we could do is support her, right?" Chouji smiled nervously.
"That we could, Chouji." Asuma grinned. "Ino! Try your best in this battle, even if you lose!"
"Okay, sensei! I won't let you down!" Ino yelled back, and looked with a glare to the grinning Temari.
"Oh, prep talk done with?" Ino growled. "Okay, little girl, let's see what you're made of, shall we?" The older girl mocked as she opened her fan in back of her.
"I'm not gonna lose here! Not even to you!" Ino growled out.
"I heard you guys saw us in the forest, attacking those Ame ninjas. If you did, do you really wanna fight me? I'll just blow you away." Temari grinned, waving her hand in a motion that displayed how it would go.
"Hey! I ain't afraid of you! I rather be afraid of Sakura's huge forehead than you!" Ino grinned, rubbing her nose confidently.
Sakura grunted. "Leave it to Ino-pig to say some crap like that." She then leaned forward, looking at her friend/rival. 'Still, I do hope Ino does well in the battle...'
Hayate coughed. "Match 2: Ino Yamanaka Of Konohagakure vs Temari Of Sunagakure. Are both competitors ready to fight?" Both girls nodded. "Alright then. Begin!" Hayate jumped back outside the path of the two girls.
Immediately Ino launched a barrage of kunai and shuriken. Temari countered with a simple blow of her fan. Wind came forth and knocked the blades back. Ino gritted her teeth. Asuma-sensei was right – projectiles weren't going to work against this girl. If she got into the defenses of the girl, she would have little time to do the Mind Body Switch Technique and that should be the only reason she stepped into to attack her. Throwing kunai, and shuriken, even with it being soaked in poison was not going to work.
Temari was waiting for Ino to make the next move. Ino growled, knowing she couldn't do much now.
Back a month when she was getting her ass kicked by Hinata and Asuma had started her working on poison and some medical techniques, she was kinda glad Asuma didn't ignore it and let her keep continuing doing what she was doing – which was just working on perfecting the Mind Body Switch Technique. Yes, she had a good amount of chakra control already prior to the sparring with Hinata and her team and yes, even more so training began with the two months they had before the Chuunin Exams, but how would this work? She still needed a lot of perfecting on her poison techniques, and the Poison Mist was still work in progress.
Every projectile she threw, Temari can send back.
Ino growled and started doing a few hand seals, blue chakra enveloped her hands, as she stared forward at the other blond. She muttered to herself, "Chakura no Mesu (Chakra Scalpel)!"
"See Kakashi? You're not the only one training your litter of brats." Asuma grinned.
Kakashi looked out in amazement. "A genin and she could use chakra scapels? At her rate of chakra?"
"Yeah. She's got the best damn chakra control in my gang, besides Shikamaru. If you say Sakura has been training her ass off, so has Ino." Asuma smiled. "How's that for a 360 in attitude?"
"But how could she learn it? Pretty sure you don't have any medical ninjutsu knowledge." Kakashi thought out loud.
"I taught her." Kurenai said, folding her arms as she looked onto the match up. "It seems Asuma took advantage of what I did with you." She closed her eyes. She could remember how it went down.
"Kurenai. I'll stop smoking for a week if you do me a favor."
After another "hang out" went bad due to her disdain for his smoking habits and his distasteful regard for affecting everyone around him, Asuma was dare asking her of a favor? Probably a sexual one at that?
Still, a favor of him promising he would give up smoking must have been a good one.
"What do you want, Asuma? I'm still pissed at you."
"I know, and I am glad you didn't slap my ass with a genjutsu for it, but I really need a favor from you." Asuma's pleading brown eyes met her red neutral ones.
She folded her arms. "If you behave, maybe I'll give you a favor-"
"Not that one," Asuma rolled his eyes. "I mean, I need you to do something for me. Involving Ino."
This was interesting; this involved Ino? Interesting. If it wasn't him begging for sex from her, it was him spending his time, smiling about how his students were to him. This must have to be important. "What can I do for her?"
"Well, I know you used to be into medical ninjutsu for a while until you turned to genjutsu... so..." Asuma trailed off, to look into the red eyes of Kurenai.
"You're hoping I teach her some medical ninjutsu then?" Kurenai's eyebrow raised up, finishing Asuma's thoughts. "We only got two months until the start of the Chuunin Exams and you want me to start working on that with her? A genin, no less?"
"Don't start that 'genin' crap with me." Asuma scoffed. "You went on, taught your students chakra control exercises very fast, and taught them – even from Kakashi – how to use their elemental chakra. Don't go on about that 'genin' thing. This generation of genin are damn sure motivated to be better, and they get better fast. I just need you to do at least some basic medical exercises with her, maybe even teach her how to heal her comrades and herself with that chakra control of hers."
"Your chakra control can't be 'good', Asuma. It needs to be damn great in my book to even start with higher ranking moves in medical ninjutsu. She needs to be precise, ready and willing to train everyday if that's how it's gonna go down in these last months before the exams." Kurenai grunted.
Asuma grinned. "She's willing. I know for sure."
"..." Kurenai looked at the spiky haired man and sighed, while putting her hands on her hips. "Alright, I'll do it. Call up Ino to my training grounds after 5 – that's when I usually release my kids. If I don't see anything good in her like you proclaim, then I won't train her and she goes back to trying to learn medical ninjutsu herself." It was cold, yes, but she didn't have time to try and snap Ino out of her current attitude, nor did she have the patience. If she forgot she was a kunoichi, then she has already lost the way, and that took time to snap out of her.
Asuma nodded quietly. "Done."
Kurenai couldn't hold back. "...And make no smoking until the end of the Chunnin Exams."
"Wh-What?" Asuma's face became pale. "THAT'S NOT-"
"You wanna keep yelling or do you want your student to keep progressing?" Kurenai folded her arms, and shifted her hips, trying her best not to smirk. Asuma had no way out of this – he shouldn't had promised her anything that involved giving smoking for a week. She also knew he cared more about his students than a stupid pack of cigarettes. That meant she was definitely gonna win this tug of war.
Finally, Asuma collapsed and let himself get tugged in the mud. Sighing, he said, "
Fine, but only to the end of this exams! That little blond brat betta appreciate what I do for her..." Asuma muttered lowly, although Kurenai heard it.
She smiled, "I definitely appreciate you thinking about your student's progress."
"Yeah, yeah. Girl power. Whoo hoo!" Asuma deadpanned, no doubt feel numb and dull with the loss of smoking for a good two months or so. "...At least I got tonight to smoke em."
Kurenai smirked. "Now why would you do that?" Asuma's face bloomed with confusion. "I'm giving you two favors tonight. And one isn't Ino-related."
His face lighted up again, as he slowly took his eyes off the lighter in front of him. Ah, men: suckers for sex and a body to cuddle with.
The Next Day
"Alright, Ino – listen up! Your sensei wants me to supervise some of your extra training outside his training and occasion training at home. If you're gonna be my student, you're gonna have to be motivated, got it?" Kurenai stared down neutrally at the blond.
A simple ultimanum: my way or the highway.
Ino took Kurenai's way. "Yes, Kurenai-sensei! I am motivated!"
"Yes, do it for yourself, to become stronger. I have no time for a love sick girl. I need a kunoichi." Kurenai didn't bother looking at Ino's immediate cringe. "If I'm gonna put effort into this, I'm gonna to need more effort from you."
Ino nodded. "I will. I won't let you down, sensei."
Kurenai did not answer directly back or nod. She instead picked up a leaf. "Here."
"A leaf?" Ino almost scoffed. "The Leaf Balancing chakra exercise is child's play. And I already know how to water walk and tree climb."
Kurenai smirked. "I know. Now I want you to tree walk with the leaf balancing on your head." She enjoyed Ino's face fall again. "Don't be quick to assume. Asuma already told me he made you guys practice the Water Surface Walking and the Tree Climbing exercises until you could do it in your sleep. That's good and all, but we still need to work probably a little more on your chakra control. So, I'm going to need you to climb that tree with that leaf balancing on your forehead. If it so much falls to your cheek, you start off again from the bottom of the tree and walk up again. After you finish that exercise, we move to the water."
"How much days are we gonna keep doing this?" Ino asked.
"For at least three days, and then we'll work on some basic medical knowledge. By the end of this week, we'll work with one technique that all medical-nins know."
"Which is what, Kurenai-sensei?"
"The Chakra Scalpel technique."
"The Chakra Scalpel technique is a delicate technique – it takes precision to be effective. When it is, it's still not enough to cut down someone's life." Kurenai folded her arms, explaining the technique.
"So how will it do good against Temari then?" Kakashi frowned.
"Ino's pretty good with it. That's one technique I made sure she practice outside her own clan techniques and experimentation with poison. It's one technique I'm good with as well. That Temari girl is good, but I think she's the best at close range. See the good thing about the Chakra Scalpel though is this – it's enough to immobilize someone, cutting into their muscle tissues."
"You really think Ino's precise like that?" Kakashi asked yet again.
"..." Kurenai then lifted the red sleeve on her outfit. She pointed to a scar on her arm. "Does that answer your question?" The scar was pinkish in color, and almost so thin it was invisible but it still was there.
Sakura's eyes widened. "Ino did that?" Even at her own level where she was working with medical techniques, she couldn't even do that. The Chakra Scalpel was even hard to fight someone with in battle.
Kakashi's eyes widened slightly. "How could a genin get that great in a short time?"
Gai grinned. "This generation has the potential to get better than ours in a short time, Kakashi. I thought you knew that."
"That's something Asuma said before." Kurenai smiled.
Asuama grinned largely, "That I did."
Ino wasted no time to attack at Temari at close range. The girl did not seem to move a bit. Too arrogant and cocky. It wasn't the lottery for Ino, but it'll do.
The closer the range, the more damage she could do. The girl missed her slice at her neck, naturally, but Ino wasn't going for that.
She tried to hold back her wild smile when she went for the fan instead. Hoping a clean slice through the fan, she instead caused a scratch through the fan.
Temari smirked, "Interesting technique, girl. It looks like an incredibly precise blade went through my metal fan."
"Metal?" Ino grunted, her spirits again fluctuating.
"That's right – metal." Temari grinned. "What, you thought only the outside was metal? If that's your strategy for this battle, then you already lost!" Temari tried clubbing Ino on the head with her open giant folding fan, but the girl rolled expertly on the floor.
Ino grunted. The blue in her arms ending. She instead chose to throw senbon at her enemy. Instead of Temari simply just deflecting the metal projectile, she decided to dodge the senbon.
A bad mistake on her part.
Temari jumped back, smirking that she missed all the senbon thrown at her. She soon found herself grunting in pain. She counted five senbon needles on the floor. Ino launched six. She knew the proof as Ino had indeed launched a senbon into her shoulder. It didn't hurt as bad as she thought it would, but a hissing pain start to bubble in her arm. Ino was fast with throwing the senbon, no doubt.
She then winced a little at a bubbling pain creep in her leg as well. She hit her, twice? So, she was faster than she thought with those senbon, and they had poison dipped on their tips?
So she made a mistake then? Oh well. This means she would have to deflect the shots more than dodging, unless she was a distance.
Maybe it was time to not be so confident and play it smart.
This poison already took its toll already. She felt sluggish, and fuzzy all over, and her chakra felt weird. It didn't seem like the poison would kill – hopefully – but it did mess her up. Slower reaction time, visions starting to blur. But she could easily see Ino's smirk.
"Homemade poison. Blurs visions, slows down reaction time and reflexes and you almost feel as if you were drunk. Passes through your system in a few hours, so no need to worry about this killing you. Don't worry though, I don't think you'll slur all over your words though – at least, not yet." Ino joked.
"You little bitch." Temari sneered. "Alright, time to stop playing around." She struggled to get up her metal fan but she succeed. She also managed to get a hold of her chakra enough to summon a huge gale wind to knock back Ino's thrown weapons and her as well. "Looks like I still can kick your ass around still." Ino was still in the air.
Temari didn't stop there and let out another wave of air to keep Ino juggled in the air. "Kamaitachi no Jutsu (Sickle Weasel Technique)!"
Carving into her body, Ino yelled out in pain as she felt herself become trapped in the gale. The technique lasted for a few more seconds, cutting and digging into her skin, and she fell out of the sky and back to the floor. Instead of feeling the hard floor though, she fell upon Temari's closed fan. Temari stood, with a smirk, despite the poison still in her veins, "Not so confident now, are you?"
"INO!" Chouji and Shikamaru yelled. Asuma held back the two boys, while shaking their heads at them.
"It's not over yet, boys. Going down there would get Ino disqualified, and I know she would hate you two for doing so." Asuma said. That did not stop the frown on his face. "Temari is not an ordinary genin – she's well on the chunnin-level with that fan of hers. And what I see just then, she can control the wind into a tornado or a gust of wind. A powerful wind-user."
"That little bitch!" Sakura yelled in protest. Ino may have been a pain but goddammit that was uncalled for!
"No, no, Sakura. Ino knew what she was getting into." Kakashi shook his head. "And even she didn't, it's a match; there are no rules against what Temari did, not even against brutality."
'Temari-chan can be a brutal bitch sometimes.' Naruto shook his head – although that brutality sometimes came in handy. 'Ino's gotten better, wavy better the first time in the Chunnin Exams but Temari's definitely operating at chunnin-level power here.'
Ino gasped out in pain. "Goddamn you!"
"What? Ms. Princess? Can't beat little old me? You're not a kunoichi." Temari sneered. "Just a little girl. Little girl grow out their hair." Temari grinned, grabbing Ino's ponytail. "And what fine hair you got."
"She's wrong though." Kurenai grinned to herself. "Ino isa kunoichi. A smart one at that."
"Hmm?" Temari was confused at Kurenai's remark, and gasped in shock as Ino got a hand up, filled with blue chakra. This signified the Chakra Scalpel again. Unconsciously thinking the girl was gonna go for her and moved her hand that held up the fan and the blond Yamanaka, she gasped in shock as Ino cut her long ponytail.
Plantinum blond locks fell onto the floor like heaps.
As the girl collapsed on the floor, Ino's once long and graceful yellow hair spilled onto the floor and under the feet of Temari. Temari still looked confused. "What the hell?"
Sakura gasped. "Ino... cut her hair..." She unconsciously ran her fingers through her own pink ponytail. 'But for what reason?'
Shikamaru quirked an eyebrow. "Huh? What was that all about?"
"I got not the slightest clue." Chouji was just as confused.
Asuma was confused as well, but he didn't say anything else.
Ino climbed to her feet, gasping in pain. Her body was tagged up with cuts and slices in her skin. "Oh shit, that hurt a lot!" She groaned out.
Temari looked at her incredulously. Why the hell she cut her hair? Was she that sensitive to what she said? Or was this a new tactic? What was she gonna do with hair? "The hell you do that for?"
Ino ignored and put her signature hand seal up.
"Ino! What the hell are you doing?" Shikamaru yelled out to the girl. "You know your technique only works as an one-shot deal!"
"Oh yeah, you're an Yamanaka right?" Temari suddenly grinned evilly. "Specializing in mind techniques, one of the Yamanaka clan's special and infamous ability includes throwing their own minds into the opponent's head and controlling them for a few short minutes. The only problem is that technique you're about to do, it only moves in a straight line, meaning all I gotta do is dodge it. You must be desperate. Even with that poison of yours slowing me down a little, you still can catch me, eh?"
"Shintenshin no Jutsu (Mind Body Switch Technique)!" Ino yelled out as her body slumped to the floor.
Temari grinned and quickly dodged the attack. "Wow. That was foolish, even when I shown I know the technique." Temari pulled out a kunai. "Alright, time to finish this." She took two steps to Ino and only got two steps closer before coming to a complete stop and she could not move anymore. "Huh? What the hell? Why can't I move?"
Sakura gasped as two strings of chakra grabbing onto the older girl's heels. "How?"
"Ino's hair..." Asuma grinned. "She fused chakra into her hair on the floor. Once Temari stepped on the strands, she was trapped. All she had to do was put on a show and act like she already sent her attack out at Temari." Asuma then smirked. "Looks like she took a chapter out of your "Sly Bastard, Lazy Prick" book, Shikamaru."
Shikamaru smirked back, not caring about the insult so much. "That she did." To himself, he couldn't believe the ingeniousness of the strategy Ino pulled. 'Awesome. She didn't need my Shadow Imitation Technique after all after that technique. Now she can do what she can do to knock out that Suna chick and she wins.'
"The girl was already wearing down with Ino's poison. Now all she has to do is just slap the Suna nin with a Shintenshin no Jutsu (Mind Body Switch Technique) or just beat her down and she's finished!" Chouji laughed joyfully. "Good job, Ino!" He cheered.
The tired girl smirked. "Thanks, Chouji!" And then glared at Temari. "That attack almost knocked me out but this time, I'll make you submit!" Quickly doing a few hand seals, Ino quick put up her family's signature hand seal up. "Shintenshin no Jutsu!"
This time, both Ino and Temari slumped together. Grinning, "Temari" raised up. "Shintenshin no Jutsu, success!"
"It's over for Temari." Kankuro sighed. "She had too much fun and for that, she got her ass handed to her by a snot nosed brat."
"Hmph." Gaara grunted.
"Very smart." Shino nodded. "Indeed it is over."
"..." Naruto did not leave his eyes off the battlefield.
"N-Naruto-kun? What's wrong?" Hinata tried asking. Ever since the beginning of the exams, Naruto seemed to have some type of interest in the sand girl, something that she did not like at all but did not say. He was thinking something now, she knew it.
"It's not over yet, guys." Naruto said, with a grin.
"How can you be so sure?" Shino asked.
"That technique Ino has has more than one flaw." Naruto uttered finally. The grin on his face did not leave.
"Temari" grinned, and raised her hand high for Hayate to see. "I, Temari no Sunagakure for- Gah!" The yellow haired girl gritted her teeth. "WH-WHAT? How is she... fighting it?"
"'Fighting it'...?" Shikamaru parroted. "Wait... does she mean Temari?"
"How can Temari fight it?" Chouji's face fell back in confusion.
"...Temari's will too strong." Asuma sighed. "The Mind Body Switch Technique has more flaws than just moving in a straight line. Not only can she is limited to using it in a straight line, but Ino's technique can only work once for at least minutes, and the time limit to do it again is several minutes again. Then if she gets in, she has to complete take over their will. If their will is stronger than hers, she'll be forced out the enemy's mind." Asuma finished. He really needed a cigarette now.
Shikamaru and Chouji's eyes widened.
"So it seems. Ino also was running low on chakra. She used chakra on that hair trap, making poisons on that senbon and even on several of chakra scalpels she made. She is just as exhausted as Temari." Kurenai nodded. "It seems the fight between Ino and Temari isn't over yet."
And like a cue to Kurenai's words, Ino's spirit was forced out Temari's body with one last loud scream of protest. Ino gasped out, thoroughly looking exhausted. "How... what... why?"
Temari looked exhausted as well. "Looks... like you... are still just a little girl."
Ino growled, barely standing up. Temari followed suit, just as bad. The poison fully made her weak. She needed to finish this quick. "K-Kamaitachi no Jutsu!"
A gale knocked Ino into the air and Temari, with all her might, sent Ino to a wall. Temari collapsed to her knee. Hayate had already had his hand down. "Winner: Temari!"
"Unbelievable. To think, a little squirt like that cause Temari so much trouble." Kankuro grunted. He smirked however. "Looks like I got something to tease her about."
"Pitiful display, Temari." Gaara said to his older sister as she slugged up to the balcony. "That match shouldn't had been longer than five minutes. Instead, you took your time."
She muttered sarcastically, "Thanks." She wasn't expecting a cheer from Gaara but damn, she wanted some type of nod of acknowledgement.
"Good job!" Naruto smiled over at Temari. "You're a kick-ass wind user!"
"It's that kid again." Kankuro muttered. Temari didn't share his look of annoyance but she didn't share an appreciation for the kid's friendliness. Instead she smirked at the words "Kick-ass wind user!" come out the kid's mouth.
"At least I get a compliment from somewhere." Temari sighed dramatically.
She frowned a little when she felt a glare. In the corner of her eyes, she saw that Hyuuga girl glare at her. She glared back at her, and watched the girl cringe and shrink back to herself. 'What's up with her? She likes him or something? Look, little bitch, I'm not trying to steal your boy from you, but he's coming over drooling over me.' She then smirked to herself. 'Not my fault I'm sexy.'
Shikamaru sighed, "How troublesome. I can hear Ino's loud mouth now, droning on how she lost and this and that."
Chouji nodded, while looking onto the monitor. "I wonder who's gonna fight next."
"Oh wow! What a match!" Tenten grinned. After watching Lee kick Kiba's butt and that Suna girl put a show against the Ino girl, she was ready to fight more than anything.
"Yes! Ino-san and Temari-san! Osu! Such tenacious and action in that fight!" Lee was also ready to fight as well, silently cursing his luck with not being able to fight later than first. "I cannot wait to fight Temari-san in the next round!"
"That's just it, Lee." Neji put his two cent in, folding his arms. "You're fighting her in the next round. She and that fan can blow you away before you can even touch her. It's not gonna be an easy fight against her."
"Osuu! I'll make sure I go all out against her!" He then grinned his teammate. "I assure you – you and me will fight in this tournament soon enough!"
Neji scoffed, "Since I train with you everyday, I doubt you'll bring anything new to the table against me, Lee. Concentrate on fighting your next opponent."
"Yosh! I will defeat you! With hard work and determination!" Lee grinned, giving Neji a thumb's up.
Neji again scoffed at his teammate. "It was fate that you lost and it is fate that you will-"
"Lee, shut up. Neji, don't sprout that 'fate' shit again. Quiet you two! The next match is about to begin!" Neji glared a little at his female teammate but nodded silently, and turned his head to the monitor.
In yellow lights, two newer names popped up.
Third Match – Sakura Haruno Of Konohagakure vs Kin Tsuchi Of Otagakure
"Fighting that stupid little pretty bitch huh?" Kin smirked. "It's gonna be fun smacking around pinkie."
Zaku grinned at his teammate. "Aw, what's up with you? You gonna hurt the cute girl now?" His tone was one that told he cared not for what happened to Sakura.
"I been waiting to smack that smile on her face all day. And the fact that Orochimaru-sama said we could kill anyone if we want before we gotta go handle the Uchiha." Kin smirked. "Oh I am definitely gonna have some fun."
Dosu closed his one good eye. "Finish it off quickly. She shouldn't be anything to you. We do have another mission to 'meet' with Sasuke Uchiha. Do not waste chakra on a weak girl like that."
Kin smirked and jumped down to her side of the arena. Sakura came on the other side, with a face of determination. Kin sneered, "Alright, little girl. This isn't a fashion show – time to give up now and forfeit before I beat 'I give up!' out of you."
"Was that suppose to scare me?" Sakura scoffed.
"No. But I'm really glad you decided to stay and fight. Probably for some stupid reason to impress your teammates. I won't hurt you too much like that green boy did to that mutt of your teammate." Kin grinned, flashing a few senbon needles in the middle of her fingers.
Sakura grinned as well. "Eager, are we?"
"Examinor: start the match!" Both girls cried out.
Hayate nodded. "I see you two are ready to fight, so I will skip asking the obvious "Are you ready?" question. Match 3: Sakura Haruno Of Konohagakure vs Kin Tsuchi Of Otagakure! Begin!" Hayate moved out the path of the raging females.
In a flash, senbon were thrown at the feet of Sakura Haruno. She dodged quickly, and launched her own set of kunai at the black haired girl. Kin spun on her toe and again unleashed a barrage of senbon at her feet. This time, they all had bells.
'Bells? What are those for-' Suddenly a ring began in her ears and then traveled up to her brain. 'G-Guh! What is this?'
"You notice it now, don't you?" Kin smirked. "Those bells aren't because I think they look cute like you do or to pretty up my senbon. They're there so I can pull off my genjutsu. Now that I got your hearing the bells, you'll hear it forever."
"What... did you do?" Sakura gritted her teeth. 'I can barely move to make do the Genjutsu Release. I can't believe I fell for it so easily!'
"This genjutsu is very effective, you see. If I wanted to drag this along – and I do – I can keep it on so long, that you cease to have motor skills. So as long as it doesn't stop ringing." She smirked. In Sakura's eyes, she knew Sakura was starting to see thousands of her. "The match hasn't even been a minute yet and you already lost. So, how about I make this more fun?" Kin grinned evilly as she picked out her back pouch several needles that did not have the bells on it.
"Make... make it stop!" Sakura gritted through her teeth.
"Don't ever ask for whom the bells tolls, because it tolls for you." The hundreds of Kin Tsuchi illusions chanted, fooling her sights to make her believe they were all real. They all laughed at Sakura. Laughed even more in delight as Sakura yelled in pain at the senbon now jarred in her shoulder.
"Man, that Kin is a brutal bitch." Naruto grunted. "But Sakura isn't done for yet. She just needs an opportunity."
Sasuke scoffed at Naruto's comment. "Can't believe she let herself get caught in that genjutsu like that."
"No, Sakura didn't know what those bells were for." Kakashi shook his head. "If she knew, she wouldn't be in this situation."
Kin momentarily stopped to walk up in back of Sakura, who still suffered, seeing millions of the black haired girl pop up in the arena. "This pink hair is a little too nice, don't you think?" Out her pouch, she did raise a kunai instead of a senbon. "Now that you're in my possesion, perhaps I'll give you a hair cut like that blond girl did." But she never had the chance – Sakura had already slashed off her ponytail.
Kin's eyes widened. "Y-You? How?"
Sakura grinned, largely in pain. She was slightly miffed that she had to cut her hair to escape her grasp again but not too much. "Well, you mostly. Since you made me into a pin cushion, I just took a needle out and jammed it into my leg, to the best of my ability. It worked. I just did it as quick as I could before you took notice."
Kin growled. She dug out more senbon. This pink haired bitch wasn't gonna get the slip on her twice. "No matter how fast you got out, this time you won't be getting out!"
Sakura had already went for some hand seals. "No, I don't think I got to worry about that." Finally stopping at the tiger hand seal, she shouted, "Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" Out the pinkette's mouth, the grandest of all the fireballs she shot out came forth to melt the metal projectiles, even the ones that had bells on it. Sakura knew Kin didn't have unlimited bells to tie onto her senbon, so she didn't worry too much about the genjutsu anymore. No bells meant no more genjutsu to worry about.
Kin grunted, trying to jump out the fireball's path, but gasped when the pink haired girl, who had shorter hair now, flashed out of thin air at her side. 'She's faster than I thought!' And yelled in pain, as Sakura slammed a good right hook to her face. She flew to the wall, hitting her head on it.
Kin rolled to the ground, out like a light and wouldn't get back up for a while. Sakura cracked her knuckles. "Sensei always did say I can throw a mean hook."
"And with good reasons." Hayate unconsciously shuddered. The Oto girl was completely knocked out just with one fist. "Winner of the match: Sakura Haruno."
"Wow." Zaku sarcastically began. "She sure did well."
"What did I tell her?" Dosu shook his head. "That sadistic attitude of hers needed to be set aside. Not that it matters though – we will still be the victors of our matches."
Zaku grinned. "Hell yeah."
"I... can't believe Sakura beat her." Sasuke grunted out, in disbelieve.
"Remind me to never piss Sakura off." Naruto said out loud. He already knew never to be on Tsunade and/or Sakura's shit list but nothing wrong with any reminding that Sakura was a natural hazard right?
Sasuke nodded numbly, unconsciously shuddering.
Sakura grinned as she walked back up to the balcony. "How's that for showing how much I grown?"
"You got yourself out of a sticky situation." Kakashi grinned. "Good job."
Sakura did the most best thing she could do in her situation: she rubbed her head sheepishly and smiled in a very Naruto-ish way. "Thanks, sensei!"
"Haha, nice! Looks like I gotta worry about someone when I get to next round, eh?" Naruto smirked.
"If you make it to the next round." Sakura smirked back, reminding Naruto that he hasn't won yet.
Naruto just laughed.
Unexpectedly, a third voice was heard in this. "...good job."
Sakura knew for some time in the beginning of this training how much she wanted to hear "Good job" from Sasuke, how much she wished he looked her way. Now he was, the feeling was just so... bittersweet. It didn't feel horrible but it wasn't a great thing he finally did. She was happy she got a "good job", but right there and then, he felt so much like a teammate, more than someone she was waiting to hear a congrats from. And still from here it didn't sound like he really meant it.
For the best way to respond to this, all Sakura did was nod and mutter a "Thanks" that all three males could have heard. Sasuke didn't seem to be bothered by her and simply nodded before turning to the monitor. Sighing for one last time, she went to look at the monitor, wondering how would it feel to hear Kiba say "Good job!".
The yellow lights began to light up again...
End.
Oh god, that was a lot of fighting to do! 13,000+ words! Almost ran out of ideas to help Sakura, and Ino. Didn't know what to do with Ino at first, but it worked out well. Kinda a deus ex machina that Kurenai just helped her out with her moves. The Chakra Scalpel didn't work so well because Ino is good with it, but not great and she's certain not on Kabuto's level with it. He can cut wood with it, but Ino can't. Definitely can cut hair and flesh with it, but not wood and rock yet. And certainly not metal.
Kiba definitely could not beat Lee. Lee's faster than him with the weights on, and Kiba has no speed boost without his Four Legs Technique on. With it on, he trumps Lee's speed. With the weights off, Lee's a fucking blur to Kiba.
In all, I think I did good with their fights and I changed it up. No more dull ninja fights from the Chunnin Exams you always see in normal fics. Rock Lee's gonna be fighting fucking Temari soon! Ino actually gotten better and Sakura's going to be important in the Chunnin Exams arc! That deserves a "whoop whoop, bitches!" to me. Now Sasuke, Dosu, Chouji, Shikamaru, Tenten, Hinata, Neji, and Zaku is left to fight. Oh, and some two douches from Kabuto's douchebag team. And let's not forget our star character Naruto now! I wonder whose gonna fight who? Hmm...
Poison, mind, and medical techniques are things I'm focusing on with Ino. Sakura's got elements, medical techniques and later I'm giving her training from the legendary sannin, of course. I got a plan for Ino as well... hehehe.
More techniques, action, and battles to come.
Technique List!
Fire Release: Fire Passing Fang (Katon: Katsuuga) – A collaboration technique between Akamaru (via Beast-Human Clone) and Kiba. Akamaru spins into the normal drill that Tsuuga is, while Kiba lights Akamaru on fire, increasing the burning power and cutting power of the drill. Spinning prevents the flames from burning Akamaru and sequentially ending the technique. Until the attack hits a target, Akamaru does not stop spinning.
Rank: None
Chakra Usage: Low
Chakra Control: None
Technique Class: Offensive
Type/Classification: Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, Collaboration Jutsu
Hand Seals: None
Range: Short to mid-range
Users: Kiba Inuzuka, Akamaru (via Beast-Human Clone)
The rest of the techniques don't belong to me.
Well, guys, talk to you guys later and see you in chapter 18!