Next chapter: Semi-finals.
Sora flicked his hand toward the two Sand and tied the last piece of wire to a nearby root before releasing the genjutsu. As their movements began to speed up once more Sora had the pleasure of seeing even more terror appear on their faces. With quick, birdlike sweeps of their heads they regarded their situation. "We won't talk." Sora raised a brow and chuckled, not in the least interested about what they wanted to say. "Good, I don't like meaningless bubbling. What kind of scrolls do you have? And I know you have more than one set, these Genin hinted as much." The leading Sand clamped his jaw shut and shot his friend a hard glare, telling him to keep his mouth shut with his eyes. "I won't tell. No matter how you torture us, we won't talk." Sora dipped his head, sweeping his hair out of his face with his fingers. "Like I said, I don't like meaningless bubbling." With a single hand Sora grabbed the Sand in an iron grip and opened his eyes to their full extent, his Sharingan already breaking down the wall within the Sand's mind. "You don't have to say anything. I'll take it out of your mind." And he did, he ripped the information from the shinobi's mind before letting him go, leaving him shivering and shaking as if cold.
With quick movements Sora retrieved the Sand's scrolls from a hollow in a tree not twenty feet from the clearing, making sure to dismantle the explosive tag on the inside and cutting the wire to the pitfall beneath him at the same time. Grabbing the six scrolls, three complete sets of Heaven and Earth scrolls, and headed back to the clearing. "Which scroll do you need?" The three Leaf Genin looked surprised but responded without hesitation and Sora handed them a Heaven scroll. He took the scroll he needed, an Earth scroll, and place another set close to the Sand's feet. "You could defeat the other Genin so you deserve to pass this test so you can keep these. These however," and here he held up the remaining two scrolls, "Will go to whoever find them." With a shout Sora launched the two scrolls into the air, one going deeper into the heart of the forest and one toward the south gate, which would put it anywhere between the tower and the gate. With a kunai Sora cut the wire holding the Sand in place and started walking away, motioning for the trio from the Leaf to follow him.
When Sora reached the tree Kairi stuck her head over the small platform the tree trunks made and smiled at him, a smile that made him chuckle and groan at the same time. Waving his hand upward he bid Gabriella, Yaksha and Shin upward, going after them a second later. When he reached the top he almost burst out laughing, the sight was so funny. Raziel was curled up in front of the trio Sora had brought with him, one green eye focused on them while the other regarded Kairi with an almost questioning expression. Walking past Shin he touched Raziel on the jaw and went to sit down on the branch he'd made his own. As he sat down he looked into the one green eye visible. "Raziel, they can sleep here tonight." Baring his fangs in what would have been a cheery smile if it hadn't come from a snake who could swallow them whole Raziel slithered over to Ivy and curled up beside her with his head mere inches from her right hand.
Sora sat beside Gabriella as he kept watch, the girl looking over the forest with keen eyes. Now that he could look at her closely he realised that she would be a great beauty later in life, her tragically pointed chin would transform into a narrow point framed by a long, lean neck. Her round cheeks would lose the baby fat that she hadn't lost yet to reveal cheekbones that would be high and delicate, that would give her the expression of dignity no matter how embarrassed or rude her expression. Her enormous eyes would turn slanted and mysterious instead of cute or terrified. "You should grow your hair out. It would complete what you will become." Her hair just brushed her shoulders, spiky and ragged around her face. Her hair was a pale gold, complementing her tanned skin without making her look shabby. Her blush made her eyes all the brighter, something Sora couldn't help but notice. With a subtle motion he leaned back against the bough he sat upon and activated his Sharingan, curious to see what the girl really was. Even though it was dark he could see perfectly, even better than his now-normal eyes. As Gabriella stared at him openly with a stare reserved to those who kill without reason and those who have suffered unnamed agony he looked into her gold tinged hazel eyes. With a sigh he let his Sharingan slip away, no longer having the chakra to use it as he usually would. "Wake me at dawn, will you?" Gabriella gave a curt nod and Sora closed his eyes and allowed his tired body to drag him into sleep.
Kairi opened her eyes and looked into green eyes she let out a tiny shriek, calming herself when she finally placed the eyes. "Raziel, get away." She shoved at his head like she would at a probing hand and he opened his mouth in a toothy grin. She liked the snake, he had a quirky personality streaked with warmth and playfulness, like a kitten. She knew he could hurt her but she couldn't help but compare him with a kitten, for he was a playful kitten if he wasn't scaring her to death. When he nudged her with his big head, more gentle than she thought possible, she sighed and swung her legs down from the bed of moss she'd made for herself. Ivy was already awake, like she always was, but Sora and two of their guests were still asleep, the girl Gabriella standing beside Ivy. Looking at them through her sleep-laden eyes she couldn't help but think that Gabriella was a shorter, rounder version of Ivy. The two of them even stared toward the horizon with the same kind of detached love. Ivy loved nature, especially nature overburdened with trees older than the land itself. And it seemed to her at that moment that Gabriella was made of the same stuff, loving nature but more than willing to bathe in the blood of her enemies if it saved the trees she loved so much.
As Kairi stared Gabriella turned her hazel eyes toward her, and meeting her stare with her a fiery intensity that Ivy had when she was bored, a tempered kind of strength. With a flick of her eyes Kairi broke away, impressed with the strength the girl had. 'Then why couldn't she defend herself last night? Was she afraid or what?' But the more Kairi looked at Gabriella her certainty that the girl hadn't been afraid grew stronger. As she studied Gabriella the boys still asleep started to stir, Gabriella's team mates standing up while Sora just sighed and rolled out of his seat until he knelt with one arm against the ground for balance. For a second Sora seemed to rear up before he sank back down, his face tired. 'He's pushing himself.' Kairi knew that Sora had been pushing himself further than he should for more than a week, but she had let him because she knew he wouldn't listen to her. With a grunt Sora rose to his feet and gave her a tired smile, his eyes dark behind a veil of his hair.
Sora activated his Sharingan to make sure that no one was stalking them and almost collapsed when his body seemed to burn with a fire that seared his veins. He knew he was utterly exhausted and that pushing himself as he was would kill him. With a dry chuckle he figured out why the second part of the Chūnin exam was three days long, not just one and not over five. 'The people who use their chakra carelessly or the people who don't have all that chakra at all wouldn't have time to recover between fights and travelling. With one day you could just run all the way to the tower and steal the scroll you need and with seven you can attack slowly. But with three, you can't recover, it's too much time and too little.'
Tired as he was Sora lagged behind the rest of his group, Raziel beside him. The great serpent continually coiled and uncoiled his body to move effortlessly from tree to tree, his movements fast but easily maintained. Gabriella and her group had left the soon after they had broken camp, telling him that they were heading toward the tower. Sora's team was moving toward the tower as well, but slowly, carefully. Ivy had already dismantled five traps and they've barely been moving for an hour. Soon after they had broken away from Gabriella she had stopped by another ancient oak, doing as she'd done the previous day and drawing the renewed layout on another scroll. Even though they were steadfastly avoiding any shinobi they were encountering trap after trap, the work of someone who didn't want to be followed. But from the leaves and branches concealing the traps Ivy had determined that the traps were days old. "It was probably Anko making this a bit of fun." And Anko was having fun, Sora had already heard dozens of surprised screams, the work of traps, or so Ivy told him.
Raziel was more than able to sniff out traps, for he had detected traps Ivy had overlooked, earning a good scratching from Ivy. And so Sora called Ivy and Kairi to a halt when Raziel hissed menacingly before glaring into a clump of fir trees far to the right. As Sora watched a shinobi popped from the clump of concealing firs, a drawn bow in his hands. From what Sora could see he was from the Sand but a bow wasn't something someone from the Sand would use, they either relied on chakra or their own brute strength. And from the look of the bow Sora guessed the former, for the arrowhead was wrapped in a swirling blade of wind, forming a drill. "Don't let the arrow touch you! It'll bore straight through!" From Sora's left there came a bloodied shinobi, the Hyuuga's eyes staring at the bow wielding Sand with evident caution. Before Sora could question the Hyuuga further the archer fired, the arrow surrounded in a nimbus of swirling air as it shot toward Ivy. Before Ivy could move out of the way or even move Raziel was there. His body blocked Ivy from view as the arrow touched the scales on his back, scales Sora knew could deflect a direct hit from a Water Fang Bullet jutsu without a scratch. These scales split as the arrow buried itself in Raziel's body, Raziel spitting in pain as he glared at the archer with a look of anger Sora would recognise in a human.
Sora watched as Raziel widened his eyes as he stared at the archer, his eyes turning black as he stared. With a scream the archer let go of the arrow he was already holding against his ear and it drilled through a tree beside Raziel, the arrow moving through the tree almost twenty feet in diameter, still having enough power left to split a rock set inside the cliff behind the tree. Sora remembered what Ivy had told him. "...not uncommon for a snake or some other giant hunter to use the power of its mind to subdue or even kill with their minds..." But Sora hadn't thought that the psychic attack from a snake could be strong enough to make a human's ears, nose, eyes and mouth bleed. With another spitting hiss Raziel launched himself forward and sank his fangs deep into the Sand's neck. There he remained, his body wrapping around the shinobi's body with multiple snaps as the shinobi's bones broke from the sheer strength of Raziel's embrace.
While Sora watched Raziel unwrapped himself from the Sand shinobi and slither back toward them slowly, his broken scales weeping large tears of blood. When he settled on a branch not far away Ivy went to him and carefully pulled the arrow from his body. As the arrow fell to the ground Raziel's eyes turned green once more and he licked his wound, golden venom falling into the wound. With a hiss Raziel tensed his body as the wound started smoking, the wound closing and healing within seconds.
Kairi looked away from Raziel and down toward the Hyuuga who had warned them about the Sand shinobi. With a flutter of leaves she dropped to the ground and looked him up and down. "Are you hurt?" The Hyuuga shook his head but Kairi could see a hole punched through his shoulder, the same kind of wound she's seen in Raziel. She made the necessary seals and laid her hands on both side of his chest as she went to stand beside him, the wound closing slowly. Kairi 's medical jutsu was better than Sora's but not even close to Sakura's, still she could regenerate the bones, muscle and skin the shinobi had lost. "What's your name?" He smiled at her through the pain. "Kuwa Hyuuga." Kairi nodded and smiled at his slightly, not losing her focus on the jutsu. Before long Kuwa had full use of his arm again and he left to go help his friends against the other Sand who had attacked them.
Kairi joined Sora as he looked toward the horizon, the shadows under his eyes prominent. "What are we going to do? We're wasting time on these traps but we can't avoid them. We can't even use the tunnels because they lead away from the tower." His voice was rough and tired and Kairi turned him toward her, pulling at the corner of his frowning lip, turning it into a crooked smile. Before long Raziel was ready to continue and Ivy led them on a path that would take them to the side of the tower, so they would be close but not close enough for the bounty hunters to detect them. Before long the forest gave way to dirt, small tufts of grass growing in the shade some of the scattered trees gave. With a sigh Ivy sat down next to the cliff and started taking her boots off, her pants and shirt following shortly afterward.
Sora went to stand beside Ivy but kept his eyes away from her, afraid that he would blush. With a dry chuckle she took his hand and tugged, forcing him to look at her. She had clothes on, skin-tight silky pants with a billowy shirt. With another smile she flung herself from the cliff, splashing into the lake below. Before long Kairi joined him and they both stripped to their barest, smooth silken pants for Sora and Kairi wearing much the same as Ivy. With a grin Kairi jumped from the cliff, her shirt billowing in the wind her descent made. With a step Sora joined her, taking a deep breath before he plunged into the crystal clear water. When he reached the bottom of the very large but relatively shallow lake he looked up and watched as Ivy descended toward him, her hair floating around her. She smiled at him and small bubbles escaped from her mouth. Sora smiled in return and watched as a very colourful fish swam past, its dorsal fin twice as long as it's lean body.
Sora breached the surface of the lake and watched Kairi pad toward him with smooth strokes of her lean arms. Living on an island for most of your life made you a very strong swimmer, and Kairi was a prime example. She could hold her breath for longer than most professional swimmers and her movements were smooth and strong, propelling her forward faster than some fish. Sora too was adept at holding his breath and swimming but Kairi's ability far exceeded his, evident in how she beat him in the small race they had and could follow the fish for longer than he could.
While Sora was below the water he saw a shadow moving above him, the sun directly overhead. He was certain it was someone who was standing on the cliff, but he couldn't make out their face, the water and the sun prevented that. So with a kick he swam upward, breaching the surface a second later. He was right, it was someone, Kuwa Hyuuga to be specific, two people who must have been his team-mates at his sides. And above them loomed Raziel, his tongue lapping at the air. Kuwa seemed to be talking to the serpent, his mouth moving and his hands gesturing. With a bored blink Raziel turned away, moving down the cliff via the small ridge that surrounded the lake. With a splash Raziel joined them and Kuwa a second after him, his body still bloody but his shoulder healed without a scar. "May we join you friend?" With a small nod from Sora Kuwa relaxed, his body unclenching. "Thank you. I was wondering why you left me to return so I followed after we defeated the Sand shinobi. We had to see if you were all right, we Leaf should look out for each other, yes?" Behind him Ivy padded by and Kairi was far below, looking up at them through the mass of water. "Yes. We must look out for each other." With a relieved sigh Kuwa waved his companions down, the two of them splashing into the water a second later.
Though a battle was raging in the distance and time was slipping through their fingers Sora and his team enjoyed their swim. The team that had joined them was enjoying it as well but they still required their scroll. So when they finished their swim they decided to relax on the banks. As lunch was fast approaching and there really was a lot of large fish in the lake they decided to catch some fish. Sora sent Kuwa and Kama, one of Kuwa's companions, to gather some wood. Kuwa was grumbling as they left but Kama seemed pleased with doing something productive. Without further ado he turned back to the lake and nodded to Kairi, who used Water Pillar to draw some of the fish out of the water. With needles Ivy carried in her pouch in the place of shuriken she impaled the fish as the rose out of the water, wire attached to the needles to easily retrieve the fish.
As they waited for the wood Sora had the last of Kuwa's team, a boy with the name Enoki, dig a pit to protect the fire against gusts of wind. So while Enoki dug his pit Sora helped Ivy with cleaning and gutting the fish, a squishy, nasty experience that made him shiver with disgust. Before long both Kama and Kuwa returned, their arms stacked with wood and the Sand shinobi who had attacked them strapped over Kama's shoulder. With a finger dirtied with fish guts and scales Sora pointed to the pit Enoki had already finished. Sora cleaned his hands of filth and looked at the pit filled almost to the brim with wood and drew in a deep breath, his hands using a series of seals he hadn't used in that order before. 'Fire style: Dragon fire skill.' With a gentle breath to make the stream of fire as thin and controlled as possible Sora blew out a continuous flame, setting the wood alight in seconds. He made sure to keep the fire's heat as low as possible so he wouldn't turn the wood into ash, something most of his fire techniques did on account of his heavy chakra. With a sigh the flame died, arming his face with a toasty heat. He sank down as a wave of fatigue slammed into him, reminding him anew that he was utterly exhausted.
With sticks cut from a juniper tree they skewered the fish, heating the sticks until the foul tasting sap had evaporated, and stuck them into the ground over the fire. As they waited Sora went swimming again, one of Ivy's needles clamped in his teeth. When he reached the bottom of the pool he pulled a small pipe from around his neck and strung it with wire until it was taut enough to launch the needle fast enough to skewer the fish he now caught. When he was done he wound a bundle of string around the fish he'd killed tails and went to dry off close to the fire. With quick slashes he cut the string and amused himself by throwing the whole fish toward Raziel's gaping jaws. He fed the snake little, or compared to what Sora ate quite a load, for the snake had barely digested the goat he'd caught the night before. The only reason he dared feed the snake was because Ivy had told him that Raziel's kind digested food faster than most any other reptile, faster than a person on account of the bones and horns and other hard matter they had to digest of their kills. He knew that Raziel would have hunted that night anyway, that he would have eaten more than he normally would on account of the fact that he would accompany Ivy into the Leaf and didn't know when he would next have a chance to hunt.
When Ivy called him to eat Sora's stomach grumbled, reminding him anew that he hadn't had breakfast that morning or dinner the previous night. He took a fish that was lying low over the coals and brought it to his mouth, his mouth watering when he smelled the rich flesh. He tilted his eyes upward and watched as Kairi hesitantly bit into her fish, remembering that she'd turned vegan since he'd left the Islands. He knew that she wouldn't devour the flesh from a land dweller and that her conscience even rebelled against her when she ate fish. "It's all right Kairi. All things that live will someday die. These fish were close to death anyway, age had turned their scales pale and their movements slow. We put them out of their misery." As Sora talked Ivy herself paused as she ate, as if she too was being assured of the facts Sora stated. Sora briefly wondered if Ivy herself was vegan, she was part Fey after all.
Their lunch finished Sora, Ivy and Kairi dressed along with Kuwa's group, the cold water refreshing. When they were fully dressed Sora watched as Kama toyed with the bow the Sand had carried, a thin wave of wind always swirling on the slanting tips and thin bowstring. Ivy held her hand out toward it and she caressed the darkened wood with thin fingers, taking an arrow from the quiver Kama had taken from the Sand's corpse. With deliberate ease she nocked the arrow and drew it to her ear, holding the stiff string with ease. With a puff of air the arrow shot from the arrow and a thin torrent of wind surrounded the tip, allowing it to bore through the boulder she aimed at."A true treasure, a natural conductor of wind chakra. Use it well." Ivy gave the bow and quiver of arrows back to Kama and strode over to the edge of the cliff, her eyes focusing on something in the distance.
Sora said his farewell with Kairi and Ivy before he started toward the tower, Kuwa's group heading in the opposite direction toward three shinobi Kuwa had seen with his Byakugan. Kama had his hand on his bow as they disappeared into the gloom. With another look toward them Sora joined Kairi as she jumped from bough to bough, the trees great limbs not even quivering from the impact. Before long the tower in the centre of The Forest of Death came into view above the canopy, a bare smudge of brown against the green forest. Before the sun set they made camp, high in the trees again. To increase their defence Ivy drew the trees closest to them closer still and formed a wall of wood and leaves that hid them from view and also muffled their voices.
Late that night Kairi was looking up at the stars, Sora's head above hers. "Tomorrows the big day." Much to her annoyance he replied with a grunt, followed by a yawn. "Are you gonna make it Sora? Tomorrow I mean?" This time he stayed silent for so long Kairi thought he'd fallen asleep. "I will try my best. My best is better than most but there are still warriors who can outfight me." Kairi knew this was true, Kakashi was a prime example. "Do you think I'll make it?" His sigh made her prop herself up on an elbow and look at him, his own eyes heavy upon her. "Kairi...if you try hard enough you can kill anyone. Uriel has complimented you more than he's complimented me or Riku. And look how far you've come with your jutsu. Last week you couldn't even use Water pillar, now you can use Great Waterfall without a hitch. If I used that much chakra I'd pass out, I have passed out from using that much. You could break Kakashi's genjutsu without trying while I had to bleed and burn within my mind before I could even touch him." Sora's praise surprised her, he was rarely someone for praise. He complimented and teased but he never praised.
Sora knew Kairi's weak spot, flattery. What he said was perfectly true, he was holding back what he really thought about her in fact. He knew she was stronger than him, if just in focus and stamina. His endurance outstripped her and his chakra could swallow hers whole with room to spare but she could easily beat him in any fight; genjutsu, ninjutsu and maybe taijutsu. 'I don't want to fight her, that's for sure.' As a satisfied smile spread over Kairi's face Sora himself smiled and laid back on the bed of soft moss he'd made for Kairi and himself. BY unspoken conclusion Ivy had taken the night's watch, Raziel would watch when she slept. Because she slept so little Raziel himself would be able to sleep deeply before morning arrived. Before Ivy had crooned a song to make the trees embrace them she had gone hunting, not for animals or even shinobi. She had returned an hour later, a smile splitting her face and a large bundle in her arms. When she'd lain the bundle down on the floor Sora recognised some of the ingredients, for Iruka had mentioned them on numerous occasions. Most gave energy when there was no other choice but others did the opposite, gathering energy instead of releasing it when digested. She had shaped a bowl out of a stump and had mashed all the herbs and plants into pulp before mending them into three separate clumps, one for each of them. With a series of techniques Sora failed to grasp she's dried the concoctions out before watering them down thrice, had ground them together and poured a small vial over each clump, green smoke rising where the drops fell.
Sora watched as Ivy moulded the three lumps of moist pulp into small spheres before laying them next to a fire she'd made and flattered. As the three spherical lumps dried the crushed herbs changed colour, each herb turning a different colour of green or brown. Before Sora closed his eyes to sleep Ivy walked closer, a lump in each hand while hers was next to her own mattress of moss. She handed Sora his lump and Kairi hers and bid them to eat. "We're tired. Sora, you're going to collapse the way you keep running around and saving the children. Eat, it'll make you feel better." With a resigned shrug Sora bit into his dried lump, the herbs spicy and sweet upon his tongue. He had expected something bitter and tasting of mould or rotten leaves. Instead he found himself enjoying the lump, the small pieces he'd already swallowed warming him from within. Beside him Kairi made a sound of enjoyment, her own lump almost finished. With another shrug Sora dug in, the lump finished before he was.
Sora closed his eyes and tried to sleep, the warmth the herbs made making him feel safe and secure. Before he could open his eyes to thank Ivy he was gone, his eyes opening to bright daylight a second later. To his utter astonishment and relief he found that he was completely rested, more so than he'd been in weeks. He stretched and groaned in pleasure as his muscles flexed without pain. Something that had been bothering him since he'd graduated from the Academy. Both Ivy and Kairi shared his thoughts, they moved about with smiles they obviously weren't aware of and Ivy even sang a soft song that made the hair on the back of Sora's neck stand on end. They ate a light breakfast, for the herbs had suppressed their hunger, aware that they may be fighting later that day. With a murmured thanks to the trees Ivy parted the trees shielding their camp and they jumped down, their bodies light as air as they dropped to the ground, and started toward the tower.
Though they were very close to the tower they only reached it at high noon, many bounty hunters barring their way along with shinobi who had either lost their scrolls to another team or who had somehow survived the fighting without gaining a scroll at all. After the third ambush Sora finally lost his temper, cool though his head may be. He activated his Sharingan and started running recklessly into the trees, Ivy trailing a mere step behind him while Kairi and Raziel brought up the rear. With quick movements Sora took out the four shinobi who stood in their way and took out the fourth shinonbi's team as they came running.
Sora skid to a halt before the great doors that lead into the tower, breathing heavy from the exertions. With a grunt he opened the door, the doors were heavy after all. Beyond a wall covered in runes met them, the room large and airy with high windows and open spaces. They walked in with light footsteps and Kairi pulled out their Heaven scroll and Sora their earth, finally opening them and seeing the seal inside. As the two scrolls started smoking Sora threw the scroll onto the floor in front of him and Kairi threw hers over his, the summoning jutsu complete. And from the smoke Kakashi appeared, a pleased expression on his covered face. "Cut it close didn't you?" Sora grinned and shook his head, Kairi and Ivy glaring at him in annoyance. Raziel hissed but stayed where he was, towering behind Ivy. Instead of staring at the snake like Sora though he would Kakashi slowly shook his head and smiled at them, his eye closing in merriment. "You did it! Congratulations team."
Instead of doing what he wanted, which was laugh and scream in joy, Sora inclined his head toward the wall and read the inscription, seeing the missing rune. "What's missing?" With a glance Kakashi turned toward the wall, drawing Sora's attention upward. And thus Kakashi explained, taking care to explain the significance. Sora understood, he'd read the completed phrase many times in the scrolls Iruka had given him. When Kakashi was done he led them into a massive room, a pair of hands forming a seal at the very end, a platform with railings surrounding the open area except for the wall that the hands originated from.
Sora waded into the Genin who had passed the second test, noting that their number had dwindled by only five teams, less than most previous Chūnin exams. Considering that Sora knew what would follow, for all Chūnin exams with too many contestants did it: preliminaries. But the Genin around him didn't seem to know that, they all seemed pleased that they had passed the second part of the test. Beside him Ivy was looking excited, bloodlust and something else shining in her eyes. She too knew that preliminaries were inevitable.
And so it was, Anko started talking from the front and she introduced the third examiner of the Chūnin test , a Jōnin called Botan. "He's good, he won't let anyone die if he can help it. And even if he can't help it the mentors would step in." Kakashi whispered, making Sora and his team miss what Botan was saying. Tsunade made a speech next, it was brilliant, inspiring courage and strength from the tired Genin...That is, before she informed them of the preliminaries. "You have succeeded where others would have failed. But too many succeeded so we will initiate in eighteen rounds of combat, individual combat. Unless any here wish to resign from this test. If you choose to resign you will be escorted to the entrance of the forest with your mentors. Who here wish to try again next time?" From the thirty-six shinobi present eight threw in the towel, limping and groaning toward the doors a Jōnin held open for them, their mentors around them. "Very well, twenty eight remain, so there will be fourteen rounds." When no other shinobi left Tsunade flashed a quick smile at them all and back away toward the stairs, everyone streaming up the stairs to observe the fights. From a board in the wall came two rotating lists, the names of everyone still present flashing. When the dials stopped flashing Botan called the two shinobi down and they initiated combat.
While the two shinobi below fought Sora made sure to follow their movements, made sure to examine their way of fighting, for he knew he might very well end up fighting them if he won his fight. Beside him Kairi looked down at the fight with an intensity he had rarely seen, even in combat. And beside her Ivy was amusing herself by scratching at the scales on Raziel's snout, the snake's head lifting to make the scratching rougher. Across from him Sora watched as six familiar faces moved around the arena. Gabriella waved at him when he met her gaze and she started running, much to Yaksha and Shin's aggravated cries. To Sora's left Kuwa's group came toward them with a much slower and regal gait, reaching Sora and Kairi before Gabriella's group. "So you survived. We assumed as much." Behind Kuwa Enoki and Kama nodded their heads, Enoki's face a blank mask as he glanced toward the fight below as one of the combatants cried out in pain. Before Sora could even greet them Gabriella ran up, Yaksha grinning as Shin scowled at her. "He probably won't even remember us." Sora raised a brow but kept his peace, Gabriella's eyes bright with excitement. "What do you think about the other Genin Sora? Will I make it?"
Sora couldn't help but smile at Gabriella's innocent tone, her eyes wider than usual as she watched the shinobi below hack each other to pieces with their kunai. To still the trembling that wracked her small form he laid his hand on her small shoulder. "Don't worry about winning. Winning would be fine but survival is more important. If it seems you can't win don't push yourself, you can try again in the next test if you must." When her mouth opened in betrayal her eyes grew even brighter as tears collected at the corner of her eyes. To sooth her he crouch and looked into her eyes. "If you believe you can win then win, if you think you have a chance try. No matter what happens you have won this fight, you've come this far. If you want to fight someone who can kill you avoid his or her blows when you can and strike quickly, don't let them see grow used to your movements, surprise may yet win most of these fights. And if they dare to try and land a death blow I'll stop them." Gabriella's trembling ceased and she squared her shoulders, her narrow shoulders growing stiff with confidence. She nodded and Sora smiled before moving away, watching the one shinobi limp away while the other was carried away on a stretcher, Botan announced the winner and the revolving bulletin board started spinning again.
Sora watched as the dials slowed, before they stopped with a dull ache. A smile split Sora's face as he read the names. 'Ivy vs. Toki. What a perfect matchup.' Beside him Ivy scowled, her displeasure evident. "Can they at least give me a challenge!" Her words rang out over the hall, her lilting voice fierce with anger. Before she could start screaming at Botan though, Sora pulled her toward him, his eyes meeting hers as they regarded each other. "Ivy, don't kill him if you don't have to. He's not worth it." His voice was low, so low that Kairi and Kakashi couldn't hear. Squeezing her arm he moved away, staring at her with his gaze heavy upon her. She tilted her head to the side and started toward the stairs. Raziel following her.
Ivy allowed Raziel to follow her, his scales rustling dryly as he slithered. When she reached the bottom of the stairs she sidestepped a puddle of blood and looked up at Sora, frowning all the while. 'Why would he think I'd kill a worthless punk like Toki? I wouldn't even have killed him before, it wouldn't even have been fun.' With a sigh she stopped in front of Botan and looked at him, the frown sliding from her face in less than a second. With a sharp hiss Raziel wrapped his body around hers, his head hovering beside her own as his body weighed her down. He wasn't as heavy as people would suspect, she's blessed him with the ability to alter the effect gravity had on him, making him weigh either like a snake a tenth his size or a snake almost four times his size. Though she liked having him near she liked fighting a solo match more, it made it more fun. "Raziel...no." As his tongue lapped her cheek she watched as Toki walked down the stairs, heavy deliberate steps. Raziel fixed her in a pleading stare but she touched his scaly cheek and shook her head, his discomfort her own. But he obeyed, slithering over toward Hayate, Botan regarding him with an intensity that spoke of experience with many snakes. "He won't bite...much. Will you Raziel?" Raziel flashed her a toothy grin and his serrated teeth showed, the pure white needles reflecting the light.
Ivy listened to Botan give the rules and she hurried him on with a flick of her fingers, earning a hard stare in return. When he finally initiated the fight Ivy wasted no time, she jumped back and threw four needles toward Toki, sure that he'd deflect them but intent on keeping him on his toes. She was right, the needles turned in midair and hurtled toward her, the polished surfaces gleaming in the light. Ivy dodged her own needles and started forward, making sure to avoid the wave of sound Toki sent toward her by observing the vibrations in the air. When she was close enough she drew back her leg and slid in behind him, startling him enough to make him look over his shoulder at her. Though she could rip his head off if she so pleased she didn't, instead bringing her leg forward and kicking him in the side. She heard the crack of bone and Toki went flying, his eyes closing in pain. Using a speed unknown to any but the shinobi Ivy moved to intercept Toki before he struck the wall, kicked him in the back and sent him hurtling skyward.
Ivy jumped into the air and waited for Toki as he came toward her, her hands raised above her head in a joined fist. With a rush of air she slammed her fists into Toki's chest, sending him crashing into the ground hard enough to break the stones. Not done yet she cast an assortment of seals and crashed downward, a ball of wind in her hand. Her affinity was earth, but she was almost stronger with wind because it was so destructive, it suited her destructive nature. 'Wind style: Wind impact!' It was a variation of Toki's own tornado, but her attack only made a very small sphere that merely covered her hands in a blanket of pressure that made her strikes more powerful than before. Also, she needn't touch her opponent, as the pressure blanket radiated from her hands like poles, the same length of her arms and rounded, making it more a crushing technique than a cutting one. With a punch that shattered the glass in the enormous room Ivy struck downward, driving Toki into the ground, the tiles caving inward under her blow.
Done, Ivy straightened up and called Raziel, the serpent joining her in a second. All in all her attack had taken less than ten seconds, more three or four seconds than five or six. As Botan made his way into the crater and declared Ivy the winner Ivy was already making her way up the stairs, the shinobi that stood in her way moving aside. When she joined Sora and Kairi she grunted when Gabriella and Kama complimented her, not in the mood for talking.
As a stroke of luck Kairi's match was next...against Kuwa. She fixed her stare on him and smiled a sad smile, a smile spreading over his face as well. He knew she would fight to win, just as she knew he would fight to kill. Kairi jumped over the railing and drifted down, Kuwa landing a second after she did. Botan commenced the fight and Kairi sprang back, Kuwa doing the same. As Kairi watched Kuwa's eyes seemed to grow even whiter and the veins around his eyes stood put in high relief, his pupil shadowed with silver strips. His Byakugan was her biggest worry, as it would tell him when she would attack and how. Though he couldn't cast genjutsu with his Byakugan he could see everything around him, something the Sharingan couldn't do.
Kairi cast her eyes around and failed to see what she needed and frowned. The room didn't have a fountain or a tap, which would give her difficulty in casting water type jutsu. She had started with earth jutsu but she couldn't rely on that, her experience with earth was far too little to use in a fight. So she did what she must, drawing what moisture there was in the air, giving her a source of water. As the water she gathered pooled on the floor Kuwa seemed to know what she was doing, for he started forward and jabbed toward her with his hand outstretched. His hand touched her arm as she blocked, her arm stinging more than she knew it should. With a sweeping kick she drove him away but he was already gone, standing ten feet away. Using the seals she needed she skidded backward until she crouched in the confines of the pools she'd made, gathering the enormous amount of chakra she needed. "Water style: Explosion skill!" Kuwa froze for a second before he jumped, but a second was all it took. Pillars rose from all the puddles Kairi had made and they joined into a swirling pillar of water that shot toward him. If he had immediately jumped out of the way he could have dodged the attack but the second of hesitation was all it took, the pillar slammed into him and exploded, a smaller explosion than normal on account of the small amount of water used. For which Kairi was grateful, if it been a full jutsu it would have killed Kuwa, instead it just knocked him out cold.
Kairi watched as Kuwa fell to the ground below, her vision flashing with fatigue. For a second, a brief cold second in which her body screamed in pain, she thought she might faint. But then a wave of heat flowed into her limbs and she let out the breath she hadn't known she'd been holding. She rose to her feet and took a step forward, her vision turning grey on the edges. She heard Botan declare her the winner via knock-out as if from the end of a tunnel before her legs gave way, someone catching her as she fell. With tired eyes she looked up into crimson eyes, Sora's eyes. With a start she realised that his Sharingan had advanced once more, two tomoe in his eyes. But the two tomoe had shifted, as if to make room for another. It was barely a shift but she knew it meant Sora's eyes were almost complete. He was looking down at her with concern, his arms cradling her closely against his chest. Kakashi stood behind him, Ivy still standing against the banisters with Raziel.
Review! Please?