I don't own Naruto.
Chapter 25: Preliminaries.
The First match was Kankuro of the desert and Tenten vs Nami Nagisa and Shikamaru Nara. The four was still discussing strategy when Kakashi was done explaining the test for Sasuke.
The match started and Tenten swiftly threw kunai at her opponents, the kunai was at the other end of the room in an instant, either buried deeply in the wall or deflected by Nami who was the fastest to react. Kankuro followed quickly behind the kunai and spun a kick at Nami.
She bend under it and gripped the sandal of his left foot, her legs following up, wrapping around Kankuro's head and bringing him down in a graceful roll that looked very painful for the victim. Kankuro's body cracked as Nami rolled up on top of him, the sound making most of the genin in the room wince.
Nami snarled something about blood and twisted Kankuro in a way that would have instantly killed him. If he was Kankuro. The boy broke up, his body turning to wood as his destroyed body parts scattered over the floor.
The wrapped up bundle that had been on Kankuro's back rolled away from Nami. She snarled and jumped at it, but it was suddenly wrapped in wire and was snapped back as Tenten, pulled him back to her.
While Kankuro had been trashed by Nami, Tenten had advanced to Shikamaru. The Nara had been cut several times by a wide range of weapons, all in strategic points to slow him down. Shikamaru had deflected all weapons aimed at his vulnerable areas to the best of his abilities, leaving a mess of weapons littering the floor between him and Tenten.
When Tenten noticed her temporary teammates plight, she had turned her attention to saving him. In the time she took to save Kankuro, Tenten did not notice Shikamaru taking up one of her weapons and sneaking his Shadow towards her.
Tenten frowned as Kankuro released himself from the wrappings and took a red scroll from her pouch. She unsealed the weapons in a flurry of sealing paper, the wind rushing as weapons flew out at her opponents.
Nami nodded at Shikamaru -who winced at a cuts as he moved- and slapped her hands out, holding still for a brief second. Just before the weapons would hit them, water swirled in the air, and Tenten's kunai and various weapons was flung around, flying in all directions except where Nami and Shikamaru was standing.
Shikamaru's shadow was already out, and it swept around the weapons laying around, entrapping their shadows. Getting more power from the lack of light, Shikamaru's shadow reached forth with a vengeance and snapped up with Tenten's.
She froze with a look of dread, her hands shook with the attempt of moving.
If Kankuro noticed, he didn't say as Nami ran into his personal space, her white hair flowing behind her like a cape as she slapped a hand, fingers bend like claws, into his torso. He froze as well, paling.
Behind Nami, Shikamaru made the hand seal for his Shadow possession and his Shadow darted out, darkening. It flung around Nami and grabbed a tight hold on Kankuro's shadow, freezing both enemy genin.
"Surrender," Nami said and picked up a few kunai, twirling them briefly to check the balance. She glanced back at Shikamaru who was beginning to look quite exhausted, "I'm free to attack the two of you as I want."
Tenten frowned, her jaw tensing as she bit out. "We surrender."
The moment she surrendered, Shikamaru let off his jutsu and he as well as his opponents crumbled. He let out a long breath as medic nin entered to area to heal him.
"Thank you." The girl from Cloud said and nodded with respect as Tenten began walking back to her teammates.
"Don't think I will play bait again," Shikamaru groaned and winced at his cuts when he dragged a hand down his face as he looked over at Kankuro who was busy collecting his puppet parts. "How troublesome…"
The screen flashed through names before finally freezing on the next match.
Naruto's eyes widened slightly and gazed over at Temari, he nodded when she narrowed her eyes before looking back to the screen. Temari of the deserted and Naruto Uzumaki vs. Kiba Inuzuka and Yoroi Akado.
Naruto growled with anger, Kiba deserved Chunin. But Naruto was going to be the winner and with the sand lady on his side they didn't stand a chance.
Sasuke caught his hand as he was about to go, there was something about his friend's expression Naruto didn't recognise. "I have a bad feeling about this match."
Naruto grinned reassuringly. "Sasuke, relax! You're looking at the future Hokage! I'll be fine!"
Sasuke smiled. "Okay. It's just that I get this weird feeling when I look at you. During the whole exam, it's like something is about to happen." He shook his head and grinned wryly, letting go of his arm. "It's probably nothing. Forget my mad ramblings."
"Hey," Naruto patted Sasuke on his shoulder, "You're not silly, I'll be extra careful for you. Okay?"
Sasuke nodded. "Okay."
Naruto smiled confidently and jumped over the ledge, so getting down in the arena was a quick business. Soon Temari and he had finalised their strategy and the match was on.
The first part of the plan was simple enough and Naruto made a dozen clones as Kiba and Akamaru's bodies blurred into something looking like his wind tornado jutsu. The tornado flew through the arena and though a few of his clones. In the few seconds it had taken Kiba to destroy half of their plan 1a (Temari did not leave him much room for plan names, he wanted 'Super clone trapping of doom'), Temari had gotten her fan ready and blasted Kiba, a clone or two and Yoroi-something away.
His seven unaffected clones snug a different seals to the floor in a half circle. They all flipped their hands through hand seals and gripped a wind dagger with their right hand.
Kiba rolled into a crouch as the wind stopped, there was narrow cuts over his body and he called shortly for Akamaru before looking over at Yoroi-something. The clones saw their opening and rushed at him, but Kiba's nose was quicker than them and they only attacked to be destroyed.
Naruto face palmed. He needed to practice with clone orders, if they were too specific then the clone wouldn't really be able to do much else. But if they were too vague the clone could go rouge.
One had tried to kill him once.
Temari readied her fan again and Naruto swept up to her side and as she bought her fan down he sent out his own chakra and amplified the effect of her attack. The two and Akamaru was slammed into the wall opposite of them.
Only Kiba and Akamaru came out conscious and the two immediately jumped from yet another wind attack. He was quickly up close to them and this thick nails swiped at Temari's face. She brought her fan up and sparks flew from the contact, making small gouges in the framework. Akamaru's jaw bit down around her ankle as she defended herself.
Naruto grabbed Kiba's leg and swung him around and away, pulling his body down into the floor. Kiba gasped with pain and clawed at Naruto's hands, blood poured from his wrists as he swung Kiba again. His hand slipped on the blood and Kiba went through the air instead of landing face first in the ground. Akamaru abandoned his fight with Temari and ran over to Kiba's side.
Temari flinched, her left ankle biting with pain as she adjusted her stance to swing her fan through the air. Kiba pushed from the ground and he and Akamaru evaded the blast of wind.
Naruto crossed his fingers, his wrist was already healed and several clones popped to life. The clones scattered and formed a 'C' around Kiba. They made hand seals and the air moved in front of them. Kiba spun into a deadly tornado and crashed into an invisible shield. Temari grinned and slashed her fan though the air as if she was ripping open someone's insides. The wind blast ripped through a few clones and cut into Kiba's arms he held up in defence, standing his ground as he protected Akamaru behind him.
Kiba looked around, his nerve colouring the air around him thickly. Naruto almost felt bad.
Temari readied her fan as Kiba tried to escape the half circle of wind shields. Naruto was invaded by memories of Kiba from a different perspective and Kiba's spinning form rushed from the opening and around the clones. The clones popped one after the other as Kiba plowed through them like a knife through butter.
Yoroi-something swiped his hand over one of the clones and it popped, the chakra cloud surging to his palm. Absorbed. A thin yellow glow emitted from his body and the small cuts littering his body healed up in time to be replaced with new ones.
Temari swung her fan, not giving Yoroi time to marvel over Naruto's healing chakra. Kiba dodged but his passing fang technique was slower than before so Naruto was able to follow it better.
Akamaru stopped out of reach of the wind blast but stumbled onto a seal hidden between two tiles in the floor. Electricity ran up the small puppy's body and his white fur stood straight up. Akamaru passed out.
Temari swiftly ran to the left while Naruto took the right side. She placed down seals as she went around, completing the large seal matrix.
"Akamaru!" Kiba growled loudly with anger and ran for his partner. Yoroi stopped him placing a hand on his shoulder and the cuts on Kiba's body also healed up slowly. The yellow glow faded and Kiba stopped in surprise.
Naruto looked over to Temari and she nodded, a wicked smirk on her lips. He crouched down and activated the seals, yellow chakra pulled from the seal he was touching and connected to the next. And the next. And the next. when all the seals had connected a bouble formed around Kiba and Yoroi. It took a few seconds for the seals to activate and their opponents didn't have the time to react in time, getting trapped.
Naruto won.
Aimi is going to die. That was the first thought that ran through Sasuke's mind when he saw the match ups. Aimi was strong but Leonard had cheats.
Big ugly cheats.
He sent a silent prayer to whatever gods ruled in Konoha.
The match started normally enough in Sasuke's opinion. Aimi send an odd looking ball of fire towards Leonard who dodged and parried the katana in Aimi's hand with his axe before it could cut his head off. Leonard returned an attack by teleporting behind Aimi and swinging the fancy axe wide. Aimi spun and raised both of his katana to save himself from being cleaved in two. He was pushed back, losing his footing from the weight pressing against him.
Pulling his left sword from the axe Aimi bend back under the axe as he stopped pressing against it. He swung his sword up and Leonard moved quick as light, deflecting it to the side.
The axe flipped and as Leonard jumped back he flicked the axe up. It smashed into the roof sending dust down as it stayed firmly in place.
Aimi's two katana caught on fire after a brief jutsu. He swung them around, putting his whole body into it as Leonard disappeared again. The sound shinobi had teleported behind Aimi again, he threw his arms up as Aimi's swords cut towards him. He growled at the burning cuts on his arms and kicked out, his sandal ramming into Aimi's gut.
They fought like that for a good minute as Aimi was lead towards where the axe was sticking out from the roof. Leonard teleported to his axe and ripped it loose, letting it fall. It fell down quickly. The cloud genin shouted for Aimi.
Aimi turned quickly to find what had brought his teammates to actually shout in his match, his swords were held up in front of him defensively. The axe slammed down a good hairs breath from Aimi's toes, cutting through the steel of his left blade. Aimi screamed in surprise and jerked back as Leonard landed besides his axe. He flipped it from the floor and swung it vertically. Blood flew as Aimi's abdomen was cut open. Leonard changed his grip on the axe and swung it again, aiming for the kill. "Give up!" he shouted as the axe came dangerously close to Aimi, leaving no time for Aimi to answer.
A second later jounin and medics swarmed the arena, pulling Leonard from Aimi as the axe left yet another trail of red. Painting the floors with his blood.
The next match was Lee and Gaara vs that bandaged sound genin Dousu and Shino, Sasuke could already see it becoming a disaster.
Sasuke looked up at Gaara as he walked past him, the killing intent was potent in the air around him. "Hey, Gaara," He whispered and Gaara turned to look at him with confused tilt of his head. Sasuke gave thumbs up, "Break a leg." he said and immediately regretted it when he saw Temari's horrified look as Gaara gave him a savage grin in response.
That was probably the wrong thing to say. Sasuke winced at his own really poor choice of words.
The genin gathered (Lee jumped off the viewing area and made a large circle of cracks in the floor)
The fight had started out quick and brutal. Sasuke wasn't sure how long the match took, but almost immediately after it started, it had ended, like cooking compared to eating. Cooking could take hours while eating minutes.
Probably not wanting to waste any time before breaking someone's legs, Gaara had gone on the offensive immediately with a manic smile on his lips. His sand had rushed forth, like a waterfall, to cover the entire arena. It had then rushed up all three genin before they could escape to squeeze them. Even Lee, who was Gaara's ally in the exam had been unprepared for an attack and was also wrapped up in sand. The sand squeezed tightly and Dousu Screamed as blood began leaking from the sand around him..
Wind blew past near Sasuke as the present Jounin jumped down and pulled the three from the sand. They landed on the viewing area opposite of Sasuke, letting everyone who looked see them. Dousu from sound had his arms twisted and deformed with blood smeared all over him, making it almost impossible to see if more of him was damaged. Lee looked decent despite the bend arm he had. Shino on the other hand could not stand, he'd fallen immediately, his legs looking like the mess that was dousu's arms.
Sasuke was distantly aware that shino would probably never walk again.
The screen stopped spinning though names and as it stopped, Sasuke gritted his teeth and looked over at his best friend. Her eyes narrowed in determination as they caught his. She nodded confidently and headed for the stairs as their names were announced.
"Kin Tsuchi, Neji Hyuga, Hinata Hyuga and G, please come down."
Sasuke looked over at Neji as his expression changed to anticipation. He might claim to respect the main house of his clan but Sasuke knew he wanted all the chances he could to make them suffer.
Sasuke couldn't really fault him for that.
He would however want to kick him in the balls for his treatment of Hinata.
The fight started out decently enough, both sides, G drew his katana and circled around to stand on Hinata's left. Neji rushed forth, palms flat and at the ready, he was accompanied by senbon at his sides. The senbon made a slight noise as they punctured the walls on the opposite side.
Hinata and G nodded and the boy leaped to the side as Neji engaged Hinata in taijutsu. They stood equally parrying blows and blocking with bursts of Chakra. Hinata bend under an attack and quickly used her feet to block a chakra pathway in Neji's thigh. Her cousin growled and upped his speed, forcing Hinata into a defencive position.
Neji opened his mouth, snarling as Hinata pushed his hand from connecting with er shoulder. "You should just give up, destiny has determined you to lose this fight."
"Too bad I'm stubborn." Hinata twisted away from him and turned her palm for his elbow. Neji slapped her hand away and blocked a tenketsu in her arm.
"You're weak." He smirked with satisfaction.
Hinata rolled her eyes and her fingers twitched into claws as they caught on fire before curling into fists. Her eyes flashed and she leaped into his defence, smashing her fist into his gut. He skidded back, his feet dragging on the floor as he finally came to a stop.
He snarled, as he saw the burned mark on his stomach, his skin was slightly singed. "You even sully yourself with those inadequate jutsu, where did you learn them? Did that weak Uchiha teach them to you?"
Hinata rolled her eyes and engaged her cousin head on.
On the other side of the battle, G was redirecting the senbon sent at him. The bells attached to the ends dinged loudly as they were thrown all around him. A senbon flew past his guard and stabbed into his collarbone.
He stopped moving, a genjutsu taking hold around him. G wobbled on his feet and the sound kunoichi smirked as his eyes glazed over. She casually threw a senbon at him, ripping up a long gash in his neck. Blood flowed out at a dangerous rate and his face began paling.
Hinata quickly noticed and with a final fire punch to Neji's face, she leaped over and shocked G out from the genjutsu with a burst of chakra. She grabbed him and pushed away from their position to move away from the incoming senbon.
Hinata hurried to create a clone and while it deflected all senbon Hinata unpacked her med kit and wrapped up G's neck in bandage. "Can you fight?"
G blinked as if in a daze, he shook his head harshly to shake the last of his confusion and nodded, standing up. "Yeah." Hinata nodded slightly and rushed away to meet Neji as he finished off her clone.
G rubbed his neck picking his sword from the floor and turning it over into the path of a silent senbon.
Swinging his katana into reverse grip, he made an odd clumsy hand seal with his hands. Lightning formed and travelled down his sword to the end where he flicked the charge at the sound genin. She dodged and tugged on her left arm, pulling one of the many senbon from the wall and and stabbing it into G's lower back.
He sheathed his sword and ripped out the senbon, pulling her down flat on the floor. Making a few hand seals, G had lightning travel down the wire and she was shocked into unconsciousness.
With his opponent defeated, G rushed at Neji when a slight crack showed itself in his defences. As he neared, Neji disengaged from Hinata and spun, creating a dome of chakra around him. Both G and Hinata was caught up in the attack and was flung from Neji and into the walls on each side of him, creating cracks at the impact.
G screamed as the senbon which had already been in the walls was shot into his body at impact. He passed out, four senbon hitting him in non vital places and one in his hip, grazing bone.
Hinata was sticking herself to her wall and after a few hand seals she spit a collection of small fire birds at Neji, he jumped to the side, avoiding her attack.
Neji sneered at the jutsu when it flew past him. "You're using Uchiha Jutsu now? How distasteful."
Hinata turned up a lip and launched herself from the wall, directly at Neji as her foot began crackling with electricity. She kicked him in his head before he could defend himself, her speed catching him off guard. With a cry of "Thunder kick!" from Hinata, Neji fell, his head smashing to the floor as he was knocked out.
The names in the machine spun, stopping on four names that froze the room with tension.
Sasuke Uchiha and Misumi Tsurugi vs Choji Akimichi and Sakura Haruno.
Next Chapter: Sasuke vs Sakura
Author's note.
Not happy about this chapter, but I'll live.