Hey everyone, I want to thank you all for the 300 reviews on the story. That feels like a huge milestone to me and feels great. Watching the milestones goes by is amazing.
Admittedly, this chapter is a bit short but that is to just keep the story flowing how I want it. Won't make sense here but don't want chop the next chapter in half. Either that or I post one stupid long chapter and I'd rather not get more people bitching the chapters are too long. Anyway, rambling over, let's get to it.
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"Begin." Shisui called out, dropping his hand down between the contestants and vanishing. Shino jumped straight backwards to gain distance as Temari unfolded her fan and swung it. A large gust rolled through the arena picking up pieces of the terrain along the way. Shino cut right and dodged the gust and flung out a pair of kunai.
Temari swiped her hand in front of her and a small blade of wind collided with the kunai causing them to drop ten feet in front of her. She looked back up and saw more kunai and shuriken coming at her. She swept her fan in front of her blowing them all away. She stood smugly with a smirk that could be seen from the back rows as she waved Shino on.
Shino shook his head a bit and threw a kunai at Temari sloppily. Temari shook her head at the pitiful display and went to smack the kunai with her now folded up fan. Shino had chickened out and got a free pass into the finals. He seemed to have no counter to her wind so it might as well be a free win. As soon as it made contact, it burst into a dense purple fog. Temari gasped slightly at the surprise of the fog and opened her fan to blow the fog towards Shino.
Shino made a hand seal and concentrated. A barely visible wall appeared a few feet in front of Temari causing the fog to be blown sideways. She started jumping backwards as the fog didn't get as far away as she wanted. From the fog came dozens of kunai. Temari was forced to dodge and block with her fan as she started coughing.
The rain of kunai stopped and Temari managed to see Shino in the same spot she last saw him. He held up another hand seal and Temari screamed out in pain as lightning arced all over her body. Several beetles flew away from her and went back into Shino's sleeves. She dropped to one knee and soon felt a kunai placed to the back of her neck. She shuttered for a moment wondering if she was going to die here. She tried to sigh but ended up coughing when she saw Shisui appear.
Shisui appeared next to Shino and gave a grand wave to the crowd. "Winner of the first round, Shino Aburame of Konoha." Shisui announced. "You do have the antidote on you right?" Shisui asked quietly. Shino nodded and slipped Shisui a small blue vial. Shisui nodded and pointed Shino back up to the waiting room.
The med team came in and started taking Temari away for minor injuries, possible nerve damage and poison inhalation. Shisui was sure to give the vial to the nurse and walk back to the center of the arena.
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"Rather impressed the kid did so well. Made a little off him too." Jiraiya said with a small laugh. "You bet on the Aburame? Know him or something?" Tsunade said impatiently, hoping Jiraiya's ringer would dig her out of the hole she was already in. "Yeah, he might not be a regular but he swings by the fuin-jutsu core every know and again. Kid has talent, glad to see his tags did work on such a large arena." Jiraiya said with a nod.
"Pfft, know anyone else?" Tsunade asked, glancing down at bets she could still make. "I believe the Yamanaka and Akimichi are on the kid's team. Can't see the Yamanaka losing her match. Akimichi though, I hope the poor kid makes it out ok." Jiraiya said somberly.
"Makes it out ok? Something I should know?" Tsunade asked, double checking her card. "Maybe when the exams are over, Shisui is ready for the next round." Jiraiya said, turning to the arena. Tsunade narrowed her eyes a bit before turning as well. She already had her next two rounds bet on, she just needed to remember to bet after she squeezed more info out of Jiraiya.
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After letting the cheering calm down a bit, Shisui announced they were ready for the next round. The screen came back up and Rock Lee and Fuu appeared. "Will Rock Lee of Konoha and Fuu of Taki please come forward." Shisui announced. Lee jumped over the wall straight down to the arena. An action quickly followed by Fuu.
'They seem energetic.' Shisui mused before he stepped next to them. "Are you both ready? Then, begin." Shisui announced, once more vanishing after getting nods from both contestants. Lee dropped back into his stance and Fuu did a moment later. "Let us have a good match Fuu." Lee said joyfully. "Yes, Fuu agrees." Fuu replied before kicking off the ground and launching herself at Lee.
Lee nodded slightly and brought his arm up to block the punch she threw. Lee slid back a bit and opened his eyes wide at the force of the blow. He got his feet to stop sliding and dashed to the side to dodge the next punch as he swung his leg out and caught Fuu's stomach and sent her flying.
"Wow, you hit a lot harder than Fuu." Fuu said as she charged in again. Lee smiled as he saw Fuu was smiling as well. They exchanged blows for a bit before Fuu managed to land a solid hit on Lee and knock him back. Fuu quickly grabbed a scroll from her side and unfurled it. A large amount of water flooded out as Fuu went through hand seals. "Check this out." Fuu said energetically.
"Water Style: Great Waterfall Jutsu." Fuu called as the water quickly swirled around from the entire wet area and was directed up before crashing down on Lee. Lee barely managed to get his feet back on solid ground before dodging away from the crashing waterfall and land a safe distance away. "No fair, you managed to dodge." Fuu pouted. "I am sorry Fuu, but that would have hurt." Lee said with a small grin.
Fuu just stomped her foot once and then charged at Lee again. She was slowly getting faster and faster and Lee was starting to struggle to keep up. Faint wisps of chakra was starting to roll off Fuu as she started more hand seals. "Scale Powder Jutsu." Fuu called out as a large amount of bright white powder billowed out of her mouth and quickly surrounded Lee.
"Lee, take em off and get out of there." Gai called loudly. Lee didn't think twice about it and quickly unlatched his weights from his legs, deactivated his resistance seals, and bolted to the edge of the arena. Not a second later, an explosive note went off and detonated the entire cloud of powder.
Naruto, Tenten, Shikamaru and Teacher all had to activate the protection seals so the heat wouldn't singe people's hair in the front few rows. 'That was excessive.' Naruto sighed. The dust started settling and Fuu realized she missed.
"No fair, why can't Fuu hit you. You are too fast." Fuu cried out. "Sorry Fuu." Lee said sincerely. "Fuu quits, you are no fun to fight against. I can't win if I can't hit you." Fuu said as she turned to leave the arena as a whole. "Winner by forfeit, Rock Lee of Konoha." Shisui said as he appeared in the center of the arena once more. The crowd cheered, although a little weakly. Lee was slightly disappointed but this meant no one really saw his top speed.
He went to grab his weights but they were completely destroyed. Instead, he walked up the stairs to not give away his speed. It was odd walking slowly without his weights, he decided he could turn his resistance seal up a bit to compensate before his next match.
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"Well damn, kid is fast." Tsunade said in the stands. "Told ya. He has seals similar to what we wanted to do all those years ago. They regenerate his muscles and help him train harder. He trains under Maito Gai to put that into perspective as to how much he trains." Jiraiya said with a chuckle. "Gai is still kicking huh. He must be the fastest person in the Land of Fire at this point." Tsunade said with a sigh.
"Probably. He has an S-rank avoid engagement entry in the bingo book for just about everywhere. The entry doesn't take into account the gates though. Rumor has it, he can open seven." Jiraiya said ominously. "Seven my ass. I can barely open six and I can heal myself as I do it. No way Gai can get that far. He would be torn to shreds." Tsunade said.
Jiraiya just shrugged and turned back to the arena. Tsunade looked at him for a moment, looking like she wanted to keep arguing, but decided to drop it and resume watching.
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"We will now begin the third round." Shisui said after the small amount of cheering died down. The screen came back to life and the names, Kurotsuchi and Kankuro. "Will Kurotsuchi Kamizuru of Iwa and Sabaku no Kankuro of Suna please come forward." Shisui announced. Both of them quickly made their way down the stairs and stood opposite each other. Kankuro forgoing keeping himself wrapped in a bundle like he did in the prelims. Instead, he had Crow on his back, open and ready for combat.
"All right, both contestants ready? Begin." Shisui called out before vanishing once more. Kankuro twitched a finger and a senbon flew from Crow's mouth. Kurotsuchi easily dodged and flipped through a few hand seals and spat several mud balls at Kankuro from the close range they were still in.
Kankuro managed to dodge easy enough and charged sideways as the threw Crow forward at Kurotsuchi. A blade flipped out from one of it's palms, poison obvious on the tip of the blade. Kurotsuchi batted the arm to the side with her hand and jumped back placing a hand on the ground. She made a hand seal with her other hand and clenched her other fist. Rocks surrounded her hand as she quickly grabbed the wrist of Crow as it came back in and shattered the joint.
She threw a punch toward Kankuro and the rock gauntlet rocketed off her hand straight towards Kankuro's stomach. Kankuro managed to dodge before seeing Kurotsuchi flip through more hand seals. "Lava Style: Quicklime Congealing Jutsu" Kurotsuchi called as a large glob of white quicklime shot from her mouth right where Kankuro's hand was going to land.
It hit and covered Kankuro's forearm down in the quicklime. "Water Style: Trumpet." Kurotsuchi quickly called. Before it hit, Kankuro substituted himself with Crow leaving the puppet arm deep in what was now cement. Crow quickly released his forearm and left it in the cement. Kankuro twitched another finger and the once broken hand of Crow shot towards Kurotsuchi's back. She flipped to the side and started going through more hand seals.
"Lava Style: Ash Stone Seal Jutsu." Kurotsuchi called out as a thick cloud of ash spread straight for Crow. Kankuro tried to pull him back but was too slow. Line of sight and movement were nearly non-existent in the cloud and before Kankuro could attempt to pull Crow out or grab a different puppet, he caught a glimpse of her to his left. He tried to move but found a kunai thrust into his lower back, missing his spine by barely anything.
Kankuro managed to stagger forward a step before his blood ran cold at the sound of hissing. He barely managed to catch sight of the paper bomb wrapped around the kunai before it was violently ripped out of him and tossed into the air by Shisui. Kurotsuchi frowned slightly as she dropped the hand seal she used to activate the tag.
"Winner is Kurotsuchi Kamizuru of Iwa." Shisui called out. Kurotsuchi turned on her heel and walked back up the stairs to the waiting area. Kankuro was quickly rushed to the med bay as Baki quickly recovered Crow.
In the kage booth, the Kazekage tapped his fingers a few times on the armrest of his chair. Hiruzen held back a frown himself at the Tsuchikage's granddaughter's actions. Killing was allowed, but that more protection against accidental deaths. She was not going to lose the fight after that blow. Activating the tag was a blatant assassination attempt. Rules were rules however.
Shisui wasted no time once Kankuro left to turn to the next two contestants appearing on the screen. "Will Hinata Hyuga of Konoha and Ino Yamanaka of Konoha please come forward." He called out. The cheers for the two heiresses were loud as they made their way down to the arena.
Both gave a respectful nod to each other to confirm they were ready. "Begin." Shisui called as he vanished. Hinata charged forward to get in close range as Ino jumped back and started throwing senbon. Hinata swatted them all away as she started getting closer to Ino. Ino made three quick seals and spat a small glob of water in front of herself.
"Water Style: Reflective Plane." She called before swiping her hands up and down causing the glob of water to become a pane of reflective water. Hinata stopped a moment as the pure pane of chakra caused her Byakugan to lose sight of Ino and made her eyes sting slightly. Several senbon quickly passed through the wall of water forcing Hinata to dodge sharply as she couldn't see Ino throw them.
Ino jumped the same way, already going through hand seals again. She pointed her hand back to the water from her last jutsu and it quickly gathered in her hand in the form of a whip and shot towards Hinata's outstretched arm. It wrapped around her elbow and Ino pulled sharply. The arm that was going to catch Hinata suddenly yanked the wrong way caused Hinata to land harshly from her quick leap sideways.
Ino quickly capitalized by tossing a fist full of senbon that all pierced Hinata in the shoulders. Several pressure points were hit causing Hinata's arms to sag as she got to her feet. "Hinata, those were all poisoned. Please surrender so I can give you the antidote." Ino said. "I can't give up." Hinata said bitterly as she charged Ino again, a little sloppily.
'The poison is already affecting her this much. This is bad.' Ino thought as she dodged the quick strikes Hinata was throwing at her. Her speed was quickly dropping and Ino waited for the best chance before she quickly grabbed Hinata's overextended arm and threw her hard onto the ground. Ino quickly pushed a pill into Hinata's mouth and forced it down her throat with a burst of chakra as she gasped for air from the impact.
Ino put a kunai to her neck and Shisui appeared. "Winner is Ino Yamanaka of Konoha." He called out. The crowd started cheering as Shisui quietly asked if that was the antidote she gave her. Ino just nodded as the medics came in. Shisui nodded as well at the effectiveness and camaraderie of giving an opponent an antidote during a match. Even if the match was pretty much won.
Shisui started waiting for the crowd to settle but soon they started chanting for the Uchiha to come out. 'But I am already here.' Shisui had to stifle as he turned to the screen for the next round. "Will Dosu of Oto and Sabaku no Gaara of Suna please come down." Shisui said. 'Tough shit crowd, Sasuke is going last it seems.' He thought with a small chuckle at the few boos shouted at him.
"Begin." He called out a few moments after they made it down. As soon as Shisui flashed away, the cork on Gaara's gourd erupted from the gourd. Naruto had to blink as he looked in his hand to see the cork he caught. That was a hell of a lot of ground for the cork to travel. He could see the small grin on Gaara's face.
Dosu wasted no time and quickly rushed to get in closer range. He was far faster than he appeared but could still not get anywhere near Gaara. Channeling chakra into his gauntlet, Dosu sharply struck it with the ring of a kunai. The sand protecting Gaara didn't move and Dosu once more charged.
He got within a few feet of him tendrils of sand started erupting randomly around him. He struck his gauntlet again before having to retreat further away. 'Why isn't it working, he should have been affected at that range.' Dosu thought as he saw Gaara lazily swipe his arm at him. Several sand shuriken were launched from the sand resting at Gaara's feet straight for him.
The barrage went for a few seconds before Dosu was finally forced to block one with his gauntlet. Gaara quickly raised his hand and clenched his fist. Dosu screamed in pain and clutched his gauntlet. Gaara opened his fist quickly and the gauntlet broke apart revealing a clearly broken arm.
"You have nothing else to fight me with, surrender." Gaara said in a monotone voice. Dosu merely started jumping backwards and reached into his pouch and pulled out a scroll. He activated the seal inside and another melody arm appeared. He strapped this one to his left forearm and then grabbed a length of wire from the same pouch.
He quickly fastened his broken arm so it wouldn't sway too much as he ran and took off towards Gaara once more. One after the other he started spitting steel balls to impact his new gauntlet while holding a hand seal and dodging Gaara's attacks. Dodging sharply to the side, Dosu managed to make a quick Earth Clone that quickly charged to get behind Gaara.
Gaara paid it little mind until his sand shot up behind him automatically to catch a kunai that exploded a moment later. Gaara half turned to look at the clone as he threw another kunai that was caught much faster by the sand and smothered before the explosion went off.
Dosu used the distraction to get as close as he had the entire fight and thrust with his gauntlet, pinging a steel ball off it as he threw the punch. Gaara's sand caught it a few feet away and Gaara winced as the sound jutsu actually had some effect at that close range. It wouldn't matter as Dosu was now caught with his entire arm covered in sand.
"Surrender or lose this arm." Gaara said as he reached toward Dosu to command his sand to crush the arm at a moments notice. Dosu replied by spitting a senbon he had hidden under his tongue at Gaara. His sand caught it easily and Gaara crushed the arm he caught. Dosu collapsed to the ground and sand quickly swallowed him up to his neck. Gaara made the motion that he was going to cause his sand to crush him as Shisui jumped down. "Winner is Sabaku no Gaara of Suna." Shisui called out. Gaara nodded and called his sand back to his gourd.
Few noticed the small chunks of sand that came from his own ears. Gaara made his way towards the competitors box that was located close to where Naruto was up on the wall. As he walked, he waved up towards Naruto. He merely tossed the cork back to him and he could have sworn he heard Gaara chuckle from his spot on the wall.
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"Are you going to tell me what you are worried about in this next match now? Betting is closed for the match now. Spill." Tsunade said as she fully turned towards Jiraiya. "Let's just say, kid doesn't have a good record and leave it at that." Jiraiya said.
"Doesn't have a good record. As in he is not strong enough to complete the missions or is a piece of shit like most of his clan was?" Tsunade asked. Jiraiya merely tapped his nose and frowned slightly. "So the big kid is probably going to wind up hurt worse than he should be. If he is a hazard to his fellow shinobi, why is her here?" She asked, frowning as well. "You heard the crowd, that is why." Jiraiya asked as he turned back toward the stadium. The chants for the Uchiha giving him a slight headache.
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"Will Choji Akimichi of Konoha and Sasuke Uchiha of Konoha please come forward." Shisui called. Choji came down, forcing a calm look on his face. Sasuke came down as the definition of arrogance. Basking in the chants of his name.
"Both competitors ready? Begin." Shisui called as he vanished once more. As soon as the call was made, Choji jumped back and swiped his hand over his chest. A moment later, he swiped his right hand past his hip and a small puff of smoke appeared. From the smoke, he pulled a long studded club.
Sasuke laughed at seeing the weapon as he pulled a ninja-to from the sheath on his back. He quickly charged forward, dodging the slow swing from the club and weaving just behind Choji. Choji managed to get his club into a block and pushed Sasuke back as he stomped forward. His stomp caused the ground to shake and Sasuke to waver as he tried to jump back. Choji brought his club down once more and Sasuke was forced to block.
His hands stinging from the impact on his sword, Sasuke managed to get his balance back and jump back. Sasuke tossed his sword in the air as he flashed through a few hand seals. "Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu." He yelled as a very large fireball rolled towards Choji. He narrowed his eyes as he saw Choji flip through seals as two walls coming together in a sharp angle rose in front of him. The fireball was split in half and rolled harmlessly past Choji.
Sasuke gritted his teeth and charged forward, sword now back in his hands. He rounded the corner of the wall Choji pulled up and swung his sword but there was nobody behind the wall. As soon as Sasuke got his swing stopped, two hands reached up from the ground and grabbed his ankles. Sasuke soon found himself armpit deep underground with a studded mace coming straight for him.
He managed to quickly substitute with a nearby chunk of stone that was instantly turned to powder with the force of the blow Choji dealt it. "Still so slow. With these eyes, you might as well be crawling fat-ass." Sasuke taunted. Choji narrowed his eyes at Sasuke but did not react otherwise.
Choji went through hand seals a moment later and Sasuke found himself dodging earth spikes that began twisting and following him from his side. Sasuke dodged for a few moments before he decided he was tired of it and instead started flipping through hand seals. Seeing this, Choji dropped his jutsu and started going through new hand seals.
"Fire Style: Dragon Flame Jutsu." Sasuke called out as he spit out a dragon that went straight towards Choji with it's maw wide open. Choji knelt down and a wide tube of earth appeared before him. As the dragon closed half of the distance, Sasuke's concentration was broken as another pair of hands grabbed him by the knees this time.
Choji quickly made one last hand seal as the tube erupted and a large stone was shot out of it directly towards Sasuke, dispelling the fire dragon along the way. Sasuke had managed to swing his sword and destroy the Earth Clone that had grabbed him and jump to the side to avoid the cannonball that was heading his way. As soon as it missed, Choji was once more just over him with a club raised high.
Sasuke swung his sword to knock the club off path. With the club swing having missed, Choji released the club and made one, one handed hand seal and thrust his other hand toward Sasuke. The hand instantly grew wider than Sasuke's torso and went to grab him.
Sasuke smirked and moved his sword to swipe Choji's now enlarged hand. His smirk instantly vanished when Choji didn't make any effort to dodge the swipe and instead grabbed the sword and him before lifting him up and slamming him hard down onto his back. Sasuke gasped for air for a moment before he saw another enlarged fist coming down toward his gut. He rolled to the side and grabbed at his forearm as he struck the ground.
A moment later, lightning started arcing wildly from Sasuke's grip on Choji's arm. Choji bit his tongue to not cry out in pain and instead grabbed Sasuke by the throat with his other hand. Sasuke started jerking slightly before he stopped the flow of chakra to his jutsu.
Choji lifted Sasuke up once more before slamming him into the ground again and again. Sasuke's vision was starting to fade slightly as Choji let him go. Choji swiped his hand over his chest just like he did at the start of the fight and felt himself sag slightly. He jumped and stomped Sasuke's chest with his full weight, hard. The ground split slightly under Sasuke as he coughed up some blood from the impact.
Choji took a step back and looked towards where he thought Shisui would have went. Not getting a reply, he walked back towards Sasuke as he struggled to stand. He quickly thrust his club directly into Sasuke's shoulder. A sickening crunch could be heard through the entire stadium along with Sasuke's scream as his shoulder socket was shattered.
Sasuke slumped forward for a moment before straightening his back and instantly spitting a small fireball right a Choji. Choji, with his resistance and gravity seals still on from the heavy stomp he did earlier couldn't dodge so he enlarged his hand and used it to protect his face. His chakra enforced hand managed to block most of the damage but he was still burned a bit. He brought his other hand around that still had the club and hit Sasuke directly in his currently broken shoulder.
Sasuke was sent unceremoniously through the air. He made no effort to catch himself as he rag dolled until he finally came to a stop at the base of the wall. Shisui made himself known and called the match in favor of Choji. The crowd remained quiet except for a few specific cheers. After the stunned silence, there was a respectful amount of clapping but no real cheering.
"Ladies and Gentleman. With this match, the first round of these finals is complete." Shisui announced. The cheering picked up a bit before Shisui continued. "With this, we will take a short ten minute break to release the new betting information for the next round. The next round will be a little different however." Shisui announced getting the attention of everyone in the arena.
"The second round will be far more dangerous as we will be modifying the arena to house many traps. These seals are already in place and some will be armed, some will not. They will change with every match regardless of how many go off. There is a great variety, I will not give away what they do but this will simulate both competitors fighting in enemy territory. Being unfamiliar with an area that has unknown traps and defenses is not uncommon for chunin to face. If the competitors cannot handle the traps here, they are unfit to be promoted." Shisui announced.
After he gave it a moment to sink in, he waved up towards the walls. All four members of the fuin-jutsu core dropped down directly around him and each unrolled thick scrolls that formed a square around him. All four of them bit their thumbs and went through a very long set of hand seals before placing both palms to the scroll they personally laid out. A large and complicated seal lit up covering the entire arena before it faded away.
Also changing were three stone pillars that rose just a few inches. They were about a foot around, one under Shisui and two more a short distance apart in front of him. Just enough to be easily noticed. They all nodded, rerolled their scrolls up and disappeared back to their places on the wall. "These three pillars are the only safe places. Competitors are urged to make it here as quickly as they can to start the match. If you fall to a trap before you make it, you will be disqualified for failure to appear for your match." Shisui announced with authority.
"I will also use this time to remind the medical staff to await a member of the fuin-jutsu core to escort them to any competitor that needs medical attention. With that, we wills start the ten minute break and resume these chunin exam finals when time is up." Shisui called out before he turned the screen behind him that had just started a timer.
The names, Shino Aburame, Rock Lee, Kurotsuchi Kamizuru, Ino Yamanaka, Sabaku no Gaara, and Choji Akimichi were all listed below the timer. Each name came to the center of the screen directly below the timer with a picture of the corresponding person appearing. It would rotate through everyone for the full ten minutes.
In the stands, everyone was either getting drinks, food, or doing whatever else they needed in the short break. Tsunade was taking her seat next to Jiraiya and Shizune a few minutes into the break. "So, how did you make out in the first round Hime?" Jiraiya asked.
"That brat of yours kept me positive, barely. Who do you think is going to make it through the next round." Tsunade asked as she went over the card detailing the next rounds. "Hard to say. They are all definitely something special. Lee for sure and probably the sand kid. I remember him from many years ago. Let's just say that sand comes from a rather potent chakra source." Jiraiya said.
"Potent? Isn't it magnet release? A few Kazekages are the only to truly master it. It is pretty nasty but should be beatable." Tsunade said. "Well, yes and no. Magnet release, probably. It doesn't come from the kid though. It is mostly from his, burden." Jiraiya said as he lifted one finger. It clicked a moment after with Tsunade and she went to object to letting a jinchuriki into the exams before Jiraiya stopped her.
"That Fuu girl was also one, or seven in this case. They are still genin so the threat is greatly diminished. As long as they don't fully transform, it will be fine. Just a large advantage for them." Jiraiya said dismissively. "Advantage my ass." Tsunade said bitterly.
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Well that is the chapter. Little short, fair. I am not going to explain any of the fights. If you have a complaint with them, good for you. If you are unsure how someone won, good for you. Most of the people there didn't scream out their plan or gloat like canon and so many fanfics. This was intentional. They are ninja, and this is my story. I do not believe in long, drawn out encounters. Especially in these matches where most are very one sided.