IV
━━━━━━┓༻❁༺┏━━━━━━
Author's note:
Well, now we come to the preliminary matches and Asami's first fight witnessed by the future main cast. The only question was who would be her opponent, which was indeed a hard nut to crack.
Or not so much, because realistically speaking solely a single Genin could compete with Asami her for a liminted amount of time thank to his one-sided skillset, favourable circumstances and a bit of luck provided by the author. The rest of the candidates would simply get slaughtered by her in their present state.
━━━━━━┓༻❁༺┏━━━━━━
Arc IV Chapter I
━━━━━━┛༻❁༺┗━━━━━━
"And this is my little sister. Look, Asami, how cute she is, a little angel", Hisaaki rambled on and on since already untold hours and presented her proudly another picture of his little sister. Asami could only blink in confusion and continuously face palmed. They were indeed the first team to pass second part of the exam, but now they were stuck here in the tower for five whole days and condemned to do absolutely nothing.
And she could never have predicted that she would be stuck with such a "family type" like Hisaaki, or rather that Hisaaki was a total siscon and probably a secret lolicon too.
Before Hisaaki could start with a further laudatory eulogy on his wonderful sister, her current sensei fortunately entered the room and saved Asami from such a tragic fate.
Hatsu approached the trio and slightly glared at her. Had she done something wrong? The Jonin was about to say something, but Asami interrupted her successfully, "Finally, can we now leave this shitty tower? Because I can't take it here anymore."
Her sensei glared at her," No, Asami, we won't leave this "shitty" tower. I am here to take you with me."
"And where do we go, Hatsu-sensei?"
"That is a secret", Hatsu smiled sweetly and clearly concealing something.
"Do you know Hatsu that I don't like secrets? Because in my personal experience, these kind of secrets often tend to be very unpleasant surprises. Otherwise, there would be no need to keep them secret from us in the first place, Hatsu-sensei", Hatsu suddenly halted her steps and stared at the girl called Asami again. It was only a hunch, but her instincts told her right now that the words "personal" and "experience" carried far more weight than they were supposed to. And this little detail only reinforced further her growing doubts regarding Asami's identity.
Hatsu had heard from Anko as well as Ibiki what her newly recruited Genin had exactly done during the exams. While Ibiki praised her excellent detection abilities, Anko unsurprisingly liked her eccentric streak and the little speech she made at the entrance of the Forest of Death. The assembled proctors and Jonin found her little show quite entertaining, not to say amusing. And Guy even explained her behaviour with the overflowing power of youth in her veins.
Hatsu, however, could only wonder where Asami took all her confidence, or rather all this sudden cockiness from? The woman re-emerged from her brief thoughts and returned back to reality," Well, even if you don't like secrets, you have to follow me now nonetheless."
━━━━━━┛༻❁༺┗━━━━━━
After Hatsu had abruptly left them, her team entered a wide room that strongly resembled an arena in Asami 's opinion. In fact, it was probably an arena. They were effectively the last ones and placed themselves among the already standing Genin, which didn't go entirely unnoticed. A few Genin looked at them with slight surprise, while others with expected animosity. Especially, the Suna-nin together with their new friends the Oto-nin. Asami smiled and winked back. Unfriendly people, they had no sense of humour at all.
The Hokage cleared his throat and started one of his typical sermons, albeit it was one of the more dramatic speeches in his repertoire.
Bla - third exam - bla - true reason for the Chunin exams - bla - promoting friendship among countries - bla - raise the level of shinobi - bla - comparing the power of the villages - bla – a matter of prestige and influence - bla. In short, nothing that was really surprising to her and anyone with just a tiny bit of political acumen.
Fortunately, another shinobi soon took over and ended this farce. What was his name again? Gekko Hayate, wasn't it? And why did his name sound so familiar? Did he have something to do with the ANBU? No, it was something else.
Hayate introduced them quickly to the concept of this preliminaries. Because who could have expected that more teams passed than originally planned and they now had to cut down the number of candidates?
Hayate was met by a sea of blank disbelieving stares of Genin who couldn't shut up and didn't stop complaining. Nah, this wasn't right, this wasn't fair. A pink-haired girl that was continuously crying around. Sasuke here, Sasuke there, curse mark dangerous, you can't participate, etc., etc., how horribly annoying. Sure, sure, Sasuke was important, but wasn't there anything else important in her life? Didn't exist anything besides Sasuke?
Asami rolled her eyes and was slowly getting annoyed. And an annoyed Asami was an exceedingly incalculable, not to say dangerous Asami, a side of her that you didn't want to meet at night in some dark street corner. Especially, if she was bored too like at the moment. Everything was so bothersome and time consuming, couldn't she simply massacre them …, ehm, gently beat up all the Genin and be done with it.
No, instead, she had this stupid mission and was wondering once again why was she even here? What was the reason behind her participation in these exams? Her place wasn't among these children, her place was somewhere else, here place was among the ANBU. Aargh, dammit. She seriously had to relieve some of her stress and aggression. What she needed now was a quality punching bag, a human punching bag.
Hayate continued after a Genin called Kabuto dramatically left the room. Asami rolled her eyes, what a showman," Well, *cough*, *cough*, does anybody else want to follow his example, *cough*, *cough*, and withdraw?"
The obviously sick Jonin observed the group of Genin," I think, *cough*, that we have then, *cough*, *cough*, a little problem."
"We originally, *cough*, *cough*, planned to have, *cough*, *cough*, 12 matchups. But with 23 candidates, we have now an uneven number of participants. Which means that someone of you will probably get a special wild card, *cough*, *cough*. Anyway, we will now comet to the preliminaries then, *cough*, *cough*."
Hayate looked at them with a bored expression," The preliminaries consist of 1 vs 1 fights and the winners will receive the right to advance into the final exam. Otherwise, there are no rules at all."
"Huh", the last part of Hayate's statement gained Asami's sudden attention. No rules at all? That was interesting, very interesting. Could she really just kill them?
An emotionless Hayate clarified further," *cough*, *cough*, you will fight until someone dies, collapses, or admits defeat. And please admit defeat right away unless you want to risk your lives unnecessarily."
"However, in the case that I judge that a match is over, *cough*, *cough*, I will intervene. After all, I don't want to needlessly increase the number of dead bodies", Hayate ended his speech in a rather scary tone.
Asami on the other hand could only laugh about such a feeble attempt to intimidate her and raised her hand while smiling innocently and harmless as ever.
The proctor turned his head at her like everyone else," *cough*, *cough*, yes?"
"Does that mean I am officially allowed to kill my opponent without hesitation?" Asami was curious as she would surely use every lacuna in the rules to her fullest advantage.
"From a technical point, yes. *cough*, *cough*, you are indeed allowed to kill them, albeit I doubt that you are capable of killing them before I decide to interfere. So, it is basically up to your abilities, …", he flickered through the list of candidates" Miss Asami." Hayate looked up and inspected the girl again. Strange, the name was somehow familiar. Asami, Asami … But why?
"I see, albeit your apparent lack of faith in my abilities saddens me, Hayate", the crossed her arms in mock disappointment and puffed her cheeks.
" Any further questions? No? Then, *cough*, *cough*, let us begin with the preliminaries", Hayate ignored her comment despite her mannerism strongly reminding him of someone Yugao told him about. A girl, a black kimono, a gigantic ego, vainglorious, a bit eccentric, and the ANBU's little princess. And not forgetting, extremely strong. Hayate shook his head. What strange thoughts.
Following his command, an electronic signboard appeared," The board, *cough*, cough*, will display the two randomly selected names and announce the pairings."
The computer calculated, and calculated and calculated, and gave Asami the impression that the machine was only added to the tournament for being extremely slow and dramatic, and nothing else. The bored girl yawned while the machine was seemingly trying to compute the entirety of Pi. If nothing was going to happen soon, then she would fall asleep soon.
Hayate ended her inner agony by finally announcing the result," The first match will be between, *cough*, *cough*, Rock Lee and Minami Asami. The two candidates please come forward."
"Hmmm, this is …. unexpected. I didn't think I would see action this soon", Asami mumbled barely audible and half-asleep. But someone standing right behind her heard her nonetheless and misinterpreted her.
"Don't worry, Asami, I am sure you make it, even though I have never seen you fight seriously before", Hisaaki encouraged her with a big smile.
Asami waved her hand lazily and yawned," Thanks for your encouragement, Hisaaki. But I hope for your and Katsusane's future health and existence that the day will never come you both have to see me fight seriously."
Asami entrusted a confused Hisaaki with her enigmatic words and marched forward.
━━━━━━┛༻❁༺┗━━━━━━
"Let's go, Lee! It is time for your turn now", a certain very motivated Jonin-sensei screamed down from the stances," Give everything you have and you won't lose."
"Yes, Guy-sensei", Lee gave a thumb up and smiled.
However, another nearby Jonin wasn't that convinced. After all, he knew significantly more than Guy and that the match-up wasn't entirely fair. Kakashi whispered to his old friend," Are you sure, Guy?"
Guy turned his head," What do you mean Kakashi?"
"Are you sure that he will win, Guy?"
"Sure? I am not sure, I know it, Kakashi. Lee is strong, stronger than you can imagine, and I believe in him."
Kakashi fell silent," I see, but do you think that will be enough?"
Guy furrowed his eyebrow," Explain?"
Kakashi remained silent and made him wait," Do you see the girl down below?"
Guy nodded, "Yes."
"Do you know her name, Guy?"
Stroking his chin, it finally dawned on Guy," No, not really."
Kakashi wasn't particularly surprised," I expected that, Guy. After all, nobody knows the name Asami aside from a very selected few."
"And you are one of them as usual, Kakashi, aren't you?" Guy sighed in defeat.
.
.
"Perhaps", Kakashi smiled teasing his old rival.
"Perhaps?" Guy reacted confused.
"Let's say, I shouldn't even share this information, but her name carries weight, a lot of weight", Kakashi acted enigmatic as ever. He was obviously trying to tell him something, but what?
"What are you implying, Kakashi?"
The Jonin ignored him and suddenly changed the topic," Guy, have you ever heard of Konoha's White Death?"
"Yes, I have, or rather who hasn't? However, why should that be important?" Guy observed Lee and the girl down in the arena.
"Do you perhaps know how she looks like, Guy?"
"Not really, expect for her being a girl and her preference of wearing exclusively black, not much is known about …", Guy blinked as he was staring at the girl down below. Everything made sense now, everything fell into place.
"Kakashi, she isn't, is she?" Guy turned his head.
His friend smiled and confirmed his thoughts," I don't know what you are talking about, but don't you also think that these two things are completely unrelated?"
"So, it is true?" Guy was visibly worried about his precious student.
Kakashi nodded slightly," Well, all I can say is that Asami is strong, incredibly strong. But don't worry, Lee, shouldn't be in any kind of danger."
"I see", Guy sighed in relief," Thank you, Kakashi."
His friend replied calmly," No proble …"
"Kakashi-sensei, what do you mean by her being strong, incredibly strong?"
Kakashi identified the culprit immediately," Oh, Naruto, didn't anyone ever tell you that it isn't nice to eavesdrop on other people's conversations? So, how much did you hear?" This was delicate information, very delicate information and had to handled carefully.
Naruto ignored his question completely," Well, not that much, only that the girl is incredibly strong."
Kakashi sighed interiorly in relief. Everything was fine and no damage was done. What he didn't expect, however, was a typical Naruto. Thank you, Naruto.
"But is it true, Kakashi-sensei, is she really that strong?! Because I don't believe it!" Naruto crossed his arms and gained the sudden attention of everyone nearby, Sakura, Sasuke, Neji, Asuma, Kurenai, and the rest. This was problematic.
"Yes, she is", Kakashi face palmed and learned the hard way that you shouldn't trust Naruto with anything that required remotely some degree of discretion.
"And how do you know that, Kakashi-sensei? As far as I can remember, Asami was always fairly weak back at the academy and during classes, or rather inconspicuous", Sakura joined the discussion and made everything even more difficult.
Naruto nodded and agreed," Yes, Kakashi-sensei, Sakura is right."
Kakashi scratched his head. He had to be creative now, very creative," How I know that? Well, let's say I met Asami once in the past."
"In the past, really? And how, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura was curious.
"Yes, how? How do you know Asami, Kakashi? Because I am interested too", Kurenai eyed him expectantly.
Kakashi looked up and regarded Kurenai. This had become a surprisingly complicated affair, hadn't it? "It was a mission, I met her on a mission, Kurenai"
She furrowed an eyebrow," A mission?" Kurenai knew perfectly well that Kakashi had been ANBU. So, how, when, and why did Asami get involved with the ANBU?
"Yes, a mission. But why are you so interested in that, Kurenai?" Kakashi tried to divert and he succeeded. Question time was over for now.
Kurenai sighed, "That isn't too surprising considering that I was for some time her instructor."
"Her instructor?"
"Yes, her instructor. Before she entered the academy, I trained her for two years. Therefore, I was merely curious, Kakashi."
"I see."
"So, it is indeed her?" Asuma lit another cigarette and inhaled the vitalizing smoke of tobacco that filled his invigorated lungs, "Kurenai, is this the Asami you have told me about?"
"Yes, she is", Kurenai confirmed.
Asuma expelled a cloud of smoke and laughed," And I thought it was just a coincidence, but no. I have the feeling that this match is going to be … interesting, Guy's most precious student against the legendary black princess. I am wondering who will win?"
━━━━━━┛༻❁༺┗━━━━━━
"*Cough*, *cough*. Are you both ready?" Hayate's s question was answered by a simple nod and thus the match started.
Asami faced her current opponent and analysed Lee. His Chakra level wasn't extraordinary, not to say mediocre at best. And probably, Lee still couldn't use any Ninjutsu and should be purely limited to useless Taijutsu. In summary, Lee was an easy prey. Asami smirked interiorly and slightly pitied her enemy for his incredible bad luck to draw her, poor boy.
Lee didn't know what was ongoing in her mind and readied himself by taking a combat pose. He was eager, but he didn't realise that he already lost.
They stared both at each other until Lee declared enthusiastically," We are opponents now. So, let us both give our best, Asami."
Asami's face didn't betray any particular emotion and aside from her amused eyebrow," So, you still remember my name? Admirable. I doubt, however, that you really want me to give my best, Lee."
" Nevertheless, it is an honour to fight you again like in the good old days, Lee. But contrary to our time at the academy, this time I won't lose." Or rather, she wouldn't let him win like back then.
Asami produced eight kunai from her pouch and presented them to the Genin. The irons had a certain seal placed at their end, a seal that a few Jonin among the crowd recognized immediately. Especially, Kakashi and the Hokage. This couldn't be, right? These seal were … These seals were …
The seals were something Asami had specifically prepared for the Chunin exams together with a few other nasty surprises in her repertoire. After all, she wasn't that inactive during her academy days and thanks to her Sharingan's inherently thieving tendencies she had picked up one or two useful Jutsu.
Lee focusing his eyes on her and countered politely," And why?"
"Let's say, I am not the same Asami I was in the past, or rather I am not the same Asami I was back then at the academy. Things have changed since then, things have changed significantly. And now, Lee, you don't stand a chance against me with your Taijutsu alone, not to say your chances of winning are currently non-existent. In short, you will lose no matter what", Asami stared him down, but Lee didn't appear discouraged in the slightest. Instead, the boy remained firm and stood his ground. Her intimidation had failed, but such had to be expected against Lee. He hadn't changed. And as usual, he was too stubborn for his own good. Fortunately, she still had another option.
" Therefore, I will be today nice to you and recommend you wholeheartedly to give up, Lee. Save yourself all the trouble, spare yourself the fate waiting for you, and simply forfeit for own good, Lee", Asami smiled suddenly and her beatific almost enchanting face was full of kindness, but her smile had no visible effect on Lee.
"Sorry, I can't", Lee refused and didn't accept her benevolent offer to surrender.
Asami acted confused tilting her head cutely," You can't? Why? Tell me, why don't you choose the more sensible option and give up."
"I can't, I have to prove something to myself and the world", Lee's spirit burned fiercely. He wouldn't budge, that was sure. And Asami accepted that, grudgingly.
Asami acted first and placed her kunai across the entire arena. As planned, the kunai hit their designated targets. One for each side, one for each corner of the room. The battlefield was prepared and the stage was set.
Asami evaluated Lee and smirked visibly," To prove something? I hope that it is worth what is coming now. Because I would recommend you once again to withdraw, but it seems that such an endeavour is rather pointless." She had enough.
Asami grabbed a further kunai and started her assault, swift and fast as always. Her speed surprised him and the girl nearly blitzed him with the first attack, even though she was going easy on him.
Pulling out a kunai, Lee blocked hers and both kunai were interlocked with each other. Lee was staring right into her black eyes and he could how his kunai was slowly pushed back by her kunai and her enormous strength. Since when was Asami this strong? Lee remembered Asami. After all, they were together in the same class, even if just a few months and during the graduation year. Nevertheless, he could still remember her. The weak girl that never stood out. The girl that never won a single sparring match. The girl that even lost against him. The girl that barely passed the graduation exam only thanks to her mediocre Ninjutsu. So, what happened? How did Asami grow so much during these past two years?
Asami smiled deviously," Is there a problem, Lee? Do you have anything on your mind?" Her Kunai was suddenly coated in white lightning and was slowly melting through his own kunai. Lee eyes went wide and he realised that he had to get away from her, immediately.
Lee discarded his kunai and rolled backwards while barely avoiding her kunai. Asami didn't hit, but she grazed his leg and the lightning cut easily through his clothes and the beneath skin. Fortunately, it was just a minor flesh wound and nothing severe. But it was clear by now that her kunai was extremely sharp, and extremely dangerous.
Lee stood up again and kept his eyes on the girl and her kunai. What was she planning next?
Asami let her lighting disappear and smirked," That wasn't bad. But let's see if you can dodge that?"
Asami threw her kunai and the kunai was fast. Nevertheless, Lee didn't move because he didn't have to move. The kunai was a clear miss from the beginning and sailed past his head without even coming close, which confused the majority of the audience. How could you miss from that distance?
Kakashi and Hiruzen, however, had set their eyes on the kunai and waited. They had both a premonition of what would happen now and they were both right. Asami copied his sensei, Asami directly copied Minato. It was indeed the Flying Thunder God Jutsu and she could use it.
Her kick came from behind and Lee could never have predicted her follow-up attack that was impossible to dodge, especially without any sort of prior knowledge. His speed and reflexes were irrelevant.
Asami hit fast, and hard. And Lee look the full force of her drop kick. Her Taijutsu might not be the strongest under the sun, not to say quite poor as a matter of fact, but that didn't matter as long as you were pouring excessive amounts of Chakra into your attacks like a certain girl. After all, there was nothing that couldn't be solved by more Chakra.
Lee fell and crashed onto the hard concrete ground. Lying there, Asami looked down on him," See, Lee, I told you that you stand no chance."
"The match isn't over yet", Lee sprang up and struck her chin with a sudden kick from below, or rather he was supposed to. Instead, he didn't get even close. Asami just vanished.
"That wasn't nice, Lee, kicking below the belt and trying to hit a girl. I am honestly disappointed", the girl surprised him from behind. She was standing on the other side of the room, right besides one of her kunai and shook her head.
Lee attacked and encountered the same phenomenon again. He missed because Asami disappeared in front of his eyes.
"If you want to score a hit, then you have to be a bit faster, Lee, a lot faster. If you want to have even a moderate chance to land a hit on me, then you have to come at me with everything you have, with all your power, with the intent to kill me. Otherwise, you can forget it", a smiling Asami waved and greeted him once again from behind. She was fast, extremely fast. But this wasn't any kind of normal movement, this was teleportation. But how? How did she do that … Her kunai. Lee's eyes went eye. The kunai were the key.
Gripping an own kunai and an explosive tag, Lee tried his luck and counterattacked targeting one of hers, but the kunai never reached the target. Asami teleported and intercepted his kunai mid-air with a shuriken. The tag exploded creating a brief cloud of smoke.
" Going for my kunai? That is a good idea, but don't expect that I will let you destroy my property, that easily, Lee. Like I said before, you have to try harder", Asami shook her head
Lee followed her advice and used three kunai, but once again they were intercepted with uncanny precision.
Lee increased the number of kunai to six, to eight, to ten. Nevertheless, the outcome didn't change. His kunai didn't get even close while Asami was merely standing there and leisurely playing with her shuriken.
In the best tradition of the Uchiha, Asami gave him a patronising look and smirked," Lee, do you finally comprehend how inferior you are to me? You are outclassed to a degree you can't barely imagine."
"After all, I hope you realise that I am currently just fooling around with my shuriken and nothing more", Asami smiled sweetly while spinning a shuriken around her forefinger," But what do you think will happen if I am actually trying to harm you, Lee, not to mention kill you? What do think will happen? Therefore, don't make it more difficult than necessary and just give up, Lee."
Lee refused again and his answer was a very, very, very dangerous kunai coming for her head. Her razor-sharp shuriken not only deflected the kunai in a lovely curved parabola, but also gave Lee a little present and grazed his cheeks afterwards. Her shuriken was fast, extremely fast, and dodging it from such a short distance would have been quite challenge even for a Jonin, not to mention a mere Genin.
Visibly stunned, Lee touched the bleeding cut and slowly realised what had happened, what had passed his head just a few seconds ago. The shuriken was stuck into the wall behind him and Asami capitalised on his fatal lack of concentration.
Nevertheless, Lee reacted in time and blocked her kick with his crossed arms. But the amount of force the girl put behind this kick alone was once again astonishing. Despite Asami being epitome of the frail girl, her kick was remarkably heavy and he could feel the raw kinetic energy concentrated in her heel.
Lee stumbled and her second kick connected clashing against the bone of his elbow. Lee ground his teeth and endured the pain. Ultimately, the third kick broke his defence and he was completely exposed now.
Asami didn't stop and accelerated further. Her coup de grace was a humble punch aimed at his abdomen and Lee took her final attack head-on. The boy was catapulted backwards by the blunt force. Only the wall stopped his sudden flight crumbling under the sheer force of the impact while the audience followed her actions. The girl struck hard, that much was obvious.
Asami smirked and waited for her victory to be declared, a victory that never came.
Eventually, the dust cleared and to Asami's surprise the boy was still standing, albeit barely. His feet were unsteady and shaking, but Lee stood up again and readied himself for the next round. His endurance was remarkable and the boy was way tougher than expected. After all, who could have predicted that the weakling Lee would make it this far? Well, she didn't.
Asami narrowed her eyes, "It seems that I have slightly underestimated you, Lee. You are better than I gave you initially credit for, not to say you are not bad. And apparently, you are one of these extremely robust types, not to say you are one the most opponents I had in my entire life."
"Thank you, for your compliment, Asami", as usual, the ever positive Lee smiled slightly and Asami couldn't detect even the smallest sign of hostility.
Asami sighed, "You misunderstand, Lee, this wasn't necessarily a compliment. Do you know what the issue is about stubborn people, people like you? Your stubbornness makes you eventually blind, Lee."
"Blind?"
"Yes, blind. There is a fine, intangible line between being stubborn and senseless fanaticism. And you are currently about to cross this line by continuing fighting me, Lee."
"What I have displayed thus far was merely a small fraction of my power, of what I am truly capable. Don't you understand, Lee, you won't win, you can't win. Because you lack the strength to defeat me, before my might you are nothing, Lee", Asami glared at him with deep black eyes and slowly eroded his spirit, "Therefore, I repeat my offer for the last time. Please, Lee, turn around. A good shinobi should know when to give up instead of marching into their own doom, and this is such a case."
Asami whispered sweetly into his ears, "You said you can't. However, what is your reason for not forfeiting? Is it honour? I tell you there is no shame in admitting defeat against someone stronger than you. No, instead, it proves your better judgement in the face of a difficult situation. Is the fear of being called weak? No, you are by no means weak if you forfeit now, and you are definitely not a coward, Lee. Regardless of what others might say, I won't judge you. On the contrary, you have already shown that you are quite capable for a Genin by the mere fact that you are still standing."
"So, give up, Lee. Don't make it harder than necessary", a smiling Asami offered him her hand and the boy had only to accept.
Asami could see it in his eyes, Lee was wavering and he was visibly unsure what to do, she almost got him. Lee hesitated," I …, I …, I …"
"Hey, Bushy Brows, don't even think about giving up!", a loud voice interrupted them both and immediately realised who the fucking idiot on the side-lines was. Grinding her teeth, Asami turned her head and as expected it was Naruto.
The boy continued screaming from the stances," Didn't you say that you would worked harder than anyone else, that you would never give up. That your gift, that it was your Nindo!"
Asami glared angrily at Naruto for his unwanted interference. Naruto gave Lee back his courage and Lee's determination completely returned," Asami, Naruto is right, I can't. You might be stronger than me, more talented, more gifted, Asami, and I might be unable to defeat you. But I will never give up, that is my Nindo."
All kindness vanished from her face and Asami's eyes glimmered in an unnoticeable shade of dangerous red. She tried to be nice, but her patience had reached an end and Lee's fate was sealed," Your Nindo? Your Nindo? Well, it is unlikely, however, that your Nindo will protect you in this case. I will show you where your Nindo truly ends, my friend."
" I hope you have a good heat resistance, Lee, because you will need it", breathing in, Asami formed a hand seal and prepared her Jutsu, a classic among Katon users, and especially among the Uchiha. Her lips released a stream of fire and a giant fireball bathed the room in a sea of wild flames and scorching heat. Asami was happy with her creation and increased the heat further until you felt the very air burning.
Asami closed her lips and her lovely fireball went out in a blaze of glory. The fireball exploded and the arena trembled.
Surprisingly, Lee escaped her wrathful flames relatively unscathed and dodged her attack only with a few scorch marks, otherwise he would have gotten roasted and she could now serve fried Genin. Lee was definitely fast, faster than any Genin was supposed to be, which was horribly annoying.
Panting heavily, Lee stared at the girl that Asami countered with a suave smile," Just for information, my offer still stands."
Lee remained silent, however, and started unravelling the bandages around his legs. The bandages revealed a pair of … weights and he removed them. What was that supposed to achieve? These were just a pair of weights. Asami furrowed her amused eyebrow," Seriously, a pair of weights? Do you think that will change anything, Lee?"
"I am sorry, Guy-sensei, but I have to take them off", Lee mumbled silently and dropped the weights. The metal bars fell and crashed onto the ground with a slightly unexpected force. Asami stumbled. What the fuck was that?
Lee attacked directly from point blank, and he was fast, incredibly fast. And it was one of the few times in her life that she was forces to actually block a strike instead of dodging it. Reaction time was short and her immediate options limited. His kick connected and Asami flinched.
Lee retreated and attacked once again, but this time she was better prepared, this time he paid dearly for his arrogance. After all, there was a good reason that Taijutsu was in her opinion a worthless form of art and you didn't bring Taijutsu to a knife fight. Asami smirked and pulled out a kunai coating it with her Raiton.
The girl deflected his kick with her kunai and his leg met a stream of heated plasma. The kunai burned and scorched his flesh in agonising pain leaving him vulnerable to a counterattack. His attack had failed and Lee had overextended himself.
Grabbing his body, Asami kicked Lee straight in his nuts and rammed her knee with all of her force in his unprotected stomach afterwards one time, a second time, and a third time to be sure. That should have finally downed the boy for good, otherwise she had to get even nastier.
Lee fell and Asami sighed in relief. Finally, it was over. However, that wasn't the case. Recuperating almost immediately, Lee was standing again and left Asami dumbfounded. The boy was just refused to go down regardless of how badly she was beating him up.
Lee continued his assault, but his speed had significantly decreased and his movements were getting visibly sloppier with every second. As a consequence, Asami easily sidestepped his attacks. Lee was slowly reaching his end.
The mischievous girl formed a seal and her breath saturated the room with wonderful fire. Unwilling to be toasted, Lee was driven back right into one of the room's corners, which was exactly where she wanted him to be.
Appearing behind him, Asami threw three kunai that were coated with her lighting, three kunai that were tagged with a mark, three possible locations she could strike from simultaneously. Lee could dodge them, but he couldn't escape her grip.
Asami moved out and created a Rasengan in her hand. In short, nothing all too dangerous. The girl chose a kunai and struck from above with her Rasengan heading downward. Asami smirked satisfied because she knew that she had won, this match was over.
━━━━━━┛༻❁༺┗━━━━━━
And she would have won if Lee didn't suddenly increase his speed. Something had happened and the sudden influx of extra speed made him escape her the lighting fast Rasengan, but not without a price. Her Rasengan hit the ground and shredded through the concrete like paper creating a cloud of dust and debris. Nevertheless, she had missed him.
A furious Asami stared angrily at him. Once again, Lee had escaped his fate, and that was inacceptable. Why was it so fucking difficult to beat this stupid boy no matter how hard she tried? Why was it so incredibly difficult to subdue a single measly Genin without the barest understanding of Ninjutsu and armed solely with Taijutsu? Lee may be annoyingly fast for his age and his speed easily on a par with a Jonin, but that was no excuse for her continuous failures. She was a fucking ANBU, an Uchiha, and not forgetting Asami. This match had become a matter of honour, and she would win and finish this now. May someone have mercy on Lee, because she wouldn't anymore.
Breathing heavily, Lee touched his bleeding wound. He may have avoided the worst, but his left flank was unfortunately grazed by her Rasengan. The cloud of dust finally lifted and Lee was confronted by a pair unflinching eyes that had lost any sign of friendliness," I admit that was a neat little trick, but don't think it will work a second time on me."
Lee merely nodded and kept an eye on the girl. She was right, using the first gate wouldn't work a second time like everything else.
Asami had no bruise, no scratch, not cut, nothing. While she had the speed, the precision, the strength, he was incapable of even landing a single hit on the little princess. Her entire existence seemed untouchable, unbeatable, invincible by human standards. So, what could he do against her? What could he do against an opponent like that?
The answer was obvious, he had to give everything he had, everything that was needed, everything that was required. And Lee was ready to give everything.
Asami eyed the Genin expectantly. He was planning something, but what? Well, in the end, it didn't matter.
The kunai produced two kunai from the of her kimono sleeves and an electric current covered their blade in a stream of vibrating plasma. This time it would hurt. The girl started her assault and charged blitzing across the room with unprecedented speed while Lee appeared to prepare something big, some sort of final attack.
Unleashed blue Chakra circled around Lee and his body changed colour, but Asami didn't care about his last futile attempt. Too little, too late.
" The third gate, the Gate of Life, open…", Lee felt how a pair of kunai was struck through his left and right femur evaporating nerves, tendons, muscles and bone alike. Lee cried out in pain and was punished by a brutal roundhouse kick sending him flying across the room. It was over, Lee was defeated.
His legs couldn't move anymore, nevertheless Lee desperately struggled to stand up again. Lee tried, and tried, and tried with all of his remaining force, but he was doomed to fail. His stubbornness was a powerful weapon, but unfortunately also the reason for his downfall. Asami pulled out a last kunai a marched forward after having seen enough of this senseless tragedy.
Asami ordered the proctor," Hayate, this match ends now. Declare the victor and finally stop this fight. I think everyone has seen enough."
Hayate stared calmly at the girl," *Cough*, *cough*, I can't. The participant is obviously not completely incapacitated yet, *cough*, *cough*, and has no intention to withdraw…"
Her kunai flew right past his head and a firm commanding voice supported her kunai," You seem to misunderstand, Hayate, my words weren't a mere suggestion. I mean what I say, the match stops immediately, right here, and right now. I have had enough of this farce."
━━━━━━┛༻❁༺┗━━━━━━