Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Never will, don't want to. But it's fun to dabble!
Chapter Twenty Five: Earth Over Heaven
Last chapter, eighteen Genin passed the second test of the Chuunin Exam (known parents in brackets):
Uzumaki Yume (Naruto + Hinata), Yuuhi Sakumo (Kurenai), Nanaka Jo.
Uzumaki Iruka, Nara Kazeko (Shikamaru + Temari), Aikimichi Choumaru (Chouji).
Hyuuga Sazashi (Sakura + Neji), Uchiha Yamino (Sasuke + Ino), Rock Len (Lee + Tenten).
Jinsei of the Desert (Gaara), Ebirou (Kankurou),Okuta Mai.
Another team of Sand-nins.
Finally, a team of Mist-nins, including two twins who both wield strange looking swords.
The Jounin looked to his left and then his right, nodded once, and barked out a command.
"Begin."
The two girls' eyes locked with each other.
"I don't like you, you know that?" Mai, kunoichi of the Sand, said quietly to her opponent.
"I don't even know who you are," replied Nara Kazeko calmly, the girl who had both the Sand and the Leaf in her heritage.
Mai's eyes compacted into a tight gaze of burning iron. "And that is my problem." She took the first move in their battle, grabbing a kunai and tossing hard at Kazeko's legs. The kimono wearing Leaf-nin dodged it with a light leap into the air, and for her it was good because the kunai bit sharply into the stone of the arena floor.
Mai sneered. The blonde kunoichi was wearing… well, she was wearing very little. Her brown Sand-nin uniform only covered her body, with both her arms and legs almost entirely bare. She wasn't even wearing shoes. She breathed in and out with a careful rhythm.
Kazeko was not so placid. She almost ripped the giant fan from its holder on her back and unleashed a giant blast of air, yelling "KAMAIITACHI!"
In the wake of this attack, Mai was left lying face down on the floor of the ring. Her long hair, which before had been meticulously well groomed had been blown wild by the gust. Her palms touched down, pressing against the hard stone.
The Jounin judging the fight moved forward as if about to end the match, but Mai sprang back to her feet.
Suddenly Kazeko didn't feel so confident. She didn't feel anything good. She felt pretty sick, actually. Her insides were rolling around, and she felt as if she were bobbing up and down on the waves of the sea. Through the discomfort Kazeko felt a rhythm to her internal heaving, like a steady beat. Tap. Tap. Tap. She felt it.
And as she fell to her knees Kazeko saw Mai's bare foot tapping the ground. Tap. Tap Tap. The same rhythm as her body.
"The winner, Okuta Mai!"
Mai turned and walked back up to the stands where everyone else had been watching the fight, but she had one final bitter "Bitch," for her fallen enemy, who in a flash was picked up and carried off by her boyfriend.
The preliminaries for the Finals of the Chuunin Exam had begun.
A screen flashed up with the names of the next two fighters.
Aikimichi Choumaru. Kama Rina.
A short girl wearing the brown of a Sand-nin jumped energetically into the ring. Choumaru turned to his friends in nervous panic. "I don't know about this… I can still give up, right?" Iruka laughed and gave his rotund comrade a powerful whack on his back. "Get in there and show these losers what you've got! Yeah!"
Kazeko groaned her agreement and encouragement, still feeling the effects of whatever Mai had done to her.
Choumaru gingerly stepped onto the square battle ring as his opponent bounced up on her toes in excitement. The black-clad Jounin said loudly "Begin," then stepped backwards.
Choumaru looked from side to side, sweating terribly. He didn't really want to fight anyone under normal circumstances, but he'd just minutes ago watched one of his two best friends be defeated, and he still had no idea how! He didn't want to get hurt, and he didn't want to hurt this Rina girl. There was no good way out of this for Choumaru, he decided.
Rina bounced towards the Leaf boy and, looking as if she were about to take a dive, stretched out her hands perpendicular to her torso. With one final bounce, she turned in the air and from behind her came a gust of wind. Her baggy clothes became a crude sail, and she was propelled forward at an incredible rate.
The head of the girl impacted with Choumaru's body in a blow that might have killed a normal man. But Choumaru had used his family's special ninjutsu, the Multi Size, to expand vastly. With his increased bulk the Human Missile attack was only painful and not fatal, and Rina rebounded off his now-huge stomach onto the arena floor.
Choumaru chose that moment to use his family taijutsu style, the Meat Tank. He rolled in a ball towards the small girl, who screamed, "I give up! I give up!"
The Leaf-nin resumed his normal form and smiled through the sweat on his face
"Winner, Aikimichi Choumaru"
Through pointed teeth one of the Jounin-senseis lining the walls with his team smiled as the next two names came up on the screen.
Hoshigaki Ban and Kama Saru.
A large Sand-nin hopped down into the ring with a thud that resounded throughout the entire building. Choumaru had thought he was big, but he had nothing on this guy. Not that he was particularly fat; it was more just that Kama Saru was huge. And it wasn't just size – everyone could feel that he was strong too.
In contrast Hoshigaki Dan was – well, he was taller than most of the Genin present, but he was also rather slender, just like the long sword he carried on his back. Dan had light green hair that spiked up from his head, and wore a blue cloak around his body. A Mist forehead protector was worn wrapped round his throat like a collar.
Ari, the Jounin supervising the preliminaries, nodded to both of the Genin and said just "Begin."
The enormous Saru's lips curved in a smile that on anyone else might have looked sweet. Given how Saru dwarfed his opponent, however, it seemed more sadistic than anything else.
There was a flare of chakra that everyone could sense. Those who hadn't been paying attention abruptly found their eyes fixed on the ring. But those who hadn't been watching from the beginning missed the single second of action.
Dan turned his back to Saru, his hand on the hilt of his sword.
Saru didn't move at all. Not until, that is, he fell backwards, and blood erupted diagonally from his torso. When he hit the ground he was already dead.
"Winner, Hoshigaki Dan!" The smirking Jounin said clearly.
Most of the other people in the room weren't smirking. Most of them were agape in surprise, awe and some disgust. Only a handful of the Genin had even seen what had happened, and only one of the Jounin had expected a mere Genin of that level to appear. That sensei's surname was Hoshigaki too, and he'd been training his nephews for almost their entire lives. It was no surprise to him to see one of them dominate a normal Genin with such ease.
The corpse of Saru was carried off on a stretcher, and above the ring his siblings grieved silently, trusting in their emotional control to carry them through the rest of the Exam.
The next two contenders stepped into the ring and Ari announced the beginning of their fight.
Yuuhi Sakumo stood with a relaxed bearing, his hands in his pockets. As if to symbolize his opposition, Hyuuga Sazashi couldn't possibly have looked any different. The white-eyed Genin had his arms up in the Hyuuga clan's ancient taijutsu stance. Veins bulged around his eyes, carrying chakra to power his bloodline.
"Stand down, Yuuhi. I don't want to hurt you," Sazashi said smugly.
Sakumo smiled.
"Maybe I should be the one saying that, mm?"
Sazashi narrowed his Byakugan eyes. He could see the other Leaf-nin's internal organs and inner coils. He could see the flow of chakra in his body and the opening points from which he could project the energy. Already he knew exactly what he'd have to do to end the fight before it even began.
He charged forward, chakra gathered to his hands. Just one touch would end it.
Instead of Sakumo's chest, though, Sazashi's palm slammed into metal. Sakumo had blocked with the armour he wore on his lower arm.
"Not going to make it that easy for you."
With his other hand now, Sazashi tried again, but again the other boy blocked, now with the guard on his other arm.
Sazashi put his weight behind his hands and pushed at Sakumo, trying to knock him off balance, but his effort was in vain. For every gram of pressure the Hyuuga put into it an equal amount met him in response. Equal and more, as a surge of strength from Sakumo forced Sazashi backwards. The dark haired boy tottered on his feet trying to regain his footing, but an unexpected punch from Sakumo knocked him down. A kunai jutting into his shoulder kept him there.
"Get up." Sakumo looked at the fallen form of Sazashi in disgust. "You're going to give me a good fight, Sazashi, unless you want to bring shame to your name."
Sazashi staggered to his feet, blood trickling from the wound in his shoulder. He spat reddened saliva at the ground. "You want a fight, you got one. No genius is going to lose to someone as average as you."
With a surprising speed that belied his injuries, the Hyuuga dashed at Sakumo. His Gentle Fist strikes came quickly and sharply, but Sakumo was blocking and deflecting the chakra projections with just as much speed and skill.
"I've been sparring with Yume for months now, Sazashi, and she's just as good as you."
"Liar!" Sazashi panted with the beginning stages of exhaustion. They'd been fighting for over five minutes, and both of them were feeling it.
As Sazashi edged back to make a little breathing room between the two, Sakumo took this opportunity to take his tanto out. With the increase in range, the height difference between Sakumo and Sazashi was magnified, and Sazashi was put on the defensive.
One thrust came a little too close for the dark-haired boy's liking, and to save himself he used both his hands to grab the flat edges of the blade. But then with his Byakugan the Leaf-nin could see chakra flowing into the sword, and suddenly his hands felt as if they were on fire.
The next thing he knew, Sakumo stood behind him, one arm restraining his body, the other holding the sword to his throat. "Give up?" he asked. Sazashi struggled, but his only reward was to feel the edge of the sword nick his skin. "Fine, I give up."
"Winner – Yuuhi Sakumo!"
Sakumo and Sazashi walked back up to where their teammates stood watching. Sakumo got an excited hug of congratulation from Yume, though he sputtered objections the whole way through. After watching his fight, Yume was all fired up and roaring to go. "Come on come on come on! Uzumaki Yume, Uzumaki Yume….!"
Instead of Yume, though, the screen flashed up the name of the third member of their team – Nanaka Jo, and his opponent was another Sand-nin from the same Kama family as the other two. This one wasn't as small as his sister or as big as his brother but somewhere in the middle. He was still taller than the younger Jo, but not by very much.
The second Ari started the fight; Jo threw off the large robes he wore over his clothes. He threw it in the direction of his opponent, whose name he'd learned was Nekabu, and the Sand-nin was caught off guard by its surprising bulk.
Clawing free, a confusing sight greeted Nekabu – he couldn't quite focus on Jo, for some reason. He would try and look at him, but his eyes would water and the image would blur. Without a viable target he couldn't use the Kama family Human Missile taijutsu style, and Nekabu was smart enough to have realised that there was a reason why his eyes refused to focus properly.
He decided to close in. Surely he'd be able to find the Leaf boy with his fists if nothing else. He got out two kunai and held them tight, thrusting and slashing the air with them.
Jo seemed to dodge around the attacks as if they were the last things on his mind. Just as his movements were distorted by his genjutsu, his true efforts were as well. Dodging random attacks was no easier for him than it was anyone, and to him it didn't even come as a surprise when he looked down and saw one of Nekabu's kunai plunged into his flesh. He gave a gasp of pain, and Nekabu smiled as he drew back his hand and saw the blood.
Jo felt the blood seeping out of him and knew he'd have to end the fight soon. With everything he had, the masked boy channelled as much chakra into his body as he could at once, and punched the Sand-nin. As he did, everyone in the room felt an amount of chakra in the boy that seemed too great for his small frame, and felt a pressure from him they'd never explained.
There was so much force in that one hit that Nekabu was sent flying back with the recoil, and he landed cold on the far side of the ring.
"Ugh," Jo said monosyllabically. He struggled to keep on his feet, but his chakra was almost completely drained, and he collapsed.
The Jounin Examiner looked at both of the fighters and then declared a result. "Tie. Nanaka Jo and Kama Nekabu do not advance."
"Jo!" Yume jumped down from the stand and swiftly made her way to her friend's side. "Jo, speak to me!"
He groaned. "Yume..? I'm okay…"
"Oh thank god."
The blonde Leaf kunoichi lifted her friend to his feet, but then he pushed her away. "I can stand." Wobbling a little, Jo picked up his robe and put it back on. "I'll be okay, it was just a shallow cut, but I'm just going to go and sit down and rest. Good luck Yume."
"Luck?"
"Mmm." Jo pointed weakly at the screen. Yume's name was clearly displayed, along with that of another Mist-nin – a girl named Rika.
"Wooo! It's my turn! Finally, yes!" Yume danced frenetically with joy.
Jo walked away and out into a corridor, where he slumped down against the wall. Reaching inside his robes, he touched his wound softly with his hand. What he brought back out was dripping red.
Back in the arena, Yume grinned her foxy grin as Ari announced the beginning of the fight. Just like her cousin Sazashi before, she had the veins around her eyes that signified her Byakugan blood limit had been activated. Unlike him, she found for once in her life it wasn't very useful.
"Hey, what's up with that?" Yume should have been able to see the Mist kunoichi's body through her clothes, and see inside to her organs. Instead, all Yume saw was mist rising up from the cloak Rika wore.
For a moment Yume was confused as what to do, since her Gentle Fist was useless, but only for a moment. Without thinking twice she leapt into action with a good old-fashioned normal punch. It was blocked, though, by an arm made of solid mist.
"What the..?"
More mist rose from the cloak and solidified, and another limb pushed Yume back with an unexpected strength.
Yume didn't let this discourage her. She was an Uzumaki! She ran straight back at her opponent, who still had not said a word or even moved her own body.
The blonde girl grinned though, because she knew what to do. With her hands crossed in a seal, she created a dozen Kage Bunshin duplicates of herself. Yume pointed a finger dramatically and shouted, "Go!"
The clones spread out and made a loose ring around Rika, except for two who stayed next to the original and hoisted her into the air, where Yume's hands whirled in a short series of seals. Three balls of fire formed in a line across her body and flew towards the Mist-nin, hitting the girl from three directions at once.
The heat cleared away a lot of the mist, and before it could reform the Kage Bunshins charged. Four of them kicked at Rika, but her mist shield managed to block, if only barely. Luckily for Yume, another four of her clones followed up with four more kicks, which connected and propelled Rika into the air where she met the fists of the final four Yume clones.
A second later Rika fell to the ground. Yume had won, and she knew it.
"Yes! I win!" She ran around the ring with her hands in the air. "I'm the best!"
Above the ring, Iruka frowned. He wanted his own match! It was so unfair, everyone on his team apart from him had fought, and everyone on Yume's team had fought. So, so unfair.
But no, the screen couldn't just flash up with his name, could it? It had to come up with two whole names that weren't his. Stupid screen.
As one name appeared, everyone in the arena and the stands heard two passionate shouts, much to their dismay. The noise came from both generations of the Rock family, who were overjoyed to see Len get his chance at a fight.
"Yes! Show them the power of your hard work my beautiful son!"
"Father!"
"Len!"
"Oooooooooooh! Yes!"
Rock Len and Rock Lee hugged with tears flowing freely down both of their faces, and when the pulled away from each other Len jumped straight down into the ring.
His opponent was Ebirou, fourteen-year-old son of the Sand Jounin Kankurou and nephew of the Kazekage. They hadn't fought before, but their teams had, and they'd both seen what the other had. It wasn't going to be tricks that decided this fight.
The Examiner Ari motioned to Len and Ebirou, and gruffly barked the word "Begin," before stepping back from the two Genin.
The air around Len blurred and the green spandex wearing Leaf-nin disappeared from sight. In a flash he was behind Ebirou, kicking the Sand Genin across the ring. As Ebirou picked himself back up to his feet he had an impressed air.
"You're faster than before," he said.
"I'm not wearing my weights anymore," Len replied with a smile. "I'm not going to lose."
"Funny, that was my--" Ebirou's comeback was interrupted by the lightning-fast blow to his solar plexus. As Len's fist pulled back, the Sand-nin dropped to his knees. He didn't get time to recover, as Len flipped onto his hands and delivered another devastating kick.
"Winner – Rock Len!"
Now there were just four Genin left. Uzumaki Iruka, Uchiha Yamino, Jinsei of the Desert and the second of the Mist twins.
Iruka grinned when he saw his name appear, and then changed his expression to a sly smile when he saw the name of his opponent. Now this was a fight he could enjoy.
The blonde girl was already standing in the ring when Iruka hopped down to join her. Yamino and Iruka had known each other for a long time, but they'd never actually fought. Before now.
Prior to the start of the fight, Yamino and Iruka exchanged greetings. "Hey, another chance for the Uzumaki clan to prove their superiority."
"What are you - nuts?! Everyone knows the Uchiha clan is the greatest clan in Konoha!"
"Well the Uzumakis are the greatest clan in the world. And besides, you Uchiha are nothing without your fancy shmancy eyes!"
"You mean like these?" Yamino asked, as she activated her new Sharingan. "Face it Iruka-chan, you're going down."
"You're not the only one with a blood limit." Chakra flowed into Iruka's eyes and his Byakugan activated in kind.
The Jounin nodded and started the fight. Immediately Iruka split into five clones while Yamino looked on in bemusement.
The four Kage Bunshins surrounded Yamino and came in to kick her, but she back flipped over and away from them, then performed a quick Katon jutsu to destroy them.
Not being put off, Iruka created more Kage Bunshins and this time had them try and punch her one-by-one, but Yamino avoided all their strikes easily, and in a flurry of movement turned them back into puffs of smoke.
His face showed that Iruka was getting a bit pissed off with this now, so he gathered a large amount of chakra and when the smoke cleared Yamino could see he'd created more than twice as many Kage Bunshins as before. This time they screamed and ran at the blonde Uchiha, but she wasn't fazed. She simply moved to attack each one and destroy it… except her fist passed straight through the first one and she fell forward.
"I'm more than just brute force, don't you know?"
Iruka capitalised on this moment just as he'd planned, and the five regular Bunshin he'd created faded away leaving the five solid clones and Iruka himself, who together began to disable Yamino with carefully placed Gentle Fist attacks.
Yamino recovered, and despite her injuries broke free with another Katon. Iruka came out slightly singed while his clones had disappeared. Yamino thought fast, trying to find some way to come back from her bad position. She came to an idea, and crossed her fingers in a seal.
"How about I even the odds?"
Iruka's face changed instantly from smug confidence to shocked concern. His warning was too late, because Yamino funnelled her remaining chakra into the jutsu and brought forth a cloud of ninja smoke and… a single Kage Bunshin.
Yamino's face paled and she teetered on her feet. The strain of the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu was immense, she discovered. How did Iruka and Yume do it?
In exhaustion the Uchiha girl fell backwards, no longer having the energy to stay on her feet. Iruka practically moved at super speed to catch her, but she had fallen unconscious. He was declared the winner of the fight, and Yamino was carried off to the infirmary.
Kazeko and Choumaru congratulated Iruka on his win. Kazeko had recovered from whatever it had been that Mai had done to her in their fight, and she only felt a little queasy now. But she wasn't particularly enamoured with the way in which her boyfriend had just embraced another girl. Still, it's not like she was jealous, right?
Yume and Iruka exchanged one of their many glances. It was like their own private language – a few seconds of eye contact that could have meant anything to someone else. To them, it meant both "Congratulations" and "I'll kick your ass." They were looking forward to the Finals now, oh yes.
There were only two Genin left who hadn't fought yet. That meant that there was no real need to flash their names up on the screen. Still, the two names did appear.
Jinsei. Hoshigaki Ban.
In a whirl of sand Jinsei used the Shunshin to teleport down to the arena, while Ban hopped down and landed lightly on his feet.
Ari said curtly "Begin," and they did.
Ban tried for a repeat of his brother's performance. Faster than almost anyone knew, the long sword of his was in his hands and flying towards Jinsei. But instead of cleaving the Sand-nin's red-haired head from his shoulders the blade clattered down to the arena floor. In the air a blockade of sand had been partially sliced into. The son of the Kazekage wasn't going to lose so quickly.
The Mist-nin frowned and formed a strange seal. One hand was in a standard position, but Ban's right hand crossed his left with an open palm. The sword returned to that open hand, and Ban gripped the hilt. He brought the blade up with both his hands and dashed at the younger boy.
Sand again rose to block Ban's strike, but this time the green-haired shinobi could put his own body behind it. Jinsei struggled to keep his shield up, but he was forced to use more and more of his sand and chakra to defend.
Ban decided this avenue wasn't delivering the results he needed, and as he pulled back he felt his arms sting with ache. He hadn't been expecting such a good defence. Unfortunately the sand of the shield didn't return to the gourd but followed him instead. It became a fast-moving cloud and surrounded the fifteen-year-old, then rushed in to condense.
The cocoon of sand crushed Ban, but for years Ban had been diving deep under the water of his home village, and a little pressure was nothing. With a burst of chakra-empowered strength Ban freed himself and moved, hoping to outpace the sand to its master.
Jinsei was shocked to see his opponent break free from the Desert Coffin, and shocked to realise that all of the sand contained by his gourd was too far away to reach him in time. Jinsei had just one chance left, and he dissolved the gourd itself for its sand. That extra boost was enough for him to attack Ban's legs and slow the Mist-nin down, but he slashed his way free in only one second.
But that extra second was enough for the sand coming from behind Ban to pass him and return to its master. Ban was undeterred and fought on, intent on trying his strength against Jinsei's shield from a closer standing. But Jinsei didn't meet the blade with a shield this time, but with a sword of his own. A sword of sand.
The brief moment of surprise was enough for Jinsei to launch his own counter-attack, but Ban parried Jinsei's sand sword with ease. The two Genin pushed against each other, and Ban dominated the younger boy physically. Jinsei held his own though, because he could use his bloodline ability to control sand to increase the force behind his sword.
Still, Jinsei was no match for someone who'd been training with the sword as long and as hard as Hoshigaki Ban. But he didn't need to be, because more sand flowed from the reformed gourd on Jinsei of the Desert's back and a second sword appeared behind Ban. It slashed at Ban's back, drawing blood through the Genin's blue cloak.
Ban screamed in pain and surprise. He'd seen the sand flowing behind him, but he hadn't been able to move enough in time. He had dodged as well as he could given the circumstances, but not nearly enough to avoid the slicing sword strike.
Jinsei was worried when he saw Ban bounce away from their struggle. He'd been hoping that sneak attack would win the fight for him, but he'd had no such luck. The Mist-nin was truly strong – stronger than any Genin had the right to be. But then he was the son of the legendary Kazekage Gaara, and he would not give up that easily.
Ban flowed chakra into his back to keep the wound as closed as he could. He was no medic-nin, but he knew enough basic jutsus to help stop the flow of blood from his body. He made a show of being weak when he threw his sword, which missed Jinsei altogether. Ban sprinted towards his opponent and tried to hit him with his bare hands, but sand stopped him once again, as restraints formed around his wrists.
That was the moment the sword flew back and hit Jinsei right in the back. His Sand Armour stopped it from slicing through him, but he still felt the blow, and as the sword fell to the floor so did the Sand-nin.
Winner of the final fight of the Chuunin preliminaries - Hoshigaki Ban.
Author's Note: Been a long time since I updated, huh? I meant what I said last time about that incident de-motivating me, but I've been trying to get over that. This chapter is out now and that's all that matters. Took a while to write once I got started anyway, because it was pretty long.
I put a little guide to who the Genin are at the beginning so I hope no one gets confused in this one. Also there's not really very many POV sections, so that should be an improvement.
My next review will be 333! This is cool to me because I really like the number 3. Don't ask me why, I'm just strange. So whoever gets that review will receive a fabulous prize! (Note: there is no fabulous prize)
The next chapter should hopefully be out soon. It'll be a character one instead of action. The last chapter with Gaara was really well received, so I'm going to do a sequel to that once I can think of a good enough idea for it. That is unlikely to be the next chapter though.
I hope everyone is still reading this, so if you are, leave me a review! Thanks! I was hoping to hit 600 last chapter, but now I stopped two away. So, I'm confident I'll hit it with this one.