AN: So I've had one or two people asking me when the next update is going to come out. Now like I said before, I am going to be slowing down my update schedule slightly because of university starting back up. As I said before, I'll try to update at least once every few days or once a week. Sorry about that, but my life and my job come first. That said, On with the fic.
Naruto:
The boy roused slowly, badly groggy after yet another interrupted nap.
"Hey, sleepyhead, it's your fight." Came Sasuke's voice from somewhere nearby. Naruto shook himself slightly, dimly realizing that he needed to be alert right now.
"Who am I fighting?" the blonde boy mumbled sleepily.
"Choji Akimichi," Haku replied from behind him. As the girl spoke, Naruto felt a chilling cold press against the back of his neck. Naruto yelped and jerked forwards, hand jumping up to the spot where the cold had touched him. He turned to see his assailant. "Sorry," Haku said with a smile as she let the chunk of ice drop from her hand. "Sudden cold helps wake people up you know."
Naruto shuddered slightly, brushing the residual water off himself. "Thanks Haku," he said with a note of sarcasm, before creakily pushing himself to his feet and moving across the balcony towards the stairs.
So, he was fighting Choji. Naruto shrugged, this should make for an interesting match up, he had sparred with the larger boy many times before, but neither of them had ever used ninjutsu against each other. Naruto wondered how well Choji's expansion jutsu would hold against his wind style.
Passing the three sand ninja, Naruto noted Gaara give him a slight smile of encouragement, good to see.
The blonde boy reached the ground level where Choji stood waiting for him, the boy was sweating slightly, was that fear in his eyes? "What's up?" Naruto asked his friend. "Why so nervous?"
Choji gulped a little. "Didn't know you could use the fourth's jutsu's." He answered. "Not sure what to expect."
Naruto shrugged. "Just like a regular battle then."
The new proctor raised his hand. "Ready… Fight."
Naruto began moving backwards, as he recalled, Choji tended towards heavy blows and grappling in his taijutsu, better to fight from range where he held the advantage. Choji was having none of it, moving forwards to close the distance, Naruto was going to wind up against the wall. The blonde boy began making hand signs, the larger boy doing the same.
"Wind style: Great breakthrough!"
"Expansion Jutsu!"
Naruto sent a great gust of wind rocketing towards his opponent just as Choji began to expand explosively into a ball like shape, the gale hit the human sphere hard, launching it across the room and into the opposite wall. Naruto hoped the boy was unharmed, he looked helplessly over at the proctor, who started forwards to check on Choji, stopping short as a slightly muffled voice yelled,
"Special technique: Human Bullet Tank!"
There was a sound like steam escaping a valve, and Choji's spherical body began to slowly spin, building up speed rapidly, as it rolled towards the centre of the arena, it jumped just the tiniest bit off the ground, its rotation speed increasing drastically without the resistance of the ground. When Choji hit the floor again, his body sped towards Naruto like a shot from a gun.
The attack was deadly, Naruto suspected that if he had let it hit him, it would have been a one hit KO, but it also had a near unforgivably slow startup time, and it was by no means subtle. The blonde boy had more than enough time to gather the chakra in his feet, waiting for Choji to let the attack loose before making his move. As the other ninja shot towards him. Naruto jumped, propelled into the air by his chakra, he moved over the other boy in a wide arc, making hand signs as he flew.
Choji struck the wall, his spinning form impacting against the hard stone and amazingly, digging into it like some kind of drill, just how durable was that form?
Naruto landed, his hand signs complete, and drew upon all the chakra he had gathered, nearly twice as much as he normally used for the jutsu, he filled his lungs as the great sphere's rotation began to slow, starting to change direction. He waited until the rotation had stopped completely, reasoning that less rotation would mean less deflection of force, before releasing.
"Wind style: Great breakthrough!"
The gust of wind was larger now, stronger. It struck the side of Choji's form and pushed him hard against the wall, forcing his body into the crater it had dug. A few small cracks opened up in the stone at the impact. Choji, for his part, didn't seem to care. He began to spin again, building up speed once more. Naruto sighed, positioning himself against the opposite wall as he began to once again build the chakra in his feet. He would have to try a different approach.
Choji shot towards him once again and once again, Naruto jumped, this time however, the great ball jumped with him. Naruto thanked whoever might be watching that he had thought to stand against the wall, he pushed against the stone with both hands, forcing himself to the side as the human boulder rocketed towards him, he barely made it out the way in time, landing awkwardly as Choji hit the wall, biting deep into it. Naruto needed to end this quickly or Choji might actually get him with that thing. He drew a kunai.
Choji once again began to slow, his form wedged into the wall some two meters off the ground. Naruto had to be quick. Building up his chakra once more, Naruto fired himself at the larger boy once more, landing on and sticking to the wall beside him like a gecko as he carefully regulated the chakra in his feet and one free hand. Naruto began to gather as much chakra as he could in his kunai. He had been taught this as a child, part of his wind manipulation training, supposedly it was more effective if you used a special kind of metal, but he would have to make do. Naruto focused in his minds eye, layering his chakra against itself within the blade, reducing it to a fine filament of pure energy, as Choji finally ceased his spinning, Naruto pressed the tip of his kunai against the other boy's exposed stomach. The expanded flesh was hard, even with his chakra enhanced blade, it took some effort for Naruto to make a relatively shallow cut, but he could go further if he had to. Naruto looked across at the proctor. "Sir, If I go any further, I could injure Choji, but I do have a knife to his stomach and I can cut him. I'm pretty sure I win."
Iruka nodded. "Yes, I suppose so, Naruto wins." The blonde boy let out a relieved sigh, thankful he didn't have to hurt his friend any further. He let himself drop to the floor, putting away his kunai and dusting himself off. Behind him, Choji began to deflate.
Naruto waited for the other boy to drop to the ground before holding out his hand. "Good fight." He said with a smile. "You nearly got me with that jump."
Choji hesitated, before grasping the proffered hand. "You too Naruto, I'm surprised you could cut me in that form." He moved his free hand to the small wound on his stomach "It stings too." He said with a small smile. Naruto smiled back, he liked Choji, the guy never held a grudge.
As he moved back up the stairs to rejoin the others, Naruto pondered the fight. It had been a close run thing, if he hadn't been able to pierce the other boy's form, he likely would have lost.
"Nice moves." Sasuke commented mildly as he approached.
Naruto shrugged. "Not really, I really need to work on a way to get through hard defenses, I could barely even scratch Choji in that form."
Sasuke nodded. Haku, for her part, looked thoughtful. "I might have a solution we could work on for that actually."
"Me too as it happens." Sasuke grinned. "Guess that problem's about to solve itself."
Haku:
"Next fight: Haku Yuki versus Tenten of the leaf."
Haku stood, stretching for a moment and giving the others a smile before she began to walk across the balcony to the stairs. The day had been quite educational, Haku pondered, both Sasuke and Naruto having revealed abilities that rivaled hers and Kimimaro's. Perhaps she had been underestimating her boyfriend's team. Haku shrugged, for now he just had to focus on the fight ahead. Haku glanced across at her opponent, a brown haired girl sporting a large scroll that hung from her back. Haku was wary of that scroll, it was a specialized tool and thus, an unknown quantity.
The two fighters reached the middle of the arena at the same time, standing across from one another. The kunoichi gave a small bow which Haku, slightly taken aback, returned.
"Ready… Fight." Called Iruka.
Without any hesitation, Haku drew and launched several needles at the girl in a single swift motion, each aimed for a non-vital area of muscle. The girl moved surprisingly quickly, stepping to the side and pulling her scroll into a ready position, she rolled it slightly open, revealing what seemed to be some kind of storage seal, she pressed her hand to the seal and pulled it away, drawing a long, bladed whip from the parchment. A weapons specialist? Interesting.
Haku took a few measured steps backwards, moving just outside the range she estimated the other girl's whip could reach. For her part, the girl shifted the scroll back into position on her back and readied the whip for use, holding the handle in one hand and the midpoint in another, swinging the blade around in slow circles at half length. Haku considered the girl, she was capable, no doubt about that and the whip was likely not her only weapon. She had two options, use ninjutsu to end this as quickly as possible, or hold back and attempt to beat the girl with her weapons, she opted for ninjutsu, deciding to hold off her Kekkei genkai for the moment so as to keep her trump card a secret for the third stage.
Haku raised her right hand, filling it with more needles from her sleeve and throwing them at her foe in a wide arc, she moved her left hand behind her back and began making hand signs single handed, a skill she had developed in service of Zabuza.
Tenten did not move to dodge, as Haku had expected. Instead, she moved forwards, flicking the blade at the end of her whip to intercept the needles sent towards her and ignoring the ones to either side. She pressed forwards, letting the whip extend to its full length behind her as she prepared to bring it forwards in a fast, deadly strike.
Haku finished her last hand sign and threw herself backwards as fast as she could, bringing up a needle with her right hand just in time to intercept the blade as the other ninja launched it forwards. She only managed to partially deflect the strike and the bladed head of the whip drew a long red line across her shoulder, she winced in pain. This girl was good, nearly as fast as Haku was, and definitely stronger than her, she filled her lungs with air, preparing to discharge the stored up chakra, and let out a single, powerful breath.
"Wind style, Great breakthrough!"
The torrent of wind caught the girl off guard, Haku couldn't blame her. Most normal people had to choose between making attacks and performing hand signs, not so much for her though. Tenten threw herself to the side just a moment too late, the edge of the blast caught the girl and sent her sprawling. Haku leaped forwards, needing to capitalize on the opening. She threw two more needles, each of which embedded itself into the kunoichi's right and left shoulder, hampering her movements with that whip. Drawing another needle, Haku closed the remaining distance to the girl and attacked as she pulled herself to her feet. Tenten tried to block, but the needles in her arms slowed her, and Haku brought the needle up against her throat.
Haku was panting heavily, it may not have been a long fight, but it had been energetic. She gazed at the taller girl who, for some reason, was smiling gleefully down at her.
"You're fun," said Tenten quietly, the movements of her throat restricted by the needle pressed against it.
"Yeah, you too," Haku replied between breaths. "We should definitely do this again."
"Winner, Haku Yuki," Said the proctor quietly behind them.
"Challenge accepted," Said Tenten with a grin.
Haku withdrew the needle, stowing it once more in her sleeve before quietly kneeling down and beginning to collect the rest of her blades from across the floor. Tenten helped collect the last of them, handing them over.
"Thanks." She smiled, before heading back to sit with Naruto, currently eating the bento Sasuke had saved for him.
Sasuke:
"Final fight," Iruka called. "Kiba Inuzuka versus Rock Lee."
Sasuke watched intently as the two combattants faced one another. He knew Kiba to be a close combat Ninjutsu specialist, often performing combo techniques with that dog, Akamaru. Lee on the other hand, was something of a mystery, all Sasuke knew was that he had disabled both Dosu and his comrade with some genuinely superb taijutsu, what could he have up his sleeves?
The two opponents stood across from one another, waiting for the proctor to call it.
"Fight… Start." Iruka said quietly.
Sasuke watched as Kiba lunged, Lee swayed to the side, moving out of the way as he brought his leg up to deliver a powerful kick to the other boy's midsection, it connected hard. Sasuke winced in sympathy as the boy staggered, moving to the side as Lee backed off. Kiba, to his extreme credit, was only taken out for a few moments, although, Sasuke realized, a few moments would have been more than enough for someone like Lee to follow through and end it. Was the green clad ninja being polite? Or was he just toying with Kiba? Sasuke doubted it, Lee didn't seem like the type.
Kiba straightened, lifting Akamaru from his customary position atop his head, placing the hound on the floor. Shortly afterwards, the dog disappeared in a puff of smoke, replaced by a duplicate of Kiba, for his part, Lee stood back and waited, allowing his foe to prepare his next move. Sasuke chuckled, Lee was either way too generous, or way too cockly.
Both Kiba's lunged at Lee, who took up a defensive stance. Before they reached him, however, the beast ninja and his partner disappeared, replaced by a whirling blur of force, shooting towards the unfortunate Lee. The green clad ninja brought his arms up to defend, taking the brunt of both blows directly, his body was thrown hard against the wall.
The blurred forms resolved themselves once more into Kiba and his double. "So how do you like our fang over fang technique?" Kiba asked, his tone cocky.
Lee stood, dusting himself off and smiling. "That was most impressive." The boy said with unabashed enthusiasm "I was quite taken in by your technique."
Kiba grinned. "Yeah, me and Akamaru here make a pretty good team. Ready for more?"
"One moment." Said Lee, holding up a hand. "Do you mind if I remove my training weights before we continue?"
Kiba was not the only one to give Lee a strange look as the boy spoke, almost the entire room was gazing at Lee in confusion. "Uhh…" Kiba muttered, taken aback "Sure, I guess? Shouldn't you have done that before the fight?"
Lee stooped and pulled down his leg warmers, working at undoing two small bundles of weights attached to his ankles. "Honestly, I was not expecting to need to take them off. You are quite strong." The boy finished undoing the weights and threw one to either side of him. Sasuke noted, with some horror, that the tiled floor cracked where the weights landed. Just how heavy were they?
Kiba noticed too, dropping into a defensive posture. It was already too late, Lee kicked the first Kiba hard in the stomach, launching him the length of the room and into the opposite wall. Sasuke gaped, were it not for his sharingan enhanced vision, he doubted he would have seen Lee as anything more than a blur. The Kiba that hit the wall fell to the floor, vanishing with a puff of smoke to reveal Akamaru laying unconscious on the ground. Without hesitation, the two ninja who had accompanied Iruka dashed forwards, tending to the fallen hound.
Kiba threw himself towards the other ninja with a roar of anger, throwing blow after blow at Lee. None of them even came close to connecting. Lee simply dodged each and every one before driving his knee upwards into Kiba's gut. The blow lifted Kiba bodily off the ground, throwing him several feet, he landed on his backside and wretched, losing his lunch all over the floor. Lee stood back and waited patiently for his opponent to recover.
Eventually, Kiba stood, his legs shaking only slightly. Letting out a single, final roar, Kiba threw himself at Lee, once more shifting into that swirling blur of power. Lee ran and the blur followed close behind him, moving hot on his heels. Sasuke was astounded by the speed of Lee's movements, noting that he still hadn't seen the boy execute a single ninjutsu. When it became clear that there was no point in dodging Kiba's strike, the mass of kinetic force following close behind him with every movement, Lee turned, planted his feet, and held out his hand to the oncoming attack. Sasuke let his jaw drop open. As the whirling blur resolved itself once more into Kiba, it became clear to everyone what had just happened. Lee, in defiance of all logic, had reached out to an attack strong enough to break bones, and had caught it in his hand. Unfortunately for Kiba, the part of the attack Lee had caught, was his face.
"Well done." Lee said in a voice of the same polite enthusiasm he had held for the duration of the fight. "You managed to make me use my arms." With that, he pulled Kiba towards him and, with his free hand, punched the boy in the face. Kiba went limp.
"Winner, Rock Lee." Said Iruka into the stunned silence. "Now then everyone, this concludes the elimination round. For those of you who remain, I advise you train rigorously. The final round takes place in one months time, and will be a simple tournament. For those of you who revealed their secret techniques during their match, I advise you to think of something new, it is always best to have something to surprise your foes with. Good luck to you all, Dismissed."
Sasuke sat, shocked. He had never seen anyone move that fast unaided before, how was someone supposed to compete with that level of speed? Around him, the others were chatting, Naruto discussing training timetables with Sakura as Haku offered occasional comment. Dully, he rose to his feet, joining the others as they made their way outside. As he stepped through the door, Sasuke gave one last look over his shoulder at the arena room. The walls and floor pocked with craters and cracks, he let out a small chuckle before heading back towards the village.
AN: For those of you who haven't been keeping track, the remaining Genin are as follows: Neji, Lee, Gaara, Kankuro, Kimimaro, Haku, Kosuke, Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto, Shikamaru and Hinata.
Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it. Feel free to leave a comment or a review, I enjoy the feedback. Bye! :P
