NA 37
Disclaimer: don't own Naruto or the Naruto universe.
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"Begin the match!"
Neither Chihiro nor Rurii wasted any time when the command was given, both shooting forward right away. Chihiro drew a pair of kunai to increase his deadliness, while Rurii pulled out to large blades shaped like scalpels. Dashing past each other, both ninja slashed at each other with one hand and parried with the other.
Sparks flew as metal clashed against metal.
Not standing still; both rushed further and quickly turned around. A grin formed on Rurii's face as he watched his opponent. The medic was unharmed, having successfully deflected the attack, while the Mist ninja hadn't been so lucky: a small scratch, with a single tear of blood dropping from it, was visible on his shoulder.
This time they didn't run at each other, instead starting to circle and slowly advance towards each other. When they were close enough, Rurii immediately lashed out, but this time Chihiro parried the huge scalpel and counterattacked. Blocking with his other scalpel, Rurii returned them to a deadlock.
Jumping back to break the deadlock, Chihiro was immediately pursuit by the Rock medic, who pressed his offense hard. Leaning back to evade a high slash – which would have taken out his eyes – Chihiro's right leg was cut open by the second blade. At the same time his own blade stabbed deep inside Rurii's leg, causing a thick stream of blood to erupt from the medic's leg. At once both shinobi jumped back again, keeping their distance.
While at a distance, Rurii placed his blades between his fingers and started making seals. In less than a second his hands began glowing green. Placing one hand over the wound, he immediately healed himself and held his blades in his hands again. With his now fully healed leg, the blue-clad man dashed forward to engage in battle again.
Chihiro however, didn't rush forward. Instead he suddenly threw his kunai at his opponent with pinpoint precision, before moving through some seals himself. For his part, Rurii was barely able to evade the blades but received a cut on his neck and in his armpit for his narrow dodges.
Immediately afterwards, the two ninja met and continue on their Taijutsu match. Using his large scalpels, Rurii used both arms to slash from the outside in, aiming at Chihiro's chest. Chihiro, now a bit faster without the additional weight of his kunai, stopped the attack by stopping Rurii's wrists with his elbows. In that same position, his hands shot forward and landed two blows on the blue-haired medic. One hand on the chest and one on the neck.
Rurii countered immediately by leaning back to reduce the force of the punches and kicked at the same time, hitting the Mist ninja's kneecap. Not giving in to the pain of their minor injuries, both ninja stood tall again and continued their assault.
Rurii fell to the ground and swept Chihiro's leg's, causing the cmist ninja to fall over. Meanwhile, Chihiro had quickly formed a few hand seals, despite being in extreme-close combat range, and finished his jutsu while falling.
"Genjutsu: Blinding Flash!" he whispered as he released his technique. Immediately a large flash of light burst forth from his locked hands, blinding Rurii and forcing him to back off. The sudden pain to his eyes caused the medic to reflexively reach his hands to his face. Chihiro didn't leave the opening unused.
Quickly standing up, he swung his leg back and landed a full-force kick in the fork of Rurii's legs. The second burst of intense pain caused the rock ninja to bend forward, groaning in intense pain Agony. A second later, Chihiro had punched him in the chin with an uppercut, sending him flying backwards and knocking him out.
As Rurii landed spread-eagle on the ground, Chihiro stood up and, panting, claimed victory.
Slowly taking a few steps forward, the one-eyed examiner looked over at Rurii before raising her arm and pointing at Chihiro.
"Winner: Sen Chihiro of the Village of the Hidden Mist!"
With a satisfied look on his face, Chihiro turned around and walked back to the waiting area, careful not to put too much weight on his injured leg.
XxX
At the top of the stadium; the six village leaders were all sitting in their special box.
"Interesting," The Raikage said, sitting perfectly straight in his chair.
"Yeah, it was." The Tsuchikage agreed. "Although it is a shame that neither of them actually used their full ability."
"That Rurii boy's medical technique was quite impressive." Tsunade agreed. "He healed that deep stab wound in his leg rather quickly."
"And of course, the genjutsu that was used by Sen-san was not bad either." Gaara added. "It wasn't all that powerful, but he created the seals quickly and used the technique handily."
"Wait till you see what he can really do." The Mizukage said, leaning back in her chair with a smug look. "Chihiro was holding back the majority of his skill, just like that Rock Ninja he fought. Neither was a capable Taijutsu fighter, but they still showed nothing more then that. A basic genjutsu like that is nothing."
"Kukuku, of course they didn't use their full ability." Orochimaru chuckled, earning a glare from the kage's. "Why show all your cards when no-one knows them yet? Only a fool shows his real power when he still has to fight more opponents."
XxX
"Next match! Suigetsu of the Hidden Sound versus Karui of the Hidden Cloud! Shinobi, step forward!" Kin yelled, as the two teenagers stepped into the arena. Although Karui looked a bit agitated she didn't display any anger towards Suigetsu. Suigetsu, for his part, was grinning like always, but not looking at his opponent.
When they where standing in the middle of the arena, Kin looked at each of them once to confirm their identities and then raised her hand. At once, Suigetsu and Karui reached for their swords.
"BEGIN!" Kin yelled as she puffed away in a cloud of smoke, clearing the arena. Unlike the previous match, neither fighter immediately attacked. Instead, they stared each other down while they stood motionless, both having drawn their blade an inch from the sheath. Finally, like they had reached an agreement, both swordfighters shot forward, drawing their blades as they charged.
Suigetsu quickly drew his guard-less blade and opened with a horizontal slashing movement, while Karui drew her sword and was just in time to block the strike. The black-skinned kunoichi took a step back, evading Sugietsu's follow-up vertical slash, and spun around to attack with her own sword.
Unlike Suigetsu's weapon, Karui's sword did have a guard, but it was an unusual one. She wielded her sword in her left hand and the guard mirrored this; the guard was only located on the left side, leaving the right side without a guard. Along the right side of her blade there were also various small holes and bumps, as if something could be locked in place there.
Raising her sword above her head, Karui charged forward and swung the blade down. Suigetsu easily blocked the attack and raised his knee to retaliate. Karui blocked the attack by raising her own knee, but Suigetsu used her sudden lack of balance to push the redhead back and charge at her again.
Realizing that Suigetsu would overpower her in a direct confrontation, Karui kept jumping back, keeping an even distance between herself and the blue-haired sound-ninja. At the same time she was forming seals, while keeping her sword ready in a backhand style.
"Fire Element: Burning Breath!" at her command, the very air that Karui was breathing out started to burn, causing a widespread area of mild flames to appear. Suigetsu quickly changed direction to avoid the flames. They were too weak to cause serious injury, but even a minor burn could prove fatal if it messed up his timing when fighting. Even more so when they were in a tournament without the possibility to fully heal themselves in between the rounds.
Using the time that Suigetsu had backed of to form another series of seals, Karui performed her second Ninjutsu.
"Fire element: Flames Comets!" Stabbing her sword into the ground, Karui lowered her stance and held her hands at hip level, forming orbs made of fire in each hand. Raising her hands behind her, she made a series of throwing movements with her hands, each one sending a burst of fire flying towards Suigetsu.
The Sound ninja didn't look troubled at all, instead simply running to the side, moving around Karui in a wide circle and evading all the fireballs that the redhead was throwing.
"What's the matter, too scared to fight little girl?" he taunted, his sword still in hand. The small taunt obviously got to the girl, because she suddenly stopped her barrage of fireballs, grabbed her sword and rushed forward.
"Wanna try me you damn bastard!" she shouted at him, moving a finger over her sword as she ran. "Fire Element: Burning Blade!" at once the surface of her sword was devoured by intense flames, hiding the actual blade from sight in the raging inferno.
Suigetsu didn't flinch at the flaming sword, but kept running in a circle with Karui in hot pursuit.
"Who's the coward now!" she yelled at him. "Afraid to get your precious sword melted?"
"You're not only a coward, you're also an idiot!" the blue-haired teenager yelled over his shoulder, suddenly increasing his speed. Karui also upped her speed, pumping more chakra in her feet as she went. The flames on her sword flickered for a second, reducing in intensity.
In that same instant, Suigetsu suddenly turned around and dashed straight at Karui. Not being able to react to the sudden direction that her opponent had made, the black-skinned ninja couldn't evade the attack in time. Even as she jumped away, a large red stain formed on her right side, just below her armpit. Sliding to a stop, Suigetsu looked at the four inches of his sword that where covered in blood and quickly made a slashing movement to wipe the blood of his sword.
"Damn you!" Karui weakly yelled as she crashed to one knee, her sword planted in the ground like a cane. Her right side was bleeding heavily and along with her shallow breathing it was obvious that Suigetsu had managed to cut deep enough to injure a lung. "Let's see how you like this!" Forcing herself to stand up, Karui raised her sword until it was on level with her shoulders and held the blade horizontally. From there she raised it above her head with the tip aimed at the sky, the basic one-handed frontal slash attack.
"Grow, Kougi." She whispered as she slashed the weapon down despite being far outside of either Suigetsu's or her own attack range. But as she slashed down, the blade suddenly grew longer until it easily reached Suigetsu. The growing had hardly taken a second and had caught the shark-toothed ninja by surprise. He could barely raise his sword, which had been at shoulder-level already, to block the strike. Despite the additional length, the strike was no heavier then the attacks that he had blocked before.
Karui pulled back and her sword instantly returned to its original size. From there, she made a quick stabbing motion and the blade increased in length again. This time Suigetsu was ready for it, easily stepping to the side and avoiding the attack. He quickly rushed alongside the blade, even as Karui slashed it towards him again. Using one hand, Suigetsu easily blocked the strike and continued running towards his opponent.
Knowing that she was no match for Suigetsu in a close combat match, especially in her current state, Karui jumped back and pulled back her sword again. Even in mid-air she made another swing towards her blue-haired opponent, burning with anger. She had wanted to keep the secret ability of her sword – Kougi – a secret as long as possible, but thanks to this annoying opponent she had been forced to reveal it already.
Coming to a sudden stop in the middle of the arena, Suigetsu raised his sword and easily – almost lazily – blocked the strike.
"This is pathetic." He said, holding the attack back with no problem. "You focus your chakra into the sword to control its length, but the weight of the blade doesn't change. You still don't have any power behind them. Know that you never stood a chance against me!" as he grabbed his sword with both his hands, Karui suddenly noticed where it was Suigetsu was standing: the same place that she had been standing when she had showered him with her Flames Comets attack.
"Chidori Current." Suigetsu whispered the words, but in the sudden silence that reigned over the stadium, they sounded as heavily as a sentence of death.
At once electricity shot forth from Suigetsu's body, passed through his sword into Kougi and continued on to Karui. As soon as the electricity touched the girl's body, she started screaming in pain. The lightning attack was strong enough to shock her into a temporary paralysis, and caused her to spasm. The spasms forced her to release the flow of chakra in her sword, making it shrink back to normal size.
Instead of landing on the ground, Karui literally crashed, falling on her back and still spasming from the lightning attack. Suigetsu looked on for a few seconds before sheathing his sword and, raising his left hand over his head, snapped his fingers. At once the entire arena, save for the spot where Suigetsu stood, was devoured by a group of large explosions. Karui was caught in several of them, but it was impossible for anyone to see what happened to her in the cloud of dust that the explosions raised.
Finally, after almost two minutes of waiting, the dust settled and revealed the two shinobi. Suigetsu, who had been standing in the only safe area in the entire arena, was left completely unharmed by the explosions, only brushing off some sand from his body. Karui was not so lucky. She had barely survived the explosions, but her entire body was now covered with various burns and large, open wounds.
Kin appeared in the stadium again, declared Suigetsu the winner of the match and quickly ordered a team of medics to look over the cloud ninja. Amidst a rain of cheers and awed looks, Suigetsu left the stadium as the winner of the match.
XxX
"I have to admit that, for a genin; that was some impressive fighting." The Raikage said, looking at the fight with interest. "Not only did he show himself a skilled fighter, but he displayed interesting tactics by acting like he was running from Karui to exhaust her chakra reserves."
"And, of course, he was also able to hide explosive tags all over the arena while running around and keeping the girl from noticing." The Tsuchikage added.
"That girl's sword," the Mizukage started, keeping a close eye on the redhead as she was being transported by medics, "looked rather unique. May I enquire as to how she had obtained it, Raikage-dono?"
"Allow me to explain it to you, Mizukage-dono." The aged kage started. "That sword is one of several special weapons that are in the possession of the Cloud Village. They're spread over the special clans of the village. Karui is from one of the stronger families and as the heir of the family head she has received the special sword Kougi."
"Am I right in believing that the weapon should be joined with another to complete it, based on its odd shape?"
"Perhaps you are."
"Most fascinating, is there any way I could study the swords at a later time? I have much interest in such weapons." As she spoke, the Mizukage's face was adorned with her most charming smile.
The Raikage was not impressed.
"It is outside of my authority. I can command the clans to do missions or go to war, but I have no authority over their personal belongings. And I assure you: their clan is very loyal to the Hidden Cloud and does not like communication with outsiders."
"Shame…." The Mizukage said as she started rubbing her chin in thought. "Really a shame…"
XxX
Back in the waiting room, Hanabi had been far too scared and impressed by the savage way that Suigetsu had defeated his opponent that she didn't notice Naruto sneaking away. Omoi was shouting something to his sister from the side, crushing the railing in his grip, while Samui didn't move at all while her eyes where locked on her teammate.
The shouting and explosions that Suigetsu created were perfect diversions for Naruto to walk up to Izayoi. Chihiro – who had already bandaged up his injured leg – and Minu let him pass without question, remembering from their encounter in the forest that they couldn't defeat him.
"Yo, Izayoi." Naruto greeted her. The long-haired girl didn't even respond, instead staring at the wall on the other side of the wall. Naruto walked into her field of vision and crouched down, obscuring the rest of the world from Izayoi's eyes. "Listen, you're going to fight Hanabi in the next match." The ice-mistress didn't so much as shake her head or blink to confirm what Naruto said. "Do you think you can go a bit easy on her? She's still a rookie and all, so no need to go overboard. As much as I hate to say it, she doesn't stand a chance against you. But if you'd be so kind as to not kill her or cause her permanent injury, that would be great. If you do harm her or kill her…." as he said the last part, Naruto let out a threatening growl and released a bit of Kyuubi's chakra into his eyes, turning them red, "I'll be angry. And you don't want to see me angry. Understand?"
With the explosions dying down, Naruto stood up, turned around and quickly moved back to his place beside Konohamaru, leaving Izayoi to her own thoughts.
A few minutes later, the examiner called down the two black-haired kunoichi. Both stood up without a sound and proceeded to walk towards the arena. Hanabi was getting freaked out as she walked a little to Izayoi's left. The Mist ninja didn't say a word, not even insults or threats just before the fight. Hanabi would have preferred she had, that way at least the tension that was thick in the air around the frosty teenager would break a bit and ease the young Hyuuga's mind.
Finally, they entered the arena and – still walking as calmly as ever – met up with the examiner. Hanabi could feel that her knees wanted to shake but the trainings that she had suffered through about appearances prevented it. She couldn't afford to look weak; not now when everyone was watching her.
At the examiner's order, they both took their position and prepared for the fight. Despite still wearing her headband as a blindfold, Hanabi automatically slipped into her Jyuuken stance. Izayoi on the other hand didn't move a muscle, standing where she was perfectly straight, her breathing even.
"BEGIN!"
Knowing that Izayoi was the superior ninja – since she had fought with Naruto to a standstill back in the forest – Hanabi immediately charged. She couldn't afford to give the long-haired kunoichi any time to place traps like Suigetsu had done.
When Hanabi's open palm was an inch removed from Izayoi's chest, the Jinchuuriki bent over backwards, easily avoiding the strike. Drawing back her hand, Hanabi tried to attack again, but like before Izayoi let the strike come closer before evading it. Hanabi's third attack was a direct follow-up on the second, making it hard to dodge. Instead, Izayoi parried the attack by striking Hanabi's wrist, preventing her from closing off any tenketsu. With a final spin kick, Hanabi finished up her first offensive, but like before Izayoi simply blocked the technique. Holding the young Hyuuga's leg, Izayoi moved into a controlled half-spin, tossing the girl over her shoulder and sending her flying.
Without any real physical power behind it, Hanabi managed to recover in the air and land on her feet, some distance away from Izayoi. As the girl prepared herself for another charge, she saw a flare in Izayoi's yellow-green chakra with her Byakugan, indicating that the Jinchuuriki had just used a special ability with her demonic chakra. At once a series of ice needles appeared out of thin air, formed by the humidity in the air freezing, courtesy of Izayoi.
Several of the needles shot forward, but Hanabi was barely able to dodge them. As she slid to a stop, her right arm and leg both had some scratches on it, a few drops of blood appearing from each injury. Despite the pain in her limbs, Hanabi charged forward again. Izayoi shot forth two more needles, but this time Hanabi deflected them with her hands, but a third needle, hidden behind the first, buried its way into her left hand. A fourth needle suddenly erupted from the ground, piercing the girl's left foot. By this time Hanabi had already reached the Mist Kunoichi, and she pushed off with her right foot, tearing her left free from the ice-spike.
With a single seal, the other seals shot forward and penetrated Hanabi's arms and legs, causing more wounds to appear and the young girl to fall down in pain. A second seal of Izayoi's fused all the ice-spikes in Hanabi's limbs into large cubes of ice, sealing off any chance of moving arms of legs.
In any other situation, the sight of Hanabi with large ice-cubes from the elbow and knee down would probably have been amusing, but now it was dead serious. Forming another seal, Izayoi summoned five larger ice spikes to appear in mid-air, each as thick as a fist. These spikes were obviously intended to kill.
As Izayoi was about to release the seal and send the spikes towards their target, she suddenly felt an intense killing intention aimed at her. Without releasing her seal, the Ice Mistress looked over Hanabi's shoulder at its source: Uzumaki Naruto.
He was now different from before: his eyes were red and slit like a cat's, his hair was a bit wilder and darker in color and his teeth – which were shown in the dangerous glare he send Izayoi's way – where sharper then before. He was also giving off more killing intent than anyone else Izayoi had ever encountered, even while standing with his arms folded and leaning in over the railing. The meaning of his killing intent was clear: listen to the request I made or I'll kill you for it.
"Examiner," Izayoi whispered, her voice was completely emotionless and as cold as ice. "I have captured and defeated my opponent, I claim victory."
Kin poofed back into the arena to confirm her statement. After checking up on Hanabi – who was now turning a shade of light blue all over her body – the examiner stood up and pointed at Izayoi.
"Winner of this match: Izayoi of the Hidden Mist!"
Without waiting for another word, Izayoi turned around and left the arena, while a team of medics showed up and carried the half-frozen Hyuuga girl away.
XxX
While all the nobles gave a polite applause for the victor of the match, the Mist Kunoichi Izayoi, Hyuuga Hiashi didn't notice the smirk of triumph that appeared on the face of several of the other nobles from hidden villages. Others looked disappointed by the outcome and Hiashi had no problems guessing why.
As a member of the Hyuuga, Hanabi had been expected by many nobles to make it very far in this tournament, based on the sheer fact that she was a Hyuuga. Other, mostly rival, noble clans were very pleased with the outcome: since Hanabi was defeated in the first round – especially in such a humiliating way – the Hyuuga were sure to lose face over it.
"It's a shame that Hanabi-chan lost…" Hinata admitted, sitting next to her father. "I had hoped that she would have made it a bit further then this."
"Yes, it is too bad. But Hanabi was not yet ready for this exam as we both know." Hiashi replied, keeping an eye on his youngest daughter as the medics lifted her up and pulled her away. "Although she has fought bravely and I could see that she was far stronger than when she left Konoha, her opponent was not someone who could be defeated that easily. Let's hope that this will make her realize just how strong opponents can be in the ninja world."
"Yes…" Hinata agreed, needlessly straightening her shirt some more. "And Hanabi-chan can use this experience to become that much stronger."
Hiashi only nodded to agree with his daughter, while one eye moved towards Neji's position. The young Jounin noticed the look on his uncle's face and nodded his head, indicating that he had seen it too. Izayoi had not been the type to let her enemies walk away and she was about to kill Hanabi. Both Neji and Hiashi clearly realized why the girl was still alive; they had also felt a chill creep over their spine at Naruto's sudden Killing Intention. And after he had locked eyes with the Ice Ninjutsu user, the girl suddenly stopped her attack and simply claimed victory.
'I guess that means my daughters both owe him their lives twice now…' Hiashi thought to himself as the next combatants entered the arena. 'If he keeps up this rate we Hyuuga will owe him so many favors he'd be able to become the Clan Head right away…'
XxX
"And now," Kin started as the next two combatants entered the arena, "the fourth match of today; Tsuya Hiraganaka of the Hidden Sand and her opponent, Samui of the Hidden Cloud!"
Both blonds walked into the arena, not even looking at each other. Samui, dressed in all black, looked as frosty as ever, while Hiraganaka was tossing and catching a golden coin with one hand as she walked.
As the two took their places opposing each other, Kin looked at each of them in turn with her single eye before raising her hand. At once the two kunoichi slid into a Taijutsu stance.
"BEGIN!"
Before the smoke had even cleared from Kin's transportation technique, the two blonds had already met and engaged in close combat. Hiraganaka was obviously faster then the busty Samui, because she had covered more distance and had gained the first strike on the Cloud Nin.
Connecting with a solid punch to Samui's jaw, Hiraganaka was barely in time to block Samui's counter-kick aimed at her temple. Transforming her block into a hold over Samui's leg, the Wind Kunoichi pulled and unbalanced her opponent. A second later, she had to release her hold as a jolt of electricity shot through Samui's leg and burned Hiraganaka's fingers. The unexpected jolt created an opening that the Cloud nin didn't miss; her fist was buried deep in the green-clad girl's stomach.
Doubling over in pain, gasping for air, Hiraganaka exploded in a cloud of smoke as she was replaced by a wooden log. A second later, she was behind Samui and punched her in the back of the head. She also exploded in a log and suddenly burst out of the ground below the still air born Hiraganaka. However, the clone exploded in a violent tornado as soon as Samui punched it in the face. Likewise, Samui's body erupted in a torrent of bright flashes as the lightning clone was dispelled.
"Not bad." The real Hiraganaka said as she dropped from a tree in the forested area, looking over at the small lake on the other side of the arena. "You anticipated I'd make a Bound Wind Clone and created a clone of your own… ready for round two?"
Slowly raising from the water, Samui didn't respond to Hiraganaka's taunt, instead observing her intently. Then she raised one hand and waved her over, taunting her as well.
"Fine, let's see how you deal with this!" Hiraganaka yelled as she dashed forward, her hands shooting through seals. Standing on top of the water, Samui did the same, preparing for a Ninjutsu of her own.
"Wind Element: Broken Barrier!" as she finished her technique, a glow appeared around Hiraganaka's body a second before she shot up over twice as fast as before. She was on Samui just as the black-clad Kunoichi finished her last seal.
"Lightning Element: Sparking Blast." In between her hands a ball of electricity formed and immediately shot forward towards Hiraganaka, moving as fast as lightning.
The blond Wind Ninja moved to the side, evading the lightning blast by a hair. Behind her, the orb hit the ground and erupted in small electric shocks. Before Samui could create another blast, Hiraganaka had reached her and kicked her in the stomach. All of her movements had gotten much faster then before. Launching four more punches and an additional full-spin kick to send the Cloud nin crashing against the wall, Hiraganaka took a small break to catch her breath. Even so, the glow of chakra around her never diminished.
As Samui got up she coughed up some blood, indicating a serious injury, but even so she never dropped her guard.
"You used that Wind Technique to reduce the friction of the air around you to nearly zero while moving didn't you? That's why you're suddenly so much faster."
"Right in one…" Hiraganaka admitted before dashing forward. A second later, she was behind her opponent and kneed her in the neck. This time, Samui was ready; a burst of electricity shot out of her body to block the attack and sting Hiraganaka's knee at the same time. In the split second that the Wind nin was stunned, the Cloud nin turned around.
"Lightning Element: Frying Bind." At her command a jolt of lightning shot forth from each of Samui's fingers and wrapped themselves around Hiraganaka, causing her to shock and convulse in pain. Struggling to make any movements at all, the green-clad girl finally managed to get her hand together and formed a seal.
"Wind Element: Raging Fists!" She managed to exclaim with difficulty. At once the bonds of electricity binding her where broken as streams of wind shot forth from her hands. Landing on the ground right next to Samui, Hiraganaka quickly punched at the opposing blond again. The wind technique boosting her attack cut right through Samui, leaving her bleeding heavily. A second later the clone exploded into lightning once again.
Turning around, Hiraganaka whipped her hands around and pointed at a tree some distance behind her. The streams of wind ripped the tree to shreds, forcing Samui out of hiding, along with a series of scratches thanks to the technique.
"And how do you like this?" Hiraganaka asked, panting for breath by now, as Samui had difficulty standing because both her legs where injured.
"Raging Fists allows me to manipulate the wind to aid me in my attacks. It increases the range of my attacks by as far as I want and it increases the damage I can inflict with a single attack significantly. Compared to how little chakra the technique actually costs, it's a really profitable investment."
"You talk too much." Samui suddenly stated as she made the Seal of the Dragon, still kneeling on the floor. Almost at once Hiraganaka's barrier of chakra to reduce the flow of wind disappeared and her Raging Fist Technique was also dispelled. A sudden look of disbelief appeared on the Wind Ninja's face.
"Wha…" she tried to say, but her jaw hardly moved.
"All those lightning elemental techniques I've used still lingered in your system. At my command they disrupt all the electronic signals between your nerves and the rest of your body. You're paralyzed. And this is for the finish."
Once again Samui started forming seals, not even bothering to get up.
"Genjutsu: Stretch Control."
For a few seconds nothing happened, but all of a sudden, Hiraganaka raised her hand, but it moved odd, not at all as fluently as it normally would have. It was jerking and moved slowly, jumping every few inches before stopping and jerking again.
Finally, with another seal of Samui's, the blond ninja from the land of Wind spoke up. Like her arm, her voice was oddly strained and even monotone.
"I give up." As soon as the words had left her mouth, Hiraganaka fell to the ground like a puppet that had its strings cut. Over on the other side of the field, Samui released her seal and gasped for breath, struggling to stay sitting.
"Winner, Samui of the Hidden Cloud!" Kin announced as she reappeared in the arena.
XxX
"Ok, now that was impressive for a genin." Jiraiya said as he watched Samui leave the arena. "I'll bet that there are Chuunin who couldn't have pulled that off half that well. She is definitely above genin level."
"What the hell just happened?" Kiba asked, still looking surprised. "One second that chick in green is kicking ass and the next she's getting whooped."
"She said that she temporarily severe the nerves…" Sakura repeated, but her voice was full of doubt. "But…"
"That's nearly impossible." Ino concluded. "Medic Ninja's are the ones with the most knowledge about the human body and we can't sever the nerves. Even Tsunade-Shisho can only disrupt the flow of the nerves, not sever them without causing permanent injury."
"Actually, no-one can." Jiraiya now announced. "Tsunade is still one of the best medics in the world, but it's impossible to disrupt the nerves like that, even using Lightning techniques. But that's not what she did."
At once all eyes were on the legendary ninja, who was now grinning.
"That girl is cunning. She knew everyone was listening in on what they were saying so she made up a very good lie. Her lightning attacks didn't touch that other girl's nerves at all; she had placed seals on different places of her body during those Taijutsu exchanges that paralyzed her. And with the victim unable to control their own muscles, it's easy to use a genjutsu to take control of their body. Even so, that genjutsu was pretty complex."
"It probably was." Sakura concluded as realization dawned on her. "I'm a bit too far away to sense the amount of chakra that she used, but she didn't take control of that girl's muscles at all. Instead that Genjutsu worked on her nerves: that Cloud ninja was using the other girl's nerves system to take control over her body and force it to move the way she wanted it too. But because of the complexity of that system, she could only activate a couple of reflexes, which was all she needed."
"Of course!" Ino now exclaimed, catching her drift. "By using the stretch reflex she could make her target move any way she likes as long as the target can't control its own movement. It's like a weaker version of my Mind-Body control… that explains the jerky movements and the monotone voice…"
"So wait a second…" Kiba's displeasure was now filled with a sense of awe. "You're telling me that that big-boobed chick not only placed seals while in such a heated Taijutsu match, but she also used a genjutsu that complex? She must be the real deal then…"
"Yes, she is." Shino agreed. "I have no doubt that was this any other tournament; she would have been the best without a doubt. Her abilities far exceed that of the average Chuunin."
"Yeah, but everything is pointing in the direction that this isn't a normal tournament." Shikamaru said, exhaling some more smoke.
Four rows behind them and some seats to the left, an old lady smiled as she overheard the conversation. Her 'husband' who was sitting next to her was silently complaining about the lack of death in the tournament, claiming that Jashin-sama would be displeased.
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As always much thanks to my beta's Kushin eX for going over this chapter.
I hope you all liked these shorter battle scenes (compared to most of my fight scenes) and next chapter will have the remaining battles of the first round.
as always, please leave a review telling me what you think.