Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, the manga or the anime
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, the manga or the anime. This chapter was a bit of a dilemma for me to be quite honest. I was actually planning to have more in this chapter. That was, until I realised that fitting seven separate fights, a fluffy NaruHina moment and what had happened to Kiba all in one chapter was a frankly insane idea. Fortunately, there is a moment in all of these ideas where it can be chopped into two. The upshot? Among other things, Kiba will have to wait, sorry. Please don't think i'm copping out though, even cut in half it's ending up at six thousand plus words which makes it easily my longest chapter. Doing it this way means you get a chapter earlier than if I didn't cut it up.
Enjoy.
Chapter 35: The Preliminaries
For Hinata, waking up in the hospital the previous evening had been quite a surprise and it wasn't until her memory had supplied her with the recollection of bleeding feet, fatigue and an incredibly close blonde that she had finally pieced together the reasons behind her predicament.
Fortunately, as she stood next to the said blonde, Hinata had to admit that despite the slight tint to her cheeks that seemed to come hand in hand with any degree of closeness to the boy, she felt fine.
The injuries to her feet had finally been tended to, and resolved, by a medical professional and in fact her treatment had been fast tracked slightly due to her participation in the Chuunin exams.
Fatigue was also no longer an issue. After her short stay in the hospital, she had returned home and almost immediately gone back to bed.
After sleeping in a little longer than normal, she had performed her usual morning duties until Naruto had finally arrived shortly after noon. The two sisters and the blonde had then made their back to the tower, though the walk had been curiously silent. She had asked Naruto if something was wrong, but he had told her not to worry about it, and Hinata could tell he was thinking deeply about something.
"I just can't tell whether he's upset or just thinking…" she said to herself.
"At least he asked me if my feet were okay" the indigo haired girl reasoned, taking a moment to look around the large preliminary stage room at the various other ninja from her sitting position.
Aside from the three Rock ninja sitting against the opposite wall who had arrived before them, there was a team of Lightning ninja near the raised platform and another team of Rain ninja underneath the stairs.
"Twelve people…" Hinata considered. Normally, there were no more than ten participants allowed in the final exam. Sometimes less.
"That means there will be at least two preliminary matches" she calculated, taking stock of her potential opponents again.
Taking into account the incident with the Rock ninja the day before, Hinata didn't fancy a match against any one of them. The tall, older ninja looked tough and the two twins…
"Strange…" she thought to herself. Despite the apparent difference in attitude the day before, the two girls were wearing the exact same expression of annoyance making it impossible to tell the difference between them. Wondering why that was, her gaze travelled to the blonde next to her.
"He's looking at the two of them as well…" she realised, trying and failing to read his expression. She decided to try and cheer him up a little.
"Naruto-kun" she said softly, her shyness getting the better of her.
No response.
"Naruto-kun" she repeated a little more loudly, causing the blue eyed boy to blink and turn.
"Huh? Oh, sorry Hinata" he apologised, grinning. The indigo haired girl smiled back, her blush increasing slightly.
"Let's do our best!" she managed, instantly pleased with herself at the sudden wide smile the boy presented.
"Yeah!" he agreed, nodding. Hinata was right.
"I can't get distracted, there'll be time for thinking later" he told himself confidently. Though there was one question…
"Hey Hinata-" Naruto began as Hinata's smile changed to a questioning look.
But his question was cut off by a shout from the stage.
"Alright, everyone assemble over here!" Anko's voice called out, three more ninja behind her.
"I guess we'll have to wait" Naruto conceded, rising to his feet from his cross legged position then waiting for the other two girls to follow suit. Rising herself, HInata wondered what he had wanted to ask her.
Making their way over, the door onto the platform opened and through stepped-
"Tsunade-b-" was as far as the spiky haired ninja got before he was silenced by a glare hot enough to turn him into a shadow against the back wall. His mouth closed like a trap, almost of its own accord.
On his left, Hinata was looking at the three ninja behind Anko who were now joining the small group. Two Sand ninja, and…
"The Grass ninja from yesterday!" Hinata realised, as the boy she had gifted a forehead protector to gave her a silent nod of recognition.
With the three extra ninja, the total number of people hoping to make it to the final stage had risen to fifteen.
"There should be at least four or five matches now, if not more" Hinata considered, watching the last of the Rain ninja from the back join the long line of examinees.
"The Hokage will now explain what will happen now" Anko called out, taking her position in front of the two giant stone hands.
As Tsunade stepped forward, Naruto tried to identify a few more people from the line up of non examinees that stood off to the side. A stocky Rain shinobi looked like an instructor, as did two other representatives with Lightning and Grass headbands. Considering the fact that there were now two Sand shinobi the blonde reasoned that Temari must therefore also be in that group in that capacity. However, to his surprise there didn't seem to be a corresponding person from the Rock village.
This thought only lasted a moment though and as Tsunade began to speak his attention shifted to the golden eyed woman.
"Firstly, congratulations for getting this far" she started, seeming to assess the small group.
"I will move straight to the point" the blonde woman continued.
"On completing the second test, you were all informed of the possibility of preliminary matches. Due to the number of potentially proceeding candidates, I have deemed it necessary to hold enough matches to reduce the field to a maximum of eight persons. Considering those who wanted to withdraw have already done so, this therefore means there will be seven preliminary matches, beginning right now" she stopped as protests erupted from one of the two Sand ninja.
"The fact that others completed the second test before you means that they do get an advantage, yes" she replied.
"They bought themselves time to rest. The matches will take place now" she stated, her voice making it abundantly clear the subject was not open for debate. The shinobi in question quietened down.
"Those who pass through to the third test will compete in two weeks time; you will be informed of your opponent today, after the preliminaries" she informed them, turning slightly.
"The proctor for these preliminary matches will be Nara Shikamaru" she said, gesturing and stepping back.
Naruto barely managed to stop himself from calling out and greeting the lazy boy who seemed to come out of nowhere to confront the group of examinees in front of him. As he finished making his way to the front of the stage, Naruto noticed he was wearing some sort of headset.
On the other side of the room, each of the three Rock ninja recognised the boy who had stopped their attacks in their tracks.
"Considering his abilities, a good choice for a proctor" Sho told himself, similar thoughts echoing in the heads of the two girls.
"There is one rule: If you give up, the match ends and you lose. I will step in at this point, or if I deem it unnecessary to continue. Other than that, it is a battle. Kill, knock out, or force your opponent to admit defeat to win" he drawled.
He ignored the looks of surprise at his blunt approach.
"We will determine match ups using this electronic scoreboard" he gestured towards the now open screen.
"The first match will be between…" he raised his hand into the air and names began to skip across the board.
"Wait!" one of the Rain ninja called out.
"That's it?" he asked, the names still flickering above them.
Shikamaru sighed.
"If you don't want to die, give up. That's the most important thing to remember. The rest is my judgement" he repeated as the scoreboard finally flashed up two names. He turned back towards the scoreboard.
"Ota Miyu vs Uzumaki Naruto" he read out. There was a brief moment of silence as half the room wondered who the two people were.
"The two of you, step forward. Everyone else, up onto the balconies" the black haired boy stated.
"I'm first?!" the blonde was surprised at his luck. He turned to Hinata, who seemed to be hovering slightly. Most of the other examinees had already either jumped onto the balcony or were making their way to the stairs.
"Don't you have to get up there?" he asked, slightly worried that the indigo haired girl suddenly wasn't making eye contact with him.
"Y-Yeah… Ano… Good luck Naruto-kun!" she finally managed.
"Thanks Hinata" Naruto grinned at her slightly odd behaviour.
"Hey Hinata, you need to go" Shikamaru warned the now blushing girl.
"Oh! Sorry!" she apologised, looking shocked suddenly before leaping up next to her sister on the balcony above and leaving only two examinees on the floor below.
Now that he had a chance to actually look at his opponent, Naruto could see that she was a Lightning ninja. Shortish, with an athletic build and probably only slightly younger than him, she seemed more suited for speed than power. Her shoulder length dark hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and her forehead protector seemed to be sewn into a tightly fitting light blue shirt that exposed her arms. White shorts gave way to a kunai holster on either leg, with sandals covering her feet.
Up on the balcony Sho assessed the Lightning ninja standing opposite the blonde and then looked at the remaining Kumo-nin away to his left.
"I'm guessing whoever caused those deaths is in that team. But who is it?" he asked himself.
"Begin" Shikamaru intoned, leaping backwards.
No sooner had the words left the pineapple haired boy's mouth; Naruto formed his trademark seal and concentrated his chakra.
"Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" he cried, smoke billowing around the room and masking not only the location of the real Naruto, but all of his clones.
With the smoke obscuring her vision, the dark haired girl plunged both hands into the holsters at her legs and sent ten shuriken scything into the white mass. A number of cries rang out from behind the screen, satisfying the still standing girl, but a split second later her volley was answered by triple the number of spinning weapons.
Leaping to the side, the ponytailed girl barely dodged the volley of shuriken and immediately had to deal with a punch thrown by an orange blur. Ducking quickly and turning her leap into a clumsy tackle, the two of them fell to the floor and her opponent promptly exploded into more white smoke.
The larger amount of smoke was now clearing, and on her back, the Lightning kunoichi could see seven airborne blondes hurtling towards her. Rolling quickly, the ground next to her head cracked with the impact of three blows as she managed to half rise to her feet and swipe one of them to the floor.
As the fourth and fifth clones plunged toward her she managed to parry their kicks, but was now leaving herself open to the attacks of the last two, giving herself just enough time to once again delve into her kunai holsters and throw.
Her relief turned to shock as at the last second one of the airborne blondes grabbed the other and moved him out of the way of the oncoming projectile, before exploding itself. She scarcely had the time to roll with the duplicate Naruto's kick before she was sent skidding halfway across the room by the force of the blow to her shoulder.
The attacking clone in question backflipped away and landed lightly next to its creator, the clones that had been the backup grinning widely.
Shikamaru watched the girl rise gingerly to her feet, holding the kicked left shoulder. Her elbow also seemed to be grazed and slightly torn from the impact with the floor. Ignoring the blonde for the moment the girl inspected her injuries and then, to Naruto's shock, her right hand started to glow with a green energy and the wounds began to heal right in front of his eyes.
"I've had worse" she stated simply, flexing her shoulder and elbow slightly.
"So you're a medical ninja?" Naruto asked; his question rhetoric. The girl merely smiled her response, before once again delving into the kunai holders at her legs.
"You can't use the same trick twice!" he warned, readying himself for another batch of clones.
"Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" he shouted, the very second the girl threw another round of shuriken. But this time her arms jerked with incredible speed and Naruto could only watch as over half of his clones disappeared as fast as they had been created. Even more disturbingly however, was the fact that one of the shuriken had flashed past his face almost too fast to see.
He looked over at the girl, who seemed annoyed that her throw had missed.
"Neither can you" the girl replied, choosing to make a close range attack this time. Her movements were jerky, but both incredibly fast and unpredictable and she had destroyed two clones with a kunai in each hand before Naruto could react.
Interestingly though, she seemed to flinch in pain with every movement she made.
Two more clones threw themselves at the girl, ducking a wild swing but missing their punched attacks due to the unpredicatable movements of the Lightning kunoichi. Both of their expressions suddenly turned to shock before they exploded out of existence as the girl let each kunai fly into the head and back of each respective clone.
Her closest opponents defeated, the Lightning shinobi stopped for a moment to reassess the situation as a look of pain again fell across her face.
Seeing his chance, the blonde sent all but one of his remaining clones at the twitching girl's feet, first knocking her off balance and then sending her into the air. The last copy met the girl in the air and attacked with a flurry of punches.
Desperate, the defending kunoichi managed to block the first few blows but the continuous pain was beginning to take its toll on her body and her movements slowed enough to let the blonde within her guard, sending her flying towards the ground where she was met by the clones that had been left on the floor.
When she hit the ground again, it was with a painful sounding crunch, and though her muscles seemed to still be contracting randomly she was obviously unconscious.
"Winner: Uzumaki Naruto" Shikamaru declared, before speaking softly into the mike and asking for a medical team to take the unconscious body of the girl from the arena.
XXXXXXXXXX
"That was blantantly not the one who caused those deaths" Sho thought to himself, watching the victorious blonde set off to rejoin his other two team mates.
He looked over to his left at the remaining Lightning ninja. Both were male, but one seemed a lot more concerned about the condition of the girl who was being taken away. Acting on a hunch, he examined the indifferent shinobi slightly more closely.
The boy seemed tall and even though he was still shorter than Sho by quite some distance, that was to be expected. Similar to the girl who had just been defeated, he was also wearing a shirt that exposed all of his arms and a pair of shorts. However aside from the colour difference of the clothes and his close cut iron grey hair, it was the arms that drew the most attention, each of which were wrapped up in what seemed like bandages, all the way from each bicep and down to the hands.
The procrastination of the tall Rock shinobi was cut short however by the announcement of the second match.
XXXXXXXXXX
"Kajishima Makaji vs Yabuki Reaji" Shikamaru called out, looking up at the balconies above.
Caught up slightly in thinking of what to say to Naruto when he finally reached her, Hinata caught some movement off to her right and managed to catch sight of the lone Grass shinobi vaulting over the edge and landing lithely on the ground below.
His opponent, she saw, was a Sand shinobi who had chosen to walk down the staircase on the opposite side. She turned back to the approaching Naruto.
"Congratulations!" she praised, beaming at the similarly grinning blonde.
"I was pretty good huh?" he asked cheekily, getting a shy nod from the girl. It ws times like this, Hinata told herself, that she wished she could just do something impulsive, like hug him, instead of just standing there staring at him like a fool.
"Uhh, Hinata, you're gonna miss the fight" Naruto warned the slightly spaced out girl.
"I was doing it again, wasn't I?" she realised, scolding herself before turning to watch the fight that had already broken out.
From the initial blows traded between the two, it seemed that the Sand ninja was also some sort of a ranged type, able to keep opponents at a distance. Demonstrating skilled use of not only the conventional thrown weapons like kunai and shuriken with one hand, the Suna shinobi was also constantly spinning three weights connected to a separate piece of cord, using it to deflect the occasional attacks made by the Grass shinobi.
"What is that?" Naruto asked of the indigo haired girl beside him.
"It's a bolas… I think…" Hinata ventured, watching the spinning weights knock aside another volley of kunai.
"What does it-" Naruto began, before as quick as a flash, the weapon was released and sent scything across the room.
The entire room held its breath as the missile barely missed the head of the ducking Grass ninja and flew into the back wall, ebedding itself totally within the stonework and sending deep cracks along its surface.
"T-The cords are designed to hit the target, a-and then the weights wrap the cord around it" Hinata explained.
"If that thing got anywhere near your head…" Naruto considered, imagining the three heavy weights wrapping themselves around a skull.
"You'd be dead" Hanabi finished his sentence, her concentration staying with the fight down below.
Annoyed that his attack had missed, the Sand shinobi drew another bolas from the pouch at his back and began swinging again, though he was otherwise motionless.
The two shinobi seemed to be sizing each other up for a moment.
With no foliage or plant life to manipulate in the barren room, the Grass ninja knew he was at a disadvantage. However, he did still have…
The Kusa shinobi dropped his hand into one of his own pouches and came out holding something within his fist.
Neither person wanting his opponent to regain any more time, both resumed their attacks at the exact same time, though now the Grass shinobi seemed to be trying to close in on his Sand opponent.
"I don't think so!" the Sand ninja thought to himself, attempting to force the Grass shinobi off to one side with a few well placed kunai.
But as the Grass shinobi twisted out of the way, he threw his own attack back, hiding the throw with his body.
"Don't underestimate me!" the Sand ninja raged, swinging his bolas upwards to deflect the oncoming kunai.
It wasn't until his weighted weapon hit the approaching attack that the Suna ninja realised the kunai was carrying a small pellet in the ring.
Which proceded to go off right in the unsuspecting shinobi's face.
"Ahh!" he screamed, leaping backwards and throwing as many shuriken as he could with his free hand in order to buy himself some time.
Opening his eyes, he was shocked to find the Grass ninja merely staring at him intently.
"What the…" he breathed, a wave of dizziness hitting him. Hard.
Staggering forward as his vision blurred, the Suna ninja tried to throw another kunai but it flew wildly off target as his bolas suddenly whipped uncontrollably past his face. It was all over, and he knew it, dropping the weighted weapon carefully to the floor with a distinctive crunch.
"The poison messes with the fluid in your inner ear, preventing you from balancing" the Grass shinobi informed his swaying opponent, suddenly directly behind him.
The Sand shinobi felt an arm around his middle and then something cold press against his throat. He closed his eyes to stop the spinning, and carefully opened his mouth, making sure not to make any sudden movements.
"I give up" he managed to croak out, sighing with relief as the pressure left his neck.
"Winner: Yabuki Reaji" Shikamaru announced as he watched the Sand ninja finally fall on his butt, considering whether he should call for another medical team.
"Don't worry, the effects wear off after a few minutes" he heard the Grass shinobi inform his defeated opponent, before he rejoined the rest of the ninja up on the balcony above.
"I guess not" Shikamaru thought to himself, watching the deafeated ninja's team mate lift him to his feet and escort him back up to the balcony.
As he whispered into his mike, the entire room's attention fell back onto the screen in the far corner of the room, which was once again flashing through names.
XXXXXXXXXX
"Nakano Kenta vs Ashida Atsuo" the board proclaimed, the dark haired proctor remaining silent. The combatants could read their own names, he figured.
In a flash, both of the male shinobi had materialised down into the fighting area.
"This could be him" Sho told himself, looking down at the bandaged Lightning ninja. On closer inspection, something seemed a little off. Was it him, or was he giving the Rain ninja opposite him a little too intense of a stare?
"What are you staring at me like that for, freak?" the Ame ninja sneered at the grey haired boy.
His opponent merely blinked owlishly and tilted his head slightly.
"Begin" Shikamaru motioned.
The two ninja blurred instantly, meeting in the centre of the room.
"He's moving like the girl did against that blonde" Sho thought to himself.
"That guy's moving like my opponent!" Naruto exclaimed to the indigo haired girl beside him. She merely nodded.
The movements had also not gone unnoticed by the fighting Rain ninja.
"Idiot, using someone else's moves. All I have to do is last, he'll fall apart" he told himself, ducking under a powerful blow and striking out with a quick uppercut.
A few moments later, and a number of blows, the two of them broke apart, each sizing up his respective opponent.
"What, tired already?" the Rain ninja asked with a smirk.
His adversary's response was only to rejoin the fight, only this time showing a little more savagery.
The Rain ninja raised his own game in response, staying with the ever more wild eyed ninja punch for punch and kick for kick.
He sidestepped away from a blow and then threw a kick, only to have it blocked and countered. Countering himself, he drew and launched a weapon while still in mid air, using the momentum of both arms and legs to roll and swipe at the legs of the Lightning ninja above him.
For the Ame ninja, it was exhilarating. But something did seem wrong.
"He's lasted twice as long as that girl did and is still moving the same" he realised, while a swipe passed so close to his face that the wind it created moved the sweat on his forehead.
Shifting slightly, he recoginsed that the next punch had to be blocked, but as his arm made contact a jolt ran through his body, akin to a static electricity shock. It was all he could do to jump back a little, putting some space between him and his opponent.
"Right, time to use that" he told himself, watching the Lightning ninja opposite him carefully as he channelled chakra to his fingertips.
It was then he realised that the bandages on the Kumo-nin's arms were beginning to char. But that wasn't the scariest thing.
The slightly odd look his opponent had been giving at the start was now replaced by a full on, open eyed, grey stare. And a smile.
"His skin… it's reddening… is it burning too?" Hinata asked quietly, to no-one in particular.
"If it is, how can he take the pain?" Naruto responded similarly quietly, the oppressive air of the standoff affecting even his personality.
When the Lightning ninja blurred for the second time in the fight, the combination of the surprise and the speed almost ended the Rain ninja's fight right there. Only instinctive reactions, and the feeling that he was now fighting for his life, managed to galvanise the boy in time.
Invisible wires of chakra materialised at his fingertips, and as he barely dodged the Lightning-nin he pulled them across the exposed arm of the Lightning ninja, using pure friction rather than any cutting power the wires possesssed to bite into the arm of the attacking ninja.
However to his horror, though the chakra wires cut deeply into the reddened skin of the Kumo shinobi, rather than incapacitate his opponent all it achieved was to bring his adversary back around to face him.
"Shit!" he cursed inwardly, bracing himself for a punch that never came.
When the Lightning ninja placed his free hand firmly on the side of his face, the Rain shinobi spent a split second wondering what was going on.
And then his whole world went white, as the entire store of electricity that had been built up in the Kumo-nin's right arm discharged itself.
He went limp, only held up by the Lightning ninja.
But rather than let his now unconscious and most certainly defeated opponent drop to the floor the crazed ninja kept his hand on the side of the Rain ninja's skull, gripping it tightly and pumping even more energy down his scarlet right arm.
He watched with every sign of enjoyment and interest as the body twitched.
"Atsuo!" two voices called out from up on the balcony.
"Stop!" Shikamaru called out, his shadow already by the Lightning ninja's feet.
As his hand was forced off the blackened side of the Rain ninja's face by the invisible force, the Kumo-nin flashed a look of pure hatred at the lazy boy responsible.
To Shikamaru's surprise, that look then shifted to one of disappointment, exactly as if he had been stopped from playing with a toy.
"That is definitely the guy" Sho thought, still shocked depite the fact he had been one of the only ones in the room who had an idea of what would happen. His gaze travelled over the slumped body of the Rain ninja as four white-coated people burst into the room.
The small elecrical shock that the Lightning ninja had caused part way through the fight had made him believe his assumptions were right, but it was the blackened area of skin on the Rain shinobi's face that confirmed them. Had the proctor not stepped in to stop him, the Lightning-nin would have probably reduced his opponent to the same faceless state that Sho had found in the forest.
Across the room, the three Leaf ninja were focusing more on the Lightning shinobi himself.
"How did he do that?" Naruto asked, his eyes flickering between the downed ninja being taken away and the standing ninja still being held.
Both Hyuuga sisters had activated their Byakugan's during the fight, but each of them were still trying to process the information they had gathered.
"He charges chakra in his arms, and converts it all to electricity" Hanabi said, speaking first. Naruto nodded in response, and then looked at Hinata to see if she would make a contribution.
"I-I think his arms were burning from the energy of the electricity" Hinata put in, her fingers stirring around each other. She looked uncomfortable. The Lightning ninja had been released by Shikamaru, and was now being led away to get the extensive burns on his arms healed. Worryingly to the indigo haired girl, the cut on his arm seemed to have been cauterised by the heat of his own technique.
She briefly heard Shikamaru disclose the name of the winning ninja to the room. Nakano Kenta. She hoped none of the three of them would be required to fight him.
"B-But that means the amount he charged must have been massive, m-more than he should be able to take before pain stops him" she continued, trying to focus again.
"Hmm… Yeah…" Naruto said unsurely, wanting to put his two cents in.
"At least we know how the actual damage is done" Hanabi stated confidently.
"We do?" Naruto asked, surprised.
Hanabi gave him a blank look and stayed silent, not trusting herself not to insult the blonde. Hinata took up the explanation.
"Er… We know he charges his arms with a huge amount of electricity, e-even though we don't know how he does it. Right?" she asked, a small smile on her face as she finally managed to stop her fingers dancing. At least for the moment.
"Uh-huh…" he agreed.
"Electricity always follows the path of least resistance towards the ground, so-"
"Wait, what?" Naruto interrupted.
"It's why electricity travels through metal better than rock" Hanabi supplied. Naruto seemed to accept this and allowed Hinata to continue.
"Er… so when he touched his opponent, a-all of the electricity stored up went through him" Hinata finished.
"So why didn't it go through his own body?" Naruto questioned.
"M-Maybe because he's always adding to the electricity, s-so it can't go back the other way" the lavender eyed girl suggested.
"Or he could plug it up with chakra" Hanabi posed.
Naruto nodded slowly, the image of the shocked boy running through his head. Hinata was right, the Lightning ninja had to store ungodly amounts of energy in his arm in order to burn the skin of his opponent black when it was eventually released.
Their conversation was interrupted by the distinctive bleeping sound of the electrical screen, deciding which two would be up next.
XXXXXXXXXX
"Murakami Mihoto vs Fukuda Hidoki"
"Good luck" Sho murmured, the heavy atmosphere between the three of them that had not abated affecting his usually positive attitude.
Eri merely gave a nod.
"Thanks" she replied curtly, making her way to the staircase.
On the other side of the room Naruto spied the movement of one of the twins and wondered if it was the one he had been speaking to the day before.
"Should have got her name…" he murmured to himself, almost losing himself in thought before Hinata spoke up next to him.
"N-Naruto-kun? Did you say something?" she asked quietly. He seemed to consider this for a moment, and Hinata found herself wondering what he was thinking.
"I kinda ran into one of those two after we took you to the hospital" he told her.
"But I promise I'll tell ya about it later… I just don't think we want to miss this" he promised, turning back to lean on the railing.
"…Okay…" she agreed, unable to speculate on what it was he would tell her, but willing to wait.
But almost instantly a sudden thought hit the blonde and his eyes found the girl on the other side of Hinata.
"Hey Hanabi, what happened in the end with you and Konohamaru? What do you think of him?" he wondered aloud.
Hanabi frowned slightly.
"He's… weird…" she replied. Naruto waited for her to elaborate, but the girl stayed silent. He was about to enquire further when he noticed that the Rock kunoichi had finally made it to the fighting area.
"Start" Shikamaru intoned, before putting some distance between him and the two of them.
In complete contrast to the last fight, neither ninja moved. In fact, the Lightning ninja seemed somewhat relaxed.
"So what've ya got under that big coat baby? Got something to hide?" the Lightning ninja posed, a 'knowing' grin on his face.
"Great. God's gift… blah blah blah" Mihoto thought to herself. Her already bad mood was not improving at all.
"Would you like to find out?" she replied, a smile passing onto her features.
With her back to both of her team mates, no one in the room could recognise the dangerous look that was in her eyes. However her tone of voice did give some early warning to the two other Rock ninja on the balcony.
"Heh, that's what I like in a girl" the Lightning ninja ran his hand slowly through his hair in an exaggerated gesture.
Unfortunately, Mihoto had to admit he wasn't unattractive. Though he was obviously an arrogant prick, which would make this all the easier.
"Well, if you want to see everything you'll want to get closer, right?" she invited, not moving an inch herself.
"Don't mind if I DO!" he replied, lauching himself forward as he said the last word. A kunai had appeared in his right hand, probably from a hidden place on his back as a result of his showy motion earlier.
Though her opponent was fast approaching across the concrete floor, Mihoto stayed stock still. At least, until the 'pretty boy' rushing her threw the knife in his hand from only ten metres away.
Then everything happened at once.
A small puff of smoke emanated from the targeted area of her body, and out from it another kunai emerged, striking the identical incoming missile and knocking it astray.
Simultaneously, the large coat seemed to ripple, and from out of each of the sleeves three rectangular pieces of paper flew out and towards the still approaching Kumo-nin.
When these tags discharged their payload, six sets of twin kunai attatched by rope burst into being and hurtled towards the now shocked Lightning ninja, threatening to ensnare him.
With a kunai in the other hand, he managed to slash through two ropes and then leapt into the air to avoid the rest.
"Now the fight is over" both Eri and Sho thought simultaneously.
And sure enough, as the stationary auburn haired twin lifted her arms, another set of tags swept out of her billowing coat and released the same attack.
Both airborne and unable to change direction the Kumo shinobi felt the thick ropes wrap around his body as the kunai sped through the air, orbiting him.
He fell to the floor with a thud; both his arms and legs trussed, and now his back bruised. He desperately wanted to swear, but found that the air had also been knocked out of his lungs by the fall.
Gasping slightly for breath, he suddenly noticed something fluttering past his face, which then settled on his forehead.
"In case you're wondering, that's an explosive tag" he heard a female voice inform him helpfully.
"I give up?" he tried, swallowing. If she chose to detonate it, he knew there was absolutely nothing the proctor could do.
Fortunately for him, that was something that this particular girl would never do.
"Good choice" she replied, bending down and peeling the tag from his brow. The large portion of the room that had been holding its breath all finally released it.
"The winner is Murakami Mihoto" Shikamaru declared, allowing the girl to make her way back to the balcony above.
"So that's what that was…" Hinata murmured. She caught the looks of both her sister and the blonde and tried to explain her words.
"W-When I looked at her with the Byakugan before the exam; i-it looked like she had a massive amount of unmoving chakra" the indigo haired girl said. Naruto looked thoughtful for a moment.
"I remember that. I thought she might be dead" he shivered. Dead things were like ghosts, and he did not like ghosts.
"Don't worry Naruto-kun, we know what they are now. They're seals" Hinata reassured him with a blush, finding his childlike fear almost unbearably cute.
"Of course, ghosts aren't real right?" he agreed, looking embarrassed. Hinata only returned a warm and comforting smile, desperately fighting the urge to fiddle with her fingers or pull at her bangs.
Unfortuantely for Hinata the moment was unintentionally broken by Shikamaru as he announced the next two combatants. One thing she had to accept was that the blonde loved fighting, though admittedly doing it more than watching it, and it would steal his attention at moments like this.
"Takimoto Fujiko vs Itou Haruna" the dark haired proctor called, once again looking into the crowd of ever shrinking number of ninja.
It would be the first all female battle, Hinata realised, looking at the Sand and Rain kunoichi.
The Sand shinobi had some sort of small round metal shield and a double bladed short sword, each of which were currently hanging from her belt. Her clothes were loose, with her hair long and a dirty sandy colour.
Her opponent was the exact opposite. Wearing tightly fitting shorts and shirt, her hair was cut short and a pale green. Her weapon was possibly the most interesting thing though.
Two spherical metal weights, roughly the same size as a large apple or orange, were connected to each end of a long piece of what seemed like rope. The girl held onto the rope in two places, closer to a weight with her left hand, leading around her back, and then further from the other weight with her right. Each of the weights had largeish holes bored around the top, and Hinata found herself wondering what they were for.
"Is that a meteor hammer?" Hanabi asked her older sister, wanting her own suspicions confirmed.
"Mhmm" Hinata corroborated.
"What's a meteor hammer?" Naruto asked.
"Er…It's- oh wait, you'll be able to see" Hinata pointed as Shikamaru gave the go ahead to begin.
Drawing her sword and buckler, the Sand kunoichi began her charge, and as she did so the Rain kunoichi began to spin the weight in her left hand.
Once the first weight was up to an acceptable speed the second one in her right hand began to follow suit. However this time the swings were far longer and horizontal above her head, compared to the short, vertical swings of the other weight, creating an almost impenetrable wall of spinning metal in front of the Sand kunoichi who stopped suddenly, unsure of what to do.
The female Rain shinobi grinned and advanced slowly, forcing her opponent backwards as she struggled to find an opening.
Jumping forward suddenly, the swinging weight in the Ame-nin's right hand swung in it's orbit towards the face of the Sand girl, who fortunately had the presence of mind not to try and block the heavy weight with her shield, instead choosing to duck and roll towards the now unprotected right side.
But the Rain kunoichi had already read the move, and changing the trajectory of the right handed weight she made it swing behind her, kicking out ferociously as it travelled by her foot, causing it to shoot out towards the surprised girl from the Sand.
Timing the move to perfection, the Sand kunoichi used her buckler to push the incoming spherical weight to the side and rolled again, away from the weight, as she rose to her feet.
"If I try to block it, or even deflect it even once it'll smash, or even break my wrist" the Sand girl told herself. This was not the way she had expected the fight to go.
"I'll just have to look for an opening" she realised.
"Tch" was the only sound of annoyance the Rain ninja made as her attack missed, twisting her body to return the weight to her, the rope tightened across her back.
Shortening the distance between her right hand and the weight on the end of the rope, this time the Rain shinobi tried a different tactic, beginning to twist the right handed potion of the rope around her left and right arms, both creating a confusing pattern of images and giving herself a little slack rope on her left side as her left hand kept it's weight swinging.
"Whoa!" Naruto exclaimed, massively impressed.
"How does she stop the two from tangling up?" he wondered aloud, as the Ame-nin attacked again.
Suddenly releasing the various knots of rope, the right handed weight shot out again, this time aiming for the midriff of her opponent, who dodged by again utilising her shield to push aside the weight.
With a look of triumph, she then slashed upwards at the exposed rope with her double blade, meeting it just behind the weight.
To her horror, all her blow achieved was to send the weight slightly higher before it was eventually pulled back.
"I suppose you weren't to know the rope is made of a very tough material, as well as being chakra strengthened" the Rain kunoichi conceded, allowing a small smirk to cross her concentrated visage.
Angered at the failure of her plan, as the weight returned to the twisting Rain ninja, the Sand kunoichi again tried something new.
"Not good enough" the green haired girl thought to herself, bringing her left hand upwards and deflecting the kunai that had been thrown into her temporary blind spot.
Nevertheless, she was slightly impressed by the fact her opponent could draw and throw the weapon without her seeing. It was just unfortunate for her that she knew her own weaknesses so totally.
Returning to the horizontal swinging above her head, the Rain kunoichi jumped forwards again, swinging at the side of her opponent.
The swing too low to duck, the Sand ninja backflipped backwards to avoid the strike, landing on her hands before launching herself back to her feet again.
Once again swinging the weight behind her, the Ame-nin stamped out and sent the spherical projectile flying at her opponent for a third time.
Unfortunately, as the Sand kunoichi jumped backwards she judged the distance perfectly, this time catching the rope between the two blades of her short sword and twisting, pulling the Rain kunoichi towards her while keeping the right hand weight firmly trapped..
"Shit!" the Ame-nin cursed inwardly as she came almost within range of the Suna girl's blade, pulled forward by the tight rope at her back.
"I guess I have to do it" she realised.
With one half of her opponent's weapon trapped between the blades of her sword, the Sand kunoichi only had to time her strike right to take the other swinging weight out of the game.
Until said weapon burst into flame.
Utilising the bit of slack rope she had given herself on the left side, the Ame ninja threw the weapon forwards with her left hand at an impossible speed, aiming for the chest of the Sand girl.
Eyes widening in shock, the Suna kunoichi realised there was too little time to dodge, and raised her shield.
It didn't matter now that it might break; she had finally disarmed her opponent.
"It's over" both girls thought simultaneously, just as the flaming weight smashed into the raised shield.
Until from out of the holes of the metal projectile, a burning fuel splashed onto the face of the Sand girl.
"AHH!" she screamed, blinded.
Dropping her sword and shield to the ground, the girl instinctively covered her face with her hands and long sleeves, unintentionally saving herself from far worse burns by dampening the flames.
Standing above her opponent, the Ame-nin had just started to draw a kunai when a voice rang out.
"The match is over!" Temari called from the balcony opposite the Leaf ninja. The other Sand ninja next to her who had also been defeated looked on in worry.
As the Rain shinobi looked over at Shikamaru, he confirmed it with a nod. In truth, he had been just about to call out as well. To be fair though, it was one of her village she was worried about. He spoke into the mike, requesting another team of medics before he announced the victor.
"The winner is Itou Haruna" Shikamaru announced, allowing the girl to return to the balcony as the medical team lifted the whimpering Sand girl carefully onto a stretcher, her face still in her hands.
Naruto turned to Hinata.
"I was not expecting that" he admitted, clearly impressed and slightly shaken in equal measure. Hinata nodded in agreement, worried about the injuries to the Sand kunoichi.
The blonde read the look on the lavender eyed girl's face.
"Don't worry Hinata, you're strong. It'll be fine. Like I said, we're gonna breeze this. All three of us" he assured her.
Her fears mollified slightly, the indigo haired girl smiled slightly at his confidence.
"Now who's up next?" he enquired, looking over at the electronic board that had just finished its run through of names.
"HYUUGA HANABI vs ISHIKAWA SHO" it read.
"Right" Naruto looked assertive.
"Who's that?" he asked, looking around.
Hinata silently pointed at the tall Rock ninja who had just raised his hand in acknowledgement to his two team mates, before leaping the railing.
"Oh…"
XXXXXXXXXX
Yeah, I cliffhangered it. So shoot me.
At the last count, this chapter was at about seven and a half thousand words. That's just counting the words in the story, mind you. That beats my previous longest chapter by one and a half thousand, even when you add in the author's notes bits.
That was five fights. Hope they were interesting cos they were fun to write. Let me know which was your favourite (if any), any views are welcome. Just keep it constructive I guess.
The last fight was inspired in a way by "Kill Bill" and Jackie Chan, among other things. If anyone wants to see (rather than read) an awesome meteor hammer fight, just stick "Gogo Yubari" into youtube. Or just "Meteor Hammer", that'll probably get you something too.
What else? Oh yeah… Kiba will definitely be in the next chapter. Admittedly after an upcoming exam (for me by the way).
On a personal note: Laith, I wrote you a reply but my computer decided to be unimaginably retarded and I lost the entire thing. Thought I'd let you know. I'll get back to ya soon. Stupid computers.
And with that, I'm gonna go.
Have a good one everyone.
Later.