Tadam! I managed to make this in a week time! Didn't thought I'll really make it true, if I must be honest, considering how much of a pain collage is to me (even though the collage year just began). I'll try to keep updating this fic once a week, but as it is now, I can't promise anything really.
Thanks for everyone who reviewed, it really means a lot, but I must admit that it saddens me that the number of reviews seem to be dropping. Please review, if you can.
Also, before I'll go any further, I just want to ask again all the drawers out there to contact me if they're interested in helping me out in a certain surprise. Again, this is not about the chapter covers. And if you can't contact me soon, otherwise it might be too late (boy, this sounds like I'm not desperate :D).
And with that, I believe we can get on with the show:
Chapter #51: Monster Within
Title Page: Kai, dressed like a monster, is walking towards Takaru, who's sweat dropping
"This is it!" yelled Fuma as his hand pierced right through Takaru's side and sunk into the leaf-nin's body. An evil smirk appeared on the shadow-nin's face as he felt his opponent's blood going down his hand. "Takaru!" was all Kumiko managed to say as she saw the terrible sight.
A small smile suddenly crossed Takai's face as he saw what just happened. Torune only swallowed her saliva loudly at the realization: "He got excited again… this is bad… now anyone who'll fight Takai… will certainly die…"
"Seems like you expected too much from the brats…" stated Taka calmly as he turned towards Hizoku. The redhead didn't reply at first however. He just observed the two fighters bellow and then responded: "The fight isn't over yet…"
Suddenly Takaru's head shoot up, revealing determination in his eyes… and there was something in that look that scared Fuma himself, even while he was in this form. "You won't escape me this time…" the son of Tsunade stated through clenched teeth and he began forming a set of hand seals.
The shadow-nin made an attempt to dodge, but the fact that his hand sunk deep into his opponent's body slowed his retreat enough for Takaru to finish his chain of hand seals and perform the technique he wanted:
"Insei Tooriame!" the leaf-nin called out as he held out his hands, now surrounded with flames. In a fraction of a second tens of small fireballs shoot out from them, each hitting the monstrous gennin, who let out a yell that sounded more like a howl then a human scream.
"Having your body covered in fur will increase the damage you receive from a fire based attack…" announced Takaru calmly as he charged straight at Fuma, picking out several kunai. "That's because fur can burn as well and helps the flames to spread quicker… naturally the fire dies pretty fast, but that doesn't change the fact that your injuries get serious…" and with that he jumped forward, flying right above the shadow-nin's head.
Before his feet touched the ground however, the scar-faced gennin threw his kunai at his opponent, which sunk deep into Fuma's legs, who was unable to dodge the attack in time due to his fresh injuries, which made his movement slower. Another howl was heard.
Takaru didn't intended to let his opponent rest and immediately lunched a kick in the back of the shadow-nin's head the moment Fuma collapsed to his knees. As the attack connected, Kumori shinobi's head flew forward and crushed against the floor hard, making the monstrous gennin lose his consciousness.
Lee slowly walked over to the fallen shadow-nin and checked him out. Then he smiled slightly as he raised his sight at the son of Tsunade, who was now barely standing and held his side that's been devastated by Fuma. His breath was still heavy as he awaited the result.
"I cannot allow for this fight to continue and thus I announced Gekido Takaru the winner!" stated the jounin with a loud voice, so that everyone gathered in the room would hear him. "THAT'S RIGHT!" yelled Kai as his fist shoot to the sky.
"Finally, I was beginning to think he didn't intend to win at all…" announced Ibuki with her arms crossed, but you could notice a note of relief in her voice, which made Naruto smiled under his nose.
"Still so confident Funbo?" Horohoro asked his teammate with a tiny smirk. The weapon master didn't reply, but from the look on his face you could tell that he was not too happy with the result of the match.
"Good, this is supposed to be fun…" Tarakudo slightly nodded as a smile crept onto his face behind bandages. Aoru, who stood next to him, only rolled her eyes a little annoyed. Meanwhile, Ryo adjust his glasses, which slipped down his nose slightly. "That was certainly entertaining… that Leaf brat won't be an easy opponent…"
Nazaa didn't reply. He just observed the son of Tsunade as he slowly walked towards the stairs in the attempt to join his teammates. "This brat…" Horamaru thought to himself with a smile as Takaru passed him on the platform. "I'll certainly enjoy ripping him into pieces…"
"Yes, Takaru-kun! Wonderful job!" cheered Kogane from the platform as she waved her hand at the son of Tsunade. Hanamaru, who stood right beside her, felt his stomach 'burking' as getting even more depressed then he already was, he stated out loud: "Damn, I could eat anything…"
Rei, who somehow remained conscious, just walked away from the rail and laid down against the wall, near the place Kitsune and Toku stood, announcing: "Wake me up when it's my turn…" and in an instant she was sleeping.
Kitsune only sweat dropped as he turned towards Toku his a proposition: "Wanna bet we're not even gonna make it through eliminations?"
"Well, that was pretty good…" stated Tsume as she threw a quick glare at Takaru, but Senkou, who stood propped against the rail only replied: "Bah… nothing special…" and with that he observed the medics who took Fuma out of the room.
"Tategamaru-sensei…" began Kyuu as he turned around towards his jounin instructor. "Is it really okay? After all, Fuma was your…" but at this point the hooded man interrupted him: "That's not important… now I trust you guys can handle things here… I have matters to attend to…" and with that he made a quick seal and was gone.
"You should go with the medics too, you know…" stated Kusari as Takaru reached his teammates. "That wound you just got seems rather serious…" but at that moment Mikka walked over to them and extremely nervous, she purposed: "I… I could try… to treat him…" and with that she lowered her sight, noticing she got Kai's attention.
"Thanks…" the son of Tsunade simply replied as he laid down, propped against the wall.
"Well, this was fun…" stated Kasui with a wicked smile on his face as he looked at Tetsu the moment Shita jumped onto the Waterfall team leader. "Nothing Tetsu-san can't handle…" replied the short shinobi confident. "Isn't that right, Tetsu-dono?" but the hammer wilder didn't reply, almost as if he didn't hear the last question.
"So, the kid really won…" concluded Akira with a smile. "I must say I'm pretty impressed… these eliminations are certainly starting in an interesting way... I wonder was this plain luck or did he just held back in the forest…"
"Whatever the answer to that might be…" responded Hitomi with her eyes closed, just like her teammate. "This Takaru fellow just proved that we shouldn't underestimate him…" and with that he threw a quick glare at the son of Tsunade, opening her eyes: "These eliminations should be very interesting indeed…"
"So, that chain dude has some skilled gennin in his team…" concluded Naginata with a smirk. "Plus that scar-face is kinda cute…" but her thought were interrupted by a loud 'hmph' from Futatsu, who kept on staring at the screen the moment the first fight ended. "Grouchy, aren't we?" teased Hogosha with a smile, but he didn't manage to make his teammate loose his temper.
Sentou only threw a quick glare at Takaru and then his sight traveled onto Reiji, who seemed unimpressed by the fight. Moreover, he seemed anxious for his own fight. At the same time Tasuki was smiling widely and kept staring down onto the arena: "Well, never expected for a brat to do this good…"
"Indeed, it'd seem that scar-face is exceptional…" Nobu agreed with his companion while he looked at Takaru and his team. Kumo, who stood right next to him, just had his arms crossed and didn't bother to follow the sight of his twin: "You're easily impressed, brother…" he announced calmly. "It's not like that shrimp would have any chances against our bloodline limit…"
Teela and Tenka didn't say a word, but the redhead girl noticed that her teammate kept observing Kusari the whole time and she didn't even seem to notice the first fight of the eliminations was over.
"What are they all so excited about?" asked Kato out loud, slightly annoyed about the son of Tsunade getting all the attention. "So he won his first fight, big deal… it's not like his opponent was anything special…"
Hari heard Sabure's sand circling in her gourd. The blonde girl got a little nervous at the realization: "This is getting dangerous…"
"Heh… seems like your friends can bring some entertainment after all…" notice Nezumi with a smile as she looked at Hizoku. "You've seen nothing yet…" the redhead assured her, but as she gave him a confused look, expecting explanation, the spear user said no more.
"This should do for now…" announced Mikka quietly as she stood back up. "I didn't manage to heal your wound completely, Takaru-kun, but I stopped the bleeding and you should be able to observe the eliminations until the end… it'd be still required that you check the medics afterwards…"
"Thanks, Mikka…" replied the son of Tsunade as he got up also. "Yeah, thanks!" Kai joined the gratitude. "You helped us out again!" and with that he patted her on the back, almost making the young medic-nin fall to the ground.
Kokoro just smiled under his nose as he observed the whole scene, but just then Lee's voice was heard once more: "Lets see who'll participate in the second fight!" and instantly the blonde raised his sight to the screen.
Kai followed Kokoro's example, thus not noticing Mikka's face turning completely red. And as the names on the screen stopped changing, the loud mouth eyes widen at noticing who'll go next…
---and life goes on---
And so this chapter ends. Hope you enjoyed it. Please leave a review with your opinion once you're done. It'd mean a lot.
No jutsus this time (well, there was one, but you most likely know Insei Tooriame is 'Meteor Shower', Takaru's primary technique). And as for character profiles, which I promised, here's another one:
Name: Hanamaru Gusoku
Name origins: his clan's name can be translated as 'armor' and basically it refers to his defensive skills (you'll see). As for his first name, 'hana' means flower and that's suppose to be an allusion to the fact that he smells :D
Age: currently 13 years old
Birth Date: 19th of October
Blood type: B
Height: 141,1 cm
Weight: 61,7 kg
Favorite food: basically anything
Village: Hidden Leaf (Konoha)
Current rank: gennin
Team: team led by Shikamaru; his teammates are: Rikoteki Kogane, Konpaku Rei, Debano Kitsune and Amagasa Toku
Bloodline limit: none
Family: nothing specific, but it's said that his parents have close relations with the Akimichi clan
Techniques (used so far): none
First Appearance: 29th chapter
And that's really that for this time. Hope you liked it. Best wishes and until next time!
