Author's Note: Well I can't say for certain if two fights in one chapter can be considered special, but with this the first round of the third exams is over. So next week we move onto round two. Read Review and Favorite!
Atsuko mentally review the checklist of things that she wasn't going to do today: she wasn't going to break down into tears because she couldn't hold back her sadness any longer, she wasn't going to go and fly off into a rage at the people who abused her friends, she wasn't going to go hunt down Shiro and beat him to a inch of his life for sneaking off and concocting some kind of scheme that has dragged in the rest of her friends, and she was most certainly not going to lose her fight. While Atsuko was thinking this the Randomizer let out a ding ding signalling the next match up.
"Hachi of the Sands and Atsuko Hyuga!" Snapped to attention at Masaharu's words Atsuko looked up at the screen to see her name over top Hachi's name. "Oh this is going to be good! Fake Tails Vs FAKE TAILS!" Masaharu roared, getting the crowd into a frenzy.
"Not good. You're in no condition for a fight Atsuko." Masunu stated as he turned to face Atsuko, and was surprised to say the least at what he saw. "Atsuko, are you okay?"
"Don't worry Masunu." Sitting at the back of the room while crying tears of joy was Atsuko. "Finally everyone, I don't have to hold these feelings inside of me any longer." Atsuko wiped the tears from her face and forced a smile before she ran into the arena.
"A Fake Tail vs Fake Tail match up! This is astounding! Mei what do you make of this?" Masaharu asked defaulting to Mei's opinion as usual.
"Both carry the power of the Tailed Beasts, both are the family of and trained by current Kage. This should prove to be a very entertaining match." Miyako stated smiling warmly.
"Atsuko is from Konoha, who has yet to win a single match during the entire third round. What do you make of that?" Masaharu asked coyly.
"That can also work out to their advantage. Some people allow loss to hold them back. And some people use it to push themselves further and harder than ever before. Let's see where the dice falls on this one." Mei stated casually shrugging her shoulders.
"A quick reminder of the rules. One no attacking the judge who is me. Two no use of Sage Mode, that goes for both of you, in the event that both participants do any 'Fake Tails' nonsense then it will result in a double elimination. Thirdly no destroying the arena, minor damages are exceptionable, putting the lives of the audience at risk are not. Finally if either participant feels that they are no longer able to participate, or if I feel that they are no longer able to fight, then the match may be ended in the favor of a winner. Am I making myself clear?" The Judge asked eyeing both individuals suspiciously.
"Understood." Hachi stated monotonously.
"Before we begin. Hachi was it?" At Atsuko's question both the judge and Hachi turned to face her.
"Is there going to be a problem young lady?" The judge asked eyeing Atsuko suspiciously.
"No it's nothing. Except that I'm afraid that I'm not mature enough to hold myself back when I'm sad, so if you want to survive then you'd better sink everything you've got into defensive power." Atsuko stated politely, her voice carrying not hostility, but a dangerous tone none the less.
"Ooh a bold Challenge from Atsuko! It looks like your theory might prove to be correct Mei!" Masaharu stated prompting Mei to nod her head.
"That is all, you may proceed when you are ready." Atsuko finished maintaining her politeness as she got into a fighting stance.
"Ready..." The judge took a few nervous steps back, just in case. "FIGHT!"
"Byakugan!" The veins around Atsuko's eyes bulged activating her Byakugan! "Dance of the Lightning Wolf!"
Suddenly a thick and intense layer of lightning surrounded Atsuko's entire body. Atsuko leaped forward and Hachi brought up a thick wall of sand in order to block the attack, only for it to disintegrate under a barraged of a lightning enhanced gentle fist exclusively delivered via Atsuko's left hand.
"Bad move for Hachi. The magnet release that he uses on his sand is one part Wind Chakra and on part Earth Chakra. The latter of which can be dissolved with the lightning release!" Mei stated giggling at Hachi's misfortune.
"In that case I'll counter with what you're weak against!"
Hachi formed a huge ball of wind in his hands and shot it forward attempting to create a wind barrier between him and Atsuko.
"Dance of the Fire Hawk!"
A huge, almost wing like, jet of fire popped out of Atsuko's left hand as she slammed another Byakugan salvo into the wind storm, turning it into a into a intensive fire storm that turned the protective layer of sand that had formed around Hachi's body into molten glass.
"GGYYYAAAAH!"
"Dance of the Water Dragon!"
Atsuko's entire left forearm became coated in water that took on the shape of a dragon head that she then slammed into Hachi's body, turning the burning armor into glass and slamming him into the back of the arena, smashing it into pieces and leaving the severely burned Hachi on the ground in agony.
"Dance of the Earth Giant!"
Hachi snapped to attention as a huge pole popped out of the ground to Atsuko's left and she grabbed it with her left hand and ripped a huge stone hammer out of the ground and swung it down on top of Hachi.
"That's enough!" The Judge had caught Atsuko's hammer just as it was about to crush Hachi. "Congratulations you won!"
"Interesting." Mei clicked a stop watch having been timing the entire event. "Beaten in Twenty Seconds. I do believe that's an all time record." Miyako explained while she put the timer down.
Atsuko took one look at the pathetic, fear and pain ridden state that Hachi reduced to. Brutality was one thing, cruelty was another.
"I understand." A spark of lightning went through the hammer before it turned into dust. "Even though this kind of thing isn't my forte, using the Fake Tail chakra should increase the effect." Now on her knees in front of Hachi Atsuko removed her shoulder from her sleeve and removed a single acupuncture pin from deep inside her shoulder. "KYAH!" Ignoring her adorable squeak Atsuko produced a red/green syrupy substance over Hachi's body, the powerful chakra proceeded to completely heal his many injuries and return him to the peak of his health, no one being more surprised that he was.
"You can control it?" Hachi asked shock clear on his face.
"Not exactly." Atsuko explained while she reinserted the needle into her arm. "KYAH! I'm just using acupuncture to limit the flow of Chakra into my arm right now." Now that the issue of her arm was sorted out Atsuko helped the stunned Hachi to his feet. "By the way I meant to ask. Do you hear voices too? From the whole Fake Tails thing I mean?"
"Ah... yeah. Something like that. Suzume too." Hachi explained as Atsuko escorted him over to the waiting area for Sumegakure.
"Unbelievable! Not only a power house and beauty but also a kind hearted and caring girl! Ladies and Gentlemen! Atsuko Hyuga is without a doubt the ideal person!" Masaharu stated whipping the crowd into a frenzy.
Atsuko walked back to the waiting area and passed by Masunu who was climbing out.
"Guess I'm stronger than you thought I was eh?" Atsuko asked with a cheeky grin on her face.
"You're also more delicate than you realize." Masunu stated wiping a single tear from Atsuko's face. "After I'm done here, you and I need to have a long chat." Masunu stated as he walked into the arena.
This time the formality of the randomizer was skipped, really there was only one option now.
"Gengetsu wasn't it?" At Masunu's question Gengetsu rested the tip of Samehade into the ground.
"Correct. And your name is Masunu?" Gengetsu narrowed a calculating glare at Masunu. "Masunu Uchia?"
"That is correct." Masunu stated cocking a brow at Gengetsu.
"Mei what do you make of our competitors?" Masaharu asked getting a knowing feeling. "Gengetsu is descended from the second Kazekage for whom he is named. Any one who has access to his arsenal of techniques is going to be a force to be reckoned with! On top of that he is one of the current Legendary Swordsmen of the Mist and the wielder of the Samehade, another thing that gives him high level specs." Mei explained happily lecturing Masaharu.
"Sort of like one extremely powerful thing combined with another extremely powerful thing type situation." Masaharu commented. "But what about Masunu?"
"Masunu is a member of Konoha's legendary Uchia clan. Even if they've suffered from a decline over the past few decades, it's members are known for the High tier Dojutsu the Sharingan that grants them vast power over illusion and allows them to copy any technique they see within reason." Mei explained while resting her chin on her hands and looking down at the arena. "This should be good."
"A quick reminder of the rules. One no attacking the judge who is me. Two no use of Sage Mode, that includes any Fake Tails nonsense. Thirdly no destroying the arena, minor damages are exceptionable, putting the lives of the audience at risk are not. Finally if either participant feels that they are no longer able to participate, or if I feel that they are no longer able to fight, then the match may be ended in the favor of a winner. Am I making myself clear?" The Judge asked eyeing both individuals suspiciously.
"Don't you worry, I'm not interested in rampaging today." Gengetsu stated waving off the judge's concerns.
"I'm good. But I do have other things to do today, so can we please get this over with?" Masunu asked, stomping his foot into the ground and creating a stone chair for him to sit down on.
"Ready. FIGHT!"
Gengetsu started things off by launching a huge wave of water at Masunu with Samehade inside of it. Suddenly Gengetsu found Samehade trying to eat his head, followed up by being hit by a huge blast of water.
"What the heck? Gengetsu just launched a attack at himself!?" Masaharu stated with blatant shock on his features.
After a couple of minuets of struggling Gengetsu pulled the living blade off of his head and glared at Masunu.
"That was a dirty trick!" Gengetsu spat full of rage.
"It's a fight. What did you expect?" Masunu just looked back with what looked like blood shot eyes, his irises having been replaced with a circle of comma's, his fully developed Sharingan. "Let me know when you figure out how to beat me." Masunu stated pulling out a book from his back pocket and flipping it open to read.
"What!? You idiot we're in the middle of a fight here!" Gengetsu stated indignantly stomping his foot. "Fine, if you want a weakness for that thing? How about this!" Gengetsu pulled his fore head protector over his eyes, figuring that as long as Masunu couldn't make eye contact he couldn't take control over him.
"I'm waiting." Masunu stated in a annoyed tone of voice.
Having become intolerantly annoyed with Masunu's antics Gengetsu bled his finger and slammed it onto the ground, producing a huge smoke cloud from he popped out and attacked Masunu head on swinging Samehade. Masunu slammed his elbow imbued with lightning chakra backwards and into Gengetsu's face who had sneaked up on him from behind.
"Send a illusion to attack me from the front, and attack me from behind at the same time. Predictable."
With that Masunu bled his own finger and slammed it into his side, creating a another huge smoke cloud that summoned Yin.
"You rang bossss?" Masunu used his Sharingan to directly take control over Yin and had the giant snake bite down on a giant Clam that was hidden inside of Gengetsu's illusion.
"CLAMMY!" The clam disappeared in another poof of smoke, also eliminating Gengetsu's Genjutsu in the process. "That tears it! Time for my ultimate technique! Steamy Danger Tyranny Clone!" Suddenly Gengetsu exploded, replaced a few minuets later by a giant deformed clone of himself, with Gengetsu himself now riding on the clone's shoulder. "With this! You will definitely be defeated!" The Gigantic clone slammed it's fist into Masunu, immediately followed by a loud explosion that demolished a chunk of the stadium. Gengetsu's water body meant that he easily survived the earth shaking impact and came out of the rubble in a mist form. The first thing that he saw was that Masunu was no where in sight. "I DID IT!" Gengetsu shouted while he pumped both of his fists into the air.
"Yep." The Judge stated pushing rubble off of himself. "You most certainly did."
Gengetsu's moment of joy was interrupted when, rising dramatically from the ground was a stone elevator like platform inside of which was the still sitting and still reading Masunu.
"Wha... but... how!?" Gengetsu attempted to ask while he was flabbergasted.
"He replaced himself with a clone while you were blind folded idiot!" The judge stated in a snarl before he grabbed Gengetsu by the scruff of his coat. "You and I on the other hand need to have a very long discussion about the rules! A No attacking the judge who is me! And B no destroying the bloody arena!"
"But-But-But!" Was all that Gengetsu got off before the judge started to drag him away. "I declare Masunu Uchia to be the winner!" Was the last thing that the Judge stated before he disappeared through the entrance way to the Arena.
"So long as that's over with." Masunu slammed his book shut and got up to go back to Atsuko's side.
"With this the first day of the third round of the exams are over! Pretty exiting eh Mei?" Masaharu asked while elbowing Mei in her side in a buddy manner.
"Indeed! It makes you look forward to the rest of the matches of the exam!" Mei stated smiling warmly.
Once the fighting was over with the various Genin met with their parents outside of the arena Naruto had already put his daughter into a head lock and was now affectionately noogieing her.
"Haha! That's my girl! Come here and give your old man a kiss!" Naruto stated while forcibly landing a kiss on Atsuko's cheek.
"Ah come on dad it's embarrassing! Mom help me!" Atsuko asked pleadingly to her mother.
"Kiss Kiss Atsuko." Hinata stated with a smile as she bent down to Atsuko's eye level tapping her cheek.
Letting out a defeated sigh Atsuko pecked both of her parents on their cheeks releasing her from their embrace in the process.
"Oi Atsuko!" Atsuko looked around and saw Miyako with Mei walking up to them.
"You feeling better?" Miyako asked while eyeing Atsuko suspiciously.
"Yah, thanks for that stuff you gave me earlier." Atsuko thanked while she awkwardly scratched the back of her head.
"Oh you two already met? That saves us a little bit of time." Mei stated while she smiled warmly at Miyako.
"Yeah. We tried to kill each other during training." Miyako explained casually, prompting a sweat drop from the older people.
"Eh. Start of many a brilliant friendship." Naruto stated, prompting additional sweat dropping from both Hinata and Mei. "Well, we aren't getting anything done like this. So let's go eat, a friend of mine has a stand open in town for the..." Naruto was suddenly interrupted by the sound of radio in his pocket ringing and pulled it out to dismiss it. "For the Exams."
"Honey don't dismiss work so casually." Hinata stated noting the ringing of the radio. "At the least you should send a Shadow Clone out to see what they want."
"Eh." Grunting in dissatisfaction Naruto produced a Shadow Clone.
Kicking open the doors to the meeting hall in Kirigakure Naruto shot his fellow Kage a glare.
"I was in the middle of something important. So this had better be a matter of life and death!" Naruto stated, before he dodged a small insect statuette that was thrown at him like a shuriken.
"You could say that." Naruto looked in the direction of the one who threw that and saw that it Shiro, suspiciously not hospitalized as advertised. "Look familiar?" Naruto examined the insect statuette, realizing what it was immediately.
"Where did you get this?" Naruto asked hotly.
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