Naruto: Shadow Legion
Naruto: Shadow Legion – Chapter 16 [ Preliminaries Part 2! Kenjutsu Showdown! ]
Disclaimer: I Do not own Naruto or its Characters
O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O
"O-Orochimaru? Here!?" Hana quietly asked exasperated as she was finally briefed on the situation. Having received some hints from her student.
"Unfortunately. I had a run-in with him after I discovered the bodies of the grass nin he was impersonating." Anko responded. "Lord Hokage has already been informed. There was some contention on whether or not we should let the Uchiha participate… but—"
"But you know how lord third is." Kakashi interrupted disappointed. "I would have sat him out and made sure no major issues would occur. I did sit him down. The problem is that the seal I gave him isn't on the level of lord fourths, or a sannin's. On top of that, we're supposed to keep this low profile, meaning that only my team, myself, Anko, and Kage know."
"And now you know too" Anko pointed out as the Inuzuka's face was now warped with confusion, and anger.
"Don't you think more people have the right to know!? I mean certainly the shinobi forces stationed around the village! Or hey maybe the people in the immediate staff!" She roared as her feral Inuzuka rage began building.
"Quiet down…" Anko responded coldly, causing the fury of the medic to shift focus. "We don't like this any more than you. Frankly once this end, I was going to tell Ibiki." Anko admitted, shocking Hana, but not Kakashi.
Hana was left standing before her colleagues, not quite sure where to direct her rage. This isn't a feeling she gets often, being one of the more composed Inuzuka, however when the time comes, she just needs to vent. "There has to be something that we can do?!" Hana pleaded as the two jonin stood before her. "Something to point us in some direction!"
"Well we already have a lead, but…" Anko paused for a moment, once again capturing the attention of the Inuzuka. "When I fought him, I was under the impression he was disguised as a grass nin, and he was, but his headband showed a different insignia." The proctor explained. "He was wearing a headband that belonged to the sound village."
As Hana absorbed what she had just been told, she began remembering the single sound nin she'd come across. Kin. "That little bi—" She began to say before her eyes widened.
"Are you all right?"
"I'm… fine…"
The face of the girl was engrained into her memory. Thinking back the only expression she'd seen with that level of fear, were those seconds away from death. She had thought it was odd how her sensei left such in impression on her, especially after what had just happened to her. Normally she'd consider someone with his politeness to be normal, but a shinobi is a shinobi at the end of the day. Remembering the facial structure of the man she grew even more concerned.
"Is that girl— Kin's sensei from the sound still here?!" She asked frantically, gripping Anko by the shoulders.
"Unfortunately, he left before the second exam ended. There has been no sign of him since your report of the incident." Anko replied dejected.
"There's only one man that could put that much fear into a shinobi, and still command enough respect to retain their subordinate's loyalty." Hana thought as she looked back towards the stands where the sound kunoichi was fixated on the arena.
O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O
The randomizer spun rapidly as the genin all stood anxiously, awaiting the next bout. The machine eventually settled as the proctor began his announcement. "The next match will be between Temari and Tenten."
"So that girl is named Tenten huh?" Naruto thought as the bun-haired girl jumped into the arena. "She's completely unknown to me, this is going to be interesting." He thought as Temari landed into the arena, pulling the fan from her back.
"Are both fighters ready?" Hayate asked, both girls replied with a 'yes' in unison, however while Tenten was serious and steady, Temari's was much more confident and firm. "Begin."
The match had begun and Tenten was already in the air unrolling a scroll. As a cloud of smoke poofed into existence, followed by a dozen or so kunai flying directly towards her opponent. "Childs play." Temari replied disappointed as she waved her fan, killing the kunai's momentum, causing them to clatter onto the ground. Temari stood with her fan only partially opened, enough for a single purple dot to be centered upon the fan. "This is the power of only a single moon. Once all three are out, this match will be over." Temari predicted, however Tenten did not waver.
"That so? Then I guess I'll have to take this up a notch." She responded, grabbing another scroll, this time a larger one. Once again, she launched herself into the sky, opening the scroll. All of her motions repeated, and everything was precise. As the weapons began pouring out of the scroll Naruto was taken aback.
The amount of kunai she was able to fit in that scroll! Not only that, but other weapons too!" Naruto thought as a massive torrent of hundreds of weapons began raining down onto the battlefield. "Not to mention it's so concentrated!" Naruto said out loud, confusing the other spectators.
"What was that?" Satsuki asked in confusion.
Realizing he had just spoke instead of thought, Naruto decided to give some explanation. "I'm just shocked on the level of sealing that that required! Not to mention the concentration of weapons was just—" Naruto was silenced as he looked back to the arena, and all of the weapons lazily littered the ground as Tenten stood in shock, while Temari flashed a devilish grin, her fan now on two moons.
"Her fan did that!" Naruto cried as he looked down, feeling the same thing Tenten was feeling at that moment, albeit with a hint of excitement.
"I warned you that the next moon will end things girl." She retorted in a disrespectful tone. "An attack that focuses on weapons alone will always be outclassed by this jutsu!"
"We'll see about that…" Tenten responded, grabbing a kunai from her pouch rather than a scroll.
"Ohh? You seem confident! Let's see what your made of then." Temari said, as she placed her fan beside her. This was the wrong move as the kunai was already inches from her face. Only maneuvering enough for it to graze her cheek, leaving a gash, Temari looked back at the Konoha kunoichi with absolute rage.
Remaining calm, Tenten began making sporadic movements, tossing kunai and shuriken whenever she could, forcing Temari onto the back foot, not allowing her the opportunity to use her fan.
"This girl is insane! One minute she's pulling out high level seals, the next she's quickly and accurately landing hits with throwable weapons!" Naruto thought excitedly as the match continued. "Its like she has Satsuki's fighting style, and Sasuke's mid-range precision! She doesn't even need the sharingan to match them!"
"What was that?!" Sasuke growled angrily as he gripped the top of Naruto's head.
"Owowowowow! STOP! STOP!" Naruto cried as Satsuki pried his palm off of Naruto's head.
"He's not wrong." Shikamaru replied, causing the three fighting siblings to look over at him. "Sorry to say this, but her technique is that good, its like she has her own dojutsu."
"To be fair, I think she may have learned that from you." A voice called from behind the remaining graduates in a both dispassionate, and disappointed fashion. The group spun around tot she one of her teammates.
"You're a Hyuuga right?" Shikamaru asked, causing the boy to nod.
"That should be obvious." The pale eyed boy responded calmly, causing Shikamaru to look at him with disdain. "Her technique has always been that good, but she's never used this hit and run tactic that well against us."
"Wait, so you think watching Satsuki's match helped her here?" Naruto asked innocently.
"Not exactly, more like finalized the technique. It is her destiny to master weapons; she's been gifted for a long time." The boy finished as he began walking away as fast as he showed up.
"Alright Neji, we'll tell Hinata you said hi!" Naruto responded cheekily as the boy stopped in his tracks.
"How do you—"
"I heard one of your teammates say it before the exams." Naruto responded.
"Forget telling Lady Hinata a thing, it won't be necessary." He finished, not giving in to the taunting as Naruto stood slightly annoyed.
"What was that all about?" a voice called from behind the group again as Ino, Kiba, and Hinata returned from the medical wing.
"That Hyuuga boy was just explaining how Tenten copied Satsuki." Sasuke said bluntly, gesturing to the onslaught that was still happening below.
Hinata was clearly floored by the explanation, nervously reverting to some of her old habits at the mention of the boy.
"Hinata are you—"
"It won't matter." Kin cut off, standing in between the returning genin, and the other graduates.
"What do you mean?" Naruto questioned as he looked back down. "The precision and speed of those shots outclass even the sheer number of weapons from before! She doesn't have the time to react."
"If that fan is as powerful as I think…" Kin stopped, seemingly thinking to herself. "Those attacks won't cut it."
Naruto gave a single nod as he returned his full attention to the fight. Tenten was still pummeling Temari with kunai and shuriken. Not only that, but Temari was struggling to block every attack with her fan as a few blades had and would inevitably break through, giving her a variety of cuts. Naruto was floored when Tenten once again jumped into the sky, however this time she revealed two scrolls as she spun in the air, the scrolls surrounding her in a cylinder. Temari was winded and injured as she looked at the magnificent display.
"This is it!" Tenten shouted as a poof of smoke engulfed the cylinder, exploding into thousands of blades, stunning most of the remaining crowd.
Instead of show terror or awe at the sight that was bearing down on her, Temari smiled. "YOU FOOL!" she roared as she revealed her third moon, swiping it across her body. The gust of wind created shattered the impregnable wall of kunai, once again forcing them to fall from the sky, however this time due to both chakra exhaustion, and the powerful gust, Tenten was knocked of balance as she began plummeting towards the ground. As she fell Temari moved underneath her, catching her as her back slammed into the butt of her now closed fan with a loud crack.
"TENTEN!" the boy in the green leotard screamed as he jumped over the railing.
"Take your trash." Temari replied while panting, throwing the unconscious girl at the boy, forcing him to catch her.
"How dare—"
"The winner of the match is Temari. Please return to the stands." Hayate said calmly as he directed a stare towards the boy.
Before he could retaliate, a voice was heard from his group. "Lee, that's enough! Get back up here, and let the professionals do their job!" a man that looked eerily similar to the boy ordered.
"But Guy sensei I—"
"Believe in her youth! She will be alright!" he shouted.
A medical team arrived next to Lee as he reluctantly helped the girl onto the stretcher before returning silently to the stands.
"That was brutal…" Satsuki stated in an uncertain tone as she watched the medics walk off the unconscious nin.
The rest of the group stayed silent as the randomizer began to spin. Naruto looked back to Kin as he began thinking. Something was off to him. "…Omoi and Shikamaru." Naruto heard as he snapped back into reality, looking towards his friend.
O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O
Kin looked toward the pineapple headed kid as she remembered how lazy he was during their trip to the tower. "I doubt he'll put up to much of a fight. But that one jutsu he used…" Kin thought as she remembered him freezing the rain nin in place.
"Don't end it to quickly now!" the girl she knew was Ino said confidently as she slapped him on the back.
"I'd rather not prolong the fight to cater to your urges." He responded lazily as rather than jump off, he slowly walked down the stairs towards the ring.
Well it's a shame he's going up against an unknown, I really wanted to scout those cloud nin a bit more." Naruto exclaimed sadly.
"There's still one more, not to mention that quick bouts can be beneficial." Satsuki said attempting to comfort the nin.
"Yeah, but there's no rule about length! The only goal is victory, meaning that since these are preliminaries, they aren't testing for more than that!"
"Uhh…" Kin managed to get out before she was unknowingly cut off.
"If that's your point then why bother scouting? They won't be in the finals anyway." Sasuke replied impatiently as he was still waiting for Shikamaru to arrive.
"Well because if we ever meet again, we'll have the advantage!" Naruto countered.
"So will they if you prolong a fight!" Sasuke shot back.
"Well at least your improving with your arguments." Satsuki interrupted as she semi congratulated Sasuke.
"Uhh…" Kin tried again, this time gaining the groups eyes. "How can you be so sure he'll win? You just said yourself that you know nothing about that shinobi." Kin asked pointing towards the blonde swordsman.
"Well quite simply." Naruto began with a smile. "We've trained with him awhile, so we're pretty confident in his skill."
"And on top of that." Ino continued. "Since he's forced to fight, either he'll just resign to get it over with faster, or he'll compete."
"Shikamaru may be lazy, but he specializes in ending a fight as quickly as possible, that way its not a 'drag' for him." Kiba finished as the group looked down to the now full arena.
"Just shut up and watch, you'll see." Sasuke said as if he were spitting poison in her direction.
Kin reluctantly listened to the murderer, looking back towards the match that was about to begin.
"Are the combatants ready?"
"Y-Yes." Omoi stated, stuttering over his word.
"What was that all about?"
"Yeah, whatever." Shikamaru responded, muttering some more under his breath,
"Begin!"
Unlike the rest of the matches, not much immediately happened. Omoi drew his sword. His eyes said he was nervous; however his body held a completely calm and prepared stance. Shikamaru on the other hand simply stood, not moving a muscle. "You must be thinking about a lot right now huh?" Shikamaru asked with an unwavering emotionlessness. "I guess this strategy may work, but…" he paused as he began moving for his side pouch. "There's something I need to test first."
Shikamaru began slowly walking forward, drawing a kunai. As he closed the distance he moved faster, and faster, until he inevitably made his way to a sprint. While Shikamaru was making his move, Omoi stood still, solid as the nin approached. Making contact, Shikamaru didn't even have time to throw his weight into his strike before the Katana was blocking the attack. The look of surprise on Shikamaru shadowed his former emotionlessness as he tried to follow up with another strike. As he brought his kunai in for another strike it was once again stopped immediately.
Leaping back, Shikamaru paused to access the situation as Omoi stared back at him, looking calmer, less conflicted. "Alright, one more test then." Shikamaru stated as he drew another kunai.
"What is his plan? It's true he's conserved more energy than most the others, but that's only because of his defensive opponent." Kin thought as she looked at the calculating genin.
"I won't let anything get to me, there's no attack you can use to break my defense. I'll just have to wear you down." Omoi expressed as he held his stance. Taking the challenge, Shikamaru put some effort into his strikes, rapidly slashing at the cloud nin. This had better results than before, but it still didn't penetrate the defense. It was as if every strike was solid, but the defensive strikes defeated every blow. It was extremely clear that Shikamaru was in fact expending more energy. Realizing this, Shikamaru made yet another backwards leap, attempting a quick throw with both his kunai to distract from his escape just in case the katana wielder thought to pursue.
Landing, Shikamaru looked confused. "So you aren't going to follow up? That's all I needed I guess." Shikamaru relaxed his stance as he began fiddling with his pouch.
"What are you…" Omoi began as he began increasingly more tense.
Shikamaru removed the pouch from his leg, putting it onto is waist, almost like it were a fanny pack. "I just needed to switch something really quick." Shikamaru explained before quickly beginning to form hand seals. This action made Omoi further tense his guard as he prepared for a jutsu. "Shadow Possession Jutsu." Shikamaru spoke as his shadow connected itself to Omoi's.
"That's it? Get him Omoi! He's wide open!" Karui roared from the crowd. Omoi however did not move, and his eyes were bulging out of his head.
"Possession…" Shikamaru paused as he straightened himself out, causing Omoi to do the same, mirroring his movements. "Complete."
"Wha-What are you doing?!" Omoi sputtered as his nervousness spilled over into the arena.
"Well if you still don't get it. I figured that if I waited you would attack me, then you didn't. I attacked you and figured that you focused on defense. Then when I gave you an opportunity to pursue you didn't. Plus while your form is perfect, your mind is not." Shikamaru explained as he forced Omoi to move his sword to the opposite side of his body, before throwing it across the arena. "And now, you have two choices."
"WHAT?!" Karui once again roared.
"Quiet down geez…" Shikamaru mumbled as he reached for his rearranged pouch, grabbing a few shuriken. As Omoi mirrored the act, he immediately realized exactly what was about to happen as he began to panic even more severely. "You can either concede now." Shikamaru continued as he threw a shuriken at Omoi, nailing him in the shin. "Or I can end this in another way." He finished with a menacing tone.
"Y-you can't be serious…or could you…I don't know you! What if you would kill me!" Omoi began to sputter, continuing to rant as he fell further into his own doubts, still feeling the pain of the injury.
"He can't even concede if he's too busy yammering on." Shikamaru admitted as he threw a shuriken right past Omoi's face, cutting the side of his cheek, snapping him out of his thoughts. "Choose, now." He continued readying another attack.
As he was about to release his last attack Omoi was so mentally destroyed he could barely get out the words. "I-I-I-I co—"
Shikamaru sighed as he threw the shuriken, and if it continued down it's path, it would bury itself into Omoi's head. Omoi closed his eyes tightly before screaming. "I CONCEDE!" Omoi paused, however when he realized he had not been hit, he slowly opened his eyes, staring at the ceiling. He looked behind him, seeing a shuriken buried into the wall, and as he managed to stand up on his own, he saw Shikamaru casually walking away.
"The winner by forfeit is Shikamaru Nara!"
"What the hell?" Kin asked herself out loud as she looked back at the graduates.
"That's about expected if I'm being honest." Ino casually explained.
"A very Shikamaru strategy." Hinata agreed timidly.
"How did he even—" Kin tried to say before she was cut off again, this time by Naruto.
"He may not look it, but he's the smartest out of all of us. Not to mention that most of us could tell that the shinobi wasn't going to be making in moves." Naruto explained.
"Well, you are right about that…I saw it too." Kin admitted as she looked over at the arena as a red headed girl was choking out her teammate in the middle of the arena.
"I doubt I could have beaten him either… he may have brains, but even when he was attacking, he was not slouch. What is this class?!"
As Kin continued in her own thoughts, Choji arrived behind her following the treatment of his minor injuries, and Shikamaru was with him. "I'm telling you; it would have just been more work if I did that." Shikamaru complained, seemingly deflecting an idea Choji had suggested.
"But it would have been sooooo cool!" Choji whined.
"What do you mean?" Ino questioned as the two reached earshot.
"I was just telling Shikamaru he could have done more of the fight with his kunai, I didn't know he could do that!" Choji explained in excitement.
"This is gonna be a whole thing isn't it…" Shikamaru facepalmed as he walked towards the group.
The announcer stole the attention away from Shikamaru and Choji as he cleared his throat. "The Next Matchup will be Naruto VS. Karui. Will both fighters please enter the arena." He finished glancing at the redhead pummeling her teammate. "And would the somebody please grab him?"
O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O
Naruto landed smoothly as he entered the arena. He looked across the way to see the sensei Samui carrying Omoi towards the stairs. "Well I'm gonna guess that she's nothing like her teammate all things considered. If I were a betting boy…" Naruto grinned as he began formulating an idea.
"You my opponent then? Good, I need someone to take out my frustration on." Karui spat with a smile as she drew her sword. Like many cloud katanas, it was made from a highly conductive chakra metal, and wrapped with white cloth on the hilt.
"Interesting you say that, but before we begin, could I make a suggestion?" Naruto asked excitedly, almost as if he believed he had just thought up the most genius idea.
"Oh? And why would I entertain you? I'm sure you understand that Yugito has explained you're—"
"Oh I know, but this isn't about that, this is about something far more interesting." Naruto explained as he drew his jet-black sword from its sheath. "I have a proposition."
Karui was entranced by the fine blade. Being a swordswoman herself, the craftsmanship took her by surprise. "That blade is… interesting." She responded, almost ignoring the question. "What did you have in mind?"
"I was going to suggest a formal duel. Only Kenjutsu, or other jutsu's that would enhance our techniques like using a fire jutsu on our blade, boosting speed, etc. the only rule being no weapons outside our blades." Naruto offered as his excitement began to build.
"Really? You look like you have such a large arsenal, so you'd be handicapping yourself more than me. Why should I trust you?" Karui rightly questioned. "For all I know you'd just start losing and resort to a cheap trick."
"Is that the only issue?" Naruto grinned as he turned to the proctor. "Proctor, if I resort to any sort of combat outside of what I just described, call it for her." Naruto stated, not only blindsiding Karui and the Ref, but causing a hurricane of confusion throughout the crowd.
"NARUTO IF YOU DON"T STOP BEING SO RECKLESS I'LL—" Ino began to roar before she caught a glimpse of Naruto's face as he smiled back confidently at her. "You idiot…" She blushed as she began to calm down.
"Now, would you accept as well?" Naruto questioned.
"You know what, I don't see why not. I may as well put you in your place in the best way I know how!" Karui grinned as she got into position.
"Great!" Naruto shouted as he then bowed before his opponent, then readying his weapon.
Back in the stands, Kin was confused. "He bowed?"
"Of course he did. Its Naruto you—" Sakura began before catching herself. "Look, Naruto is not just a shinobi. He has respect for almost anyone, even if they don't deserve it." Sakura finished, trying to keep the last bit under her breath. Kin heard the comment; however she shook it off, rather returning to the fight.
"Fighters ready?" The proctor asked.
"Of course!" Karui eagerly responded as she trembled with excitement.
"Believe it!" Naruto answered as he shook with anticipation.
"Begin!"
O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O
Hana was exuding a lot of adrenaline as she was currently in an emergency wing tending to one of the combatants. "What's the situation?"
"She took a nasty fall and landed on her spinal cord. Right now she's unconscious, and her spine is certainly broken." The nurse responded as she began showing Hana some X-ray's. "You could fix this somewhat for now, but its going to take some time."
Hana was stuck in thought as she read over the report. "Not only do I have the situation with Kin and Orochimaru to worry about, but now I have a critical injury." Hana thought to herself as she handed the clipboard back to the nurse. "Send for Sakura in the stands, I'm going to need all the backup I can get. For now I need you to focus on some of the outside trauma while I prepare for something drastic." Hana ordered as she begun shuffling around the room, making preparations.
"Drastic? Ma'am there isn't too much we can do right now for her. Even if you do manage to heal the muscle's, it'll be too late by the time these exams are over. It's likely she won't walk again, let alone wake up form the coma. The least you can do is help her with that." The nurse tried reasoning with the Inuzuka, however it soon became clear that she had been either ignored, or not heard as the woman continued preparations.
"I have Sakura, she'll handle the various muscle regeneration, while I handle the bones." Hana responded confidently.
"But that isn't a guarantee! Sakura is still in training, not to mention—"
"Are you questioning my student?" Hana calmly expressed as her Inuzuka ferocity was channeled and compacted into a menacing glare.
"N-no—"
"Then send for Sakura. This should be easy for the two of us." Hana ordered.
"Yeah…like it would have been easy to help that girl—"
"Get Sakura, NOW!" Hana barked angrily as her instincts began spilling over. "That is another matter entirely! I don't have the time, nor clearance, to explain it to you!"
"Y-yes…" The nurse quietly responded as she dejectedly walked out of the room to find the pupil.
Hana looked down at the girl as she thought about the faces of her, her comrades, her family, and anyone else that she had affected. "Don't worry, we'll make sure you get back out there."
O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O
Naruto was in a blade-lock with his opponent following an intense flurry of strikes that the two had exchanged. "So your aggressive aren't you! You fight like how you talk!" Naruto quipped as he broke the block, freeing himself to kick Karui's midsection, and gain some distance.
"That so!" Karui roared as she charged the silver haired swordsman.
"Time to switch things up then, lets see how she deals with water style." Naruto thought as he shifted his stance. As the blade of Karui met Naruto's, it was quickly redirected into open space, seemingly leaving Karui open for attack as Naruto made a shallow cut at her shoulder, not being able to do any more before she recovered.
"So you're gonna play defense huh? Like I would have trouble with that!" Karui charged once again, however rather than make another powerful strike, she instead feinted her blade, messing with Naruto's rhythm, and creating an opening for her to exploit as she slashed the blade at Naruto's leg, however she was caught off guard when Naruto managed to get a block off last minute.
"Well you adapt quick. But surely you can do better!" Naruto taunted as he absorbed another onslaught of strikes, redirecting and countering with normal strikes. "She handle's this style almost as well as Ino, but her aggression just throws off any momentum she has. If it weren't for her explosive emotions, she'd probably be able to land a hit." Naruto thought as he continued his defenses.
"Stop defending you coward!'
"Alright, if you insist!" Naruto said as he quickly switched to his lightning style combat, matching Karui's style almost exactly as he sent a quick succession of blows her way, forcing her onto the back foot.
Karui's eyes had widened as she became concerned. Naruto noticed this as he began to feel it in the battle. Karui began forcing Naruto back with the matching style. "You may know this technique, but a lowly fire shinobi like you could never match a lightning nin!" She roared as she began forcing Naruto back further.
Naruto, realizing the predicament, decided that he needed to switch up once again. "Her lightning Kenjutsu style is eerily similar to mine. Not only that, but its slightly superior to mine…" Naruto thought as he switched to a stance that not many on the crowd outside Ino, and Satsuki could recognize.
"He can't be serious right now!" Satsuki exclaimed in concern.
"He hasn't been able to beat us with it! How can he expect to beat her!?" Ino added as she began clutching the rails.
"What do you mean?" Shikamaru asked, prompting Kin and the others to listen in.
"Well Naruto recently began training in a third form of Kenjutsu combat closely related to the fire style, but—" Satsuki began before Ino cut her off.
"But he sucks with it! Its too different from his other styles for him to just pick up on the fly!" Ino responded as the group looked back down at the arena, their nervousness rising.
"Sakura Haruno?" a voice asked from behind the group.
Sakura, instinctually turning to her name, faced the middle-aged woman.
"Hana is requesting you for an operation. It's a… delicate procedure." The Nurse replied in a depressed tone.
"Oh… On my way." Sakura replied dryly as she looked back to Sasuke. As the two left the viewing area, all attention had reverted to the arena.
Naruto was moving more sporadic then the team was used to seeing as he began landing powerful strikes onto Karui's blade. The attacks were nowhere near as quick as his lightning style, nor were they as fluid as his water style, but they were a perfect balance or speed, power, and smoothness as the blade cut through the air like butter, flowing through the empty space before colliding with Karui's blade. The bout between the two was fairly balanced as the quick and precise emotion fueled strikes against Naruto, were complimented by the overall balanced, yet unrefined style that Naruto had adopted.
"What are you some sort of master? Far from it!" Karui roared as she took advantage of a defensive hole, connecting a slash across Naruto's stomach. As he fumbled back, he held his wound, staring at the girl. "Concede!" She requested, pointing her blade at Naruto.
"He was… beaten?" Satsuki muttered as she looked at the blood dripping to the ground.
O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O
"What's the situation?" Sakura asked as she calmed and became serious. Upon recognizing the girl to be Tenten, she quickly figured what was about to happen. "Sensei are you sure that this is a good idea. There have to be better qualified medic nin that can do this."
"Perhaps, but your skill with muscle tendons and underskin techniques are second to only my own. I should know, I trained you." Hana replied seriously as she watched the nurses carefully flip the Kunoichi onto her back, cutting a hole into the back of her clothes.
"I mean I'm not that good, what about them!" She pointed at the other nurses, her finger shaking with nerve. "I saw that hit, I get that you can probably take care of her spine, but if I don't line up exactly with you, then it's over!"
"That's exactly why it has to be you. Your technique is exactly like my own. Many other medics are more by the book and standardized, but you were trained to mimic my more… feral style." Hana replied with a smile.
"If I fail—"
"You won't."
"But why not just wait until—"
"There is no time." Hana said firmly. "You know that."
"She's right…" Sakura thought as she stared at Tenten's seemingly lifeless body, comatose. "If I don't try, she'll most likely be paralyzed. And if we do nothing, she may be in a comatose state forever. The best option is to try and do this without a special technique or ritual but relying on one another's skill."
"You ready?" Hana asked as she stood on the opposing side of the table.
Sakura hesitated for a moment. "Yes!" she responded semi-confidently. Sakura began mentally preparing herself as she moved to stand at the operating table.
"Alright, when I begin, I need you to follow my hands at the precise speed that I'm using. Your job is to reform the tissue around the bone I'm repairing. If I back pedal, you back pedal, got it?" Hana explained calmly. Sakura, to a near professionals' level of calmness replied with a nod. "alright, here we go."
O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O
Naruto stood with blood dripping from his gut as his opponent stood facing him, taunting him. "I guess I should have known trying out a new style would end like this… Welp, time to take of the training wheels and—" Naruto paused as he saw Karui begin to form hand seals, her blade stabbed into the ground.
"If you wont concede, then I'll have to end this!" Karui shouted as her hand seals ended, grabbing her sword. As her hands met the hilt, her blade erupted into a storm of electricity. The bolts sparked out of the blade, the look in Naruto's eyes shifted, ever so slightly, as if returning to its blue shade. Karui noticed this, but she didn't care enough to ask. "Last chance!"
"Give me… Give me everything you got!" Naruto said as he stood with a smile.
"Your funeral!" She cried as she charged the wounded genin. When she closed the distance, she began a lightning fast, electrically charged thrust directly into the abdomen of the boy. Karui was stunned when the boy quickly dodged the left, faster than he had moved at any point during their match, catching both of her wrists with his left hand. As she was stopped in her tracks, unable to escape, Naruto used his blade hand to position his blade right above her guard, contacting her blade as he twisted her wrist, forcing the flat parts of the blade to meet. As contact was made, Karui felt something odd, as if there were a strong force coating the black blade.
"Sorry, but that could have been bad for me." Naruto replied as he swiftly swept his blade against hers, almost as if it were a whetstone. The lightning that had been charging the sword was wiped from the blade as the charge was sent flying into the wall below the graduate teams, exploding into the wall, leaving a chunk of it destroyed.
The entire arena was left stunned as they witnessed not only the complete dismantling of what looked to be an ultimate attack, but it was done by a force that was seemingly dying in front of their eyes. Naruto quickly landed a quick crescent kick onto Karui's head, sending her careening to the side, and while it wasn't enough to put her down, it was clearly more powerful than she expected as she struggled to stand.
"What… What was that?!" Karui explained in a mix of emotion ranging from rage, to excitement as a smile threatened to creep onto her face.
Naruto relaxed himself as he shot a smile back at her, showing the palm of his hand that had been gripping her wrists as the blood was evaporating before her eyes. Quickly checking her wrists, the same phenomenon was occurring. "You know what I am so you shouldn't be that surprised. But then again, you were also pretty hasty when you claimed victory." Naruto said with a laugh as Karui managed to stand.
"I figured that…" Karui said with a scowl. "But that technique, what did you do?"
"It wasn't a technique per say." Naruto explained as he took out a piece of paper as he walked up to Karui. "Here, slide this across your blade." He explained as she took the paper. Examining it, Karui could tell that she was looking at a piece of chakra paper with a fairly difficult seal. "It's a small prototype I've been working on. Its not finished, but this low-level attack should be fine for a demonstration.
"What do you…" Karui paused as she held the paper and her blade in her hands. Without another question, Karui slowly began sliding the paper across her blade. To her surprise, as the paper passed over the steal, a fire was emerging on her sword, eventually ending with the end of the blade, burning the paper as it left her katana. "What—I don't know fire nature!"
"No, that's what the seal does, it essentially mimics the hand signs required for a technique, allowing nearly anyone to use it, however those with the proper nature can enhance if better." Naruto explained.
"Wait! That's like what he does for my arrows!" Satsuki excitedly proclaimed as she pulled out a half-eaten arrow from her quiver, with a seal paper still wrapped around the tip of the shaft.
"Exactly!" Naruto called. "And this blade is special to say the least." Naruto said with a smile. "Your job is to find out how!" Naruto said as he began sprinting forward.
Karui, seemingly relishing in the challenge decided to meet him. Using a second wind brought upon by the excitement of this mystery blade, she rushed the swordsman with her now flaming sword. As the two connected, Naruto once again was using his water style defensive techniques, redirecting Karui's strike upwards, followed by an elbow to the chest. As Karui recovered she noticed the flames for her sword had extinguished or were rather flying straight up into the sky where her blade had been forced before it dissipated.
"So you can negate elemental attacks is that it?" Karui asked as she began launching a counter offensive.
"Not quite, but you're on the right track!" Naruto admitted as he began meeting each strike once again, stalemating the battle.
"This is interesting indeed." Yugito stated as Omoi was looking on in confusion.
"How!? Its clear that that kid can end this battle whenever he wants! He's toying with her!" He responded in anguish.
"Not quite." Samui pointed out as she was intensely watching the battle.
"Don't forget cloud, he put on restrictions that are to be enforced by the proctor." Temari stated as she continued her spectating.
"Not to mention that he's not taunting her, but in some sort of way he's teaching her." Yugito continued.
"How is he doing that? They're skills with the blade at least seem even when you take all his styles into…"
"Exactly." Yugito stated as she noticed his catching on. "He's showing her the library of his techniques so she can learn and adapt."
"Why though? This is a match for a spot in the final exam! He should just end it right?" Omoi questioned as Naruto got a nasty kick in on Karui.
"You may think that way, but that boy, I can guarantee he expects that he'll make the finals. Right now, it seems he's found someone who he can view as a colleague, a rival, or a student." Samui explained as she showed a rare sight, the smallest grin she could give.
"That doesn't make sense though, if we end up going to war, then that would mean he effectively trained an enemy bound to kill his own people!"
"He isn't thinking that way. He's young and naive. He thinks this is all fun and games." The sand jonin proclaimed, as he observed the match carefully.
O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O
Hana was nearing the end of the procedure. Having started at the bottom of the spine, choosing to work her way up, she had just cleared the point of impact where the bones were shattered into a vast amount of pieces. Luckily for her she was able to fit the puzzle together. It took more time then she would have liked, but she was lucky to have a good assistant to back her up.
"Alright, now that I've made it past the worst part, I need you to—"
"Already on it." Sakura responded as she began slowly shifting her hands towards the bruised section of tissue, reforming the muscles around the bone.
"Right, I'll finish up tweaking the rest of the muscles above the area that were knocked out of place a bit, and we'll finish up with that bruise together." Hana ordered as she begun focusing on the upper spine.
"Alright." Sakura replied as she began touching up the muscles.
The rest of the operation went smoothly as the pair finished up on the bruised tissue, hopefully stopping any additional internal bleeding as they flipped the patient over again, exiting the room where there was a pair of nurses waiting. "Take her to a room for rest and get her into a hospital gown. Be careful with the back as the bruising itself will still take some time to heal naturally." Hana reported as the pair nodded, quickly entering the room with a stretcher. Sakura was noticeably anxious as her emotions re-emerged throughout her body, turning her into a completely different person from before. "Wow, your focusing training is really starting to pay off. You suppressed your anxiety well." Hana praised in a sisterly fashion.
"What if that didn't work?" Sakura asked shakily as she began to tremble.
"Then we would have done all we could with what we had. At the very least we know she'll survive." Hana said reassuringly as she gripped Sakura's hands. "You did great."
"Can… Can I ask a question?" Sakura asked as the two nurses walked out of the room with the patient, making there way towards the other rooms housing patients.
"Well you just did, but I suppose another wouldn't hurt." Hana teased as she began making her way back to the medical area outside the arena.
"Well… Why didn't you do more for that girl?" Sakura asked without much more explanation, a clear hint of disdain in her voice.
"You're wondering if I did it out of spite aren't you?" Hana asked, causing Sakura to look back at her sensei in shock.
"How did you—"
"It's not the first time I've been asked this week. Not to mention you seem to hold some hatred towards her." Hana interrupted as the two continued their walk.
"She tried to kill Sasuke! Of course I hate her! If Sasuke had his was she would be dead." Sakura exploded, seemingly not able to control her suppressed emotions on the matter.
"She had her orders. And she failed on top of that. I wouldn't refuse aid on reasons like that alone." Hana explained as her student had all her attention on her. "I can't go into the details as to why, but now it was happening, I had sensed something was off… I guess I wanted to see what I felt. Her scent was… wrong." Hana tried to put her reasoning into words. "I could probably have asked you for help in healing that massive skin damage but… I also knew you wouldn't have done it."
"Of course I would if you asked!" Sakura stated firmly.
"Maybe, but maybe not. I can see how easily your swayed by Sasuke. Considering you were tending to him first, I find it likely that in the heat of the moment, it would have been a poor choice."
"Then the other nurses would have been able to…" Sakura remembered the reasoning that she had been picked. "Why not just let the other nurses take care of it then?"
"I was going to but… then her master made an appearance. I decided to keep an eye on her directly after that, and with an injured arm, it just made things a little easier." Hana admitted as the two continued on their path, nearing the arena.
O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O
Naruto and Karui stood across from one another panting. Either warrior was both winded and bloodied as they had their faceoff. "It's some magnet nonsense, then right?!" Karui asked wearily as the two stood their ground.
"Wrong again, but I guess I should end this with one more demonstration." Naruto answered as he grabbed another piece of chakra paper. "Concede, or this could get ugly." Naruto mirrored Karui's offer, knowing it would be declined.
"As if!" Karui replied with a smile as she solidified her stance. Naruto quickly began a rotating motion as he simultaneously began sliding the paper on his blade. As he returned back to his original frontal position, he slashed the blade in front of him as a pressurized steam of water came in a sideways arc, paralleled to the blade as it began surging its way towards Karui. Rather than standing her ground like her counterpart, Karui used her flexibility to her advantage as she did a backbend, narrowly avoiding the water. As she stood back up, she began to understand the power of the blade. "You can manipulate elemental jutsu!"
"Bingo!" Naruto said with a snap as the tip of Karui's sword clattered the ground, leaving two thirds connected to the blade. "I can deflect, redirect, or even throw jutsu's using this blade. The only problem is when I try what you did with that lightning, it kinda slides off with a powerful enough swing, so I need to be really precise." Naruto admitted as he lamented the loss of the attack style.
"That's amazing!" Karui admitted as she inspected her cut sword.
"We can talk about this more later, but for now, I need to end this." Naruto admitted as he blitzed the Kunoichi with his lightning style.
"You think you can stop me with that!" Karui roared as she attempted to retaliate, however her strike was easily deflected with one of the defensive water style defenses, followed by a lightning style counter, disarming her with a flash. Naruto put his sword to her throat as she was left defenseless.
"Yield." He said with a smile, pissing off Karui.
"I… Yield." She responded with a very pained and agonized tone as Naruto lowered his sword.
"The winner of the bout by forfeit is Naruto!" Hayate announced as he looked on at the carnage.
"How did you get that blade! Kumo has a monopoly on the best chakra steel in the continent!"
"Well you've heard of the 7 swordsmen of the mist, right? So that's not entirely true." Naruto responded as he gave a devilish smile.
"Well yeah but there are only seven of those blades! How does yours—" Karui stopped as she began realizing what had happened.
"Lets just say that there are eight now." Naruto said, sheathing the sword.
"That style you used just now, why weren't you using it the whole time?!" Karui continued barraging him with questions.
"Well I wanted to show you the power of a diverse move set with the different styles. I only showed you a glimpse of my true form of Kenjutsu to show you the result of their flawless combination." Naruto explained as he began walking towards the stairs once more. "If I were you, I'd head to get those marks looked at! You'll probably miss a match, but you'll be fine!" He called back behind him, leaving Karui, and the rest of the room in shock.
The randomizer was once again spun as Naruto finally made it back to his group. As he arrived, he was met with a similar bombardment of questions, answering them as he had for Karui.
"Why did you go easy on her?" Ino asked frustrated.
"To make her better. More fun that way."
"Why try such an incomplete form in an important match!" Satsuki scolded.
"Well it was to show her the different levels of mastery." Naruto tried to explain, not winning himself any favors.
"Why help the enemy?" Sasuke grumbled as he sent his glare towards Naruto.
"Who decided she was the enemy? If I recall, the cloud is here to forge an alliance, not to wage war." Naruto shot back. "Besides, teaching is fun."
"I guess that's fair." Kakashi answered as everyone turned startled as the Jonin seemingly appeared out of nowhere.
"Where did you—"
"Classified." Kakashi replied with an eye smile before Satsuki could finish her question.
"Right." She retorted annoyed.
"The next bout has been decided." Hayate announced, causing the crowd to grow quiet. "Neji Hyuuga VS Hinata Hyuuga." He said calmly as the graduate's eyes fell onto Hinata, who had stiffened, fearful of what was to come.
O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O
Authors Notes: I hope you enjoyed the second part of the preliminaries! This segment of prelims should end by next chapter, so tune in for the next one to see the final matchups and victors! In terms of the bouts, I decided that the Temari Tenten fight should remain the same, as not only did I not have a better option story wise, I wanted to explore Hana and Sakura's relationship more. Tenten's spin breaking injury that magically healed when Lee's was near career ending always rubbed me the wrong way, so I decided to address it. In terms of the second bout, I felt that in this scenario, based on their personalities, it was the best way to do the fight. I don't have much to say on the Shikamaru fight. Naruto and Karui's fight is a taste of what may become a relevant relationship (not romantic). I felt that I could make these characters more important the story, not to mention with their Kenjutsu dynamic, this would lead to some interesting training in the future. The fight was also meant to display the full abilities of Naruto's new blade (Name pending still). Please leave a review if there are any questions you might have! I promise I'll get to them! And I hope to see you in Chapter 17 [ Preliminaries Part 3! Clash of the Titans ]