'Thoughts' "Speaking" Author's Notes "Bijuu Speaking" "Telepathic Talking"
Hehe, I'm going to absolute make you guys go insane here- (°°) Anyways, I'm just happy to get this part of the story over and done with and with a little... something. I know, I'm insane. I updated in less than a week.
=Chapter 20: First Round, Complete! Cue the Final Round!=
"For the final match of the first round, please can Iwagakure Team 9 and Sunagakure Team 2 come down to the arena please!"
The arena finished shifting and landed into its final form for the first round. A mountain rose out of the centre of the arena, surrounded by a lush forest. It was almost like it was screaming to be burnt into pieces.
"Finals Match 5..." called out Darui as the two teams arrived in the arena. "...start!"
Team 2 disappeared almost immediately before re-appearing all across the arena, surrounding Team 9.
"Earth Style: Double Earth Dome Prison!" called out one from Team 9 as two domes made of rock and dirt grew from the ground before joining up at the peak, creating an all-too familiar defence barrier for some Konoha-nin.
"Go, Ichika!" called out the leader inside the dome as she started flying through her own hand seals.
"Earth Style: Hidden Mole Jutsu!(1)" called putting Ichika as she jumped out of the ground behind Hare, before bringing down her foot. Hare turned round before blocking the attack with her hand and throwing her palm forward with a gust of wind flowing behind it.
Ichika skidded backwards before doing her own hand seals and calling it out. "Earth Style: Earth Flow River!" Mud rushed out of the ground towards Hare who merely jumped from tree to tree as the river chased her around. "Earth Style: Earth Dragon Bullet!"
A mud dragon head formed out of the river before launching mud balls at Hare, the trees being torn apart and mountain being pounded by the bombs.
Ichika ran into battle before the two ninja engaged in taijutsu, Hare landing a few hits on her opponent. She reached into her pouch for a kunai before blocking landing a few cuts on Ichika. Hare jumped backwards, threw some kunai before ran across the mountain to regroup. She mentally cursed as Ichika was tailing her before jumping through the trees.
"Wind Style: Pure Wind Dragon Jutsu!" called out Dragon as out of the sky formed a translucent Chinese dragon before it being engulfed by fireballs with Bird knowing the formation. The wind absorbed the fire as the sky started to crackle and shout with thunder forming.
The dragon charged towards the dual-layered dome before two halves of a circle erupted out of the ground and smashed the wind dragon, being crushed as the two halves joined. "Earth Style: Mountain Jutsu!"
Ichika's eyes darted across the arena as she noticed the unknown Dragon and Bird sitting just outside of the dome. Bird snickered as Ichika called out to her friends in the dome, "Akiara, the weak spot!"
"Fire Style: Bomb Blast Dance!" Bird inhaled and blew with his might, all the while backing off as a spiral of flames erupted from his mouth and hit the earth dome. Lava spread out across the dome's surface before the behind of the first layer evaporated into thin air.
"How'd you find the weak spot?" came the voice of Akiara as the domes merged back with the ground.
"That's a secret that I won't tell," replied Dragon, landing beside Bird.
"Well, it was good knowing you!" said Akiara as another mountain jutsu smashed into the two. Akiara and her partner smiled, knowing victory was theirs. They could definitely hear the splattering of human, deep in the jutsu.
Hare collapsed to the ground, her hair covering her face as Ichika crept up behind her. The Iwa-nin foolishly thought she was grieving her comrades and brought down a kunai, ready to end her life before Hare reappeared behind her.
"You really think they're dead, huh?" Hare kicked Ichika and sent her across the arena before reappearing behind her again and punching her to the ground.
Akiara and her teammate both tensed up as two chakra signatures leapt out of the forest. Two attacks came rushing out before Akiara's teammate did the signs for Earth Style: Mud Wall.
"Multiple Shadow Shuriken Jutsu!" One shuriken multiplied to multitudes, each one with a thin line of ninja wire attached to it. The rain started with the two Iwa-nin having to constantly jump back before being cornered by a rock.
"Fire Style: Bomb Blast Dance!" The swirl of fire appeared once more in the air before snaking and destroying the last remaining barriers. The attack reared its head back before heading straight towards the two Iwa-nin.
"Just die you incompetent fools!" called Akiara's teammate before doing the signs for Water Style: Water Wall. The fire jutsu turned into steam upon contact but piping hot kunai managed to cut through the wall and hit the two Iwa-nin.
Akiara got up to her feet before summoning her strength and fighting Bird. Her opponent jumped back, unsealed one sword and started charging towards Akiara. She picked up a kunai lying on the ground and blocked a strike, before lunging in for her own. The sword easily dismantled the kunai but a cost of Bird being sent backwards by an Earth Style jutsu.
Bird staggered to their feet, smiled a grin before coughing out blood and falling to the ground. Dragon could only watch in confusion before realising. They didn't escape the mountain jutsu unscathed. Some sort of rock was now growing out of Bird's chest before disappearing out of existence, Darui taking the boy out of the arena.
"Earth Style: Parasitic Rock, huh? Should've know that, back me up will you?" Hare listened to the command before standing back to back with Dragon, the three Iwa-nin surrounding them.
"My my, how the tables have turned..." jeered the last member of Team 9 has the remaining members of Team 2 tensed up.
"Don't mess up, Hare..." said Dragon through gritted teeth so only his companion could hear. Hare nodded before reaching into her pouch.
"I'm out of kunai." Dragon cursed before looking at the arena. They had planned to lose, Naruto had told them to, but you should never go down without a fight! He looked up to the sky and found that it was the perfect condition. Pre-storm weather, now if-
"Earth Style: Earth Dome Prison!" called out the remaining Team 9 member as the dome appeared around Team 2.
"Great job, you've got them Itsuki."
Dragon mentally sighed, he could break out of this and destroy them in seconds if he wanted. Dragon's iris turned pale blue with his pupil turning white in the centre and then fading into yellow overlapping patterns.
He signalled to Hare, Found the weak spot, and pointed to a rock in the wall. Hare nodded and before charging up one of her less obvious Ice Style jutsu. She knew they couldn't determine exactly what jutsu would be used inside so they'd be safe.
"Ice Style: Cryogenic Mark," whispered Hare before planting her hand exactly on the weak spot. A frosty circle appeared, with six marks spreading out across the rock surface. "Release!" The marks glowed before fizzing away, the rocks started to shatter before falling to the ground, shocking the Iwa-nin.
"How?"
"Wind Style: Pure Wind Dragon Jutsu!" called out Dragon before the translucent dragon appeared out of the sky once more, rearing it's head back and charging towards the Iwa-nin.
The Iwa-nin all disappeared underground as the wind dragon tore it up, sending rocks everywhere. All that was left was a wide crater with three tunnels still spreading out. Dragon smiled weakly before collapsing out of exhaustion, even if he wasn't.
Hare looked at her teammate and decided to quit. They'd lose anyways. Stupid holding back their power. "Proctor, I forfeit!" called out Hare as the crowd started booing, even though the end wouldn't change.
The three Iwa-nin formed out of the ground, congratulating each other before leaping out. Hare followed Dragon to the medical bay, but mostly to regroup with Naruto and find out what's next.
"Winner: Iwagakure Team 9! This concludes the first round of the finals!" The crowd roared in approval before watching the arena shift again. "We will be back in about 2 hours, once all the contestants have healed for the final match!"
=1 hour 15 minutes to go=
"So, what now? We've passed so what will you guys be doing?" questioned Horse. The thirteen Orange Flames had gathered under a palm tree just outside of the village, just chatting and passing time.
Somehow, the medical-nin had managed to heal them already, even if the injuries were almost threatening but that's the beauty of medical ninjutsu. Temari and Kankuro had gone to chat with Gaara, doing some Kage things.
"We shouldn't keep our guard down. I mean we should never but Naruto, you sense it too?" questioned Dragon, intently looking round.
"I feel it too. Honestly, no exam I go to ends well. We will send clones to watch Team 3's final match but you guys should be about the third team to drop out. I don't trust anything- just like I said." Menma's eyes narrowed to a sand dune. Some eavesdropper was here. "Show yourself or do I have to make you?"
"Odd for Kumo and Suna-nin to be socialising, but I guess you can't help it if your allied, troublesome."
"What do you want, Konoha?" Menma narrowed his eyes at the group of Konoha who was slowly appearing behind the dune. "If you're going to try anything, that would be considered an act of war, especially in a foreign village."
"Menma-san, I challenge you to a duel! I want to test out your strength!" exclaimed Lee, his eyes igniting with fire.
"Mmm, no thanks Lee-san but I appreciate the offer. Would you care to explain why you were spying on us though?"
The Konoha-nin shifted uncomfortably before Dragon came to their aid. "Calm down Menma, they were probably just exploring..."
"Don't get on my wrong side, Konoha." The Konoha-nin took this chance and fled, not to be seen until the final round.
=Arena: 5 Minutes to go=
The remaining five teams stood by each other in the now-plain arena, Darui briefing them on the rules. "This is a team free-for-all, meaning well, the last team standing wins. You have a time limit of forty-five minutes. Any team that has the most people in the battle after that time limit wins the match and the instant Jonin promotion."
The teams nodded at this before spreading out across the arena, and spending time to prepare themselves. The spectators filed into the stands, with Ohnoki noticing something a bit off with this.
"My my, one team from each nation? It looks like all of this is prepared!" exclaimed the Tsuchikage.
"So you're implying we're all being controlled?" questioned Mei, eyeing her team. They'd better win.
"Or that something is dictating our every move? Yeah right," huffed out the Raikage.
"And now let us start the final portion of this exam! This will be a team free-for-all with the team that remains standing or has the most people left winning a promotion to Jonin! They have forty-five minutes!
"Konohagakure Team Gai, Sunagakure Team 3, Kumogakure Team 25, Iwagakure Team 9 and Kirigakure Team 13, are you ready?" called out Darui as the teams tensed up. "The Final Match: Start!"
"Gate of Shock: Open!" yelled Lee as his skin started turning red, his eyes turning complete white, his hair standing on end and a blue vapour surrounding him. Immense power radiated throughout the arena as the other teams got out their weapons.
"Lightning Blade Jutsu: Thunderstorm!" called out Ameakuri as the sky started turning black. Clouds appeared out of nowhere before lightning started striking the arena, forcing the other teams start attacking.
"Earth Style: Earth Flow River!" called out all of Team 9 as mud flowed in the three directions, creating a means of defence around the Iwa-nin.
The two hidden Orange Flames teams merely started infusing chakra, becoming the primary targets. A team with no defence would be easy to take out.
"Well, you're gonna be easy to take down aren't ya? Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!" called out Mikuro from Team 13 as the great attack formed out of a puddle on the ground. It made its way towards Team 3 who jumped away from it and drew out their kunai.
"Plasma Style: Lion's Beam!" called out Tiger as the red and yellow beam appeared before heading towards Team 13.
"Water Style: Water Wall!" called out Hiora from Team 13, just barely blocking Tiger's attack before looking to the right and seeing Kumo's Team 25 rush towards them.
"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!" The gust of wind hit Team 13 and made them spread out in different locations. Ameakuri turned to her right and saw Rat doing their hand seals and attacking her.
"Lightning Style: Positive Charges!" called out Rat before the '+' orbs formed and made contact with the sword Kiba.
"Now this is a fight, Lightning Blade Jutsu: Thunderbolt!" The sword Kiba cut the orbs in half before a bolt of lightning struck down on Rat and sent the boy to the floor.
"Earth Style: Earth Dragon Bullet!" Out of the three mud dragon heads formed before pelting Team Gai. Sakura punched each bullet and sent them falling to the ground before Tenten and Lee launched their counteroffensive.
"Triple Rising Dragon Scrolls!" Tenten threw her three most powerful scrolls in the air before the rain of weapons came down upon Team 9.
"Earth Style: Mud Wall!" The weapons clattered to the ground, while still making a few dents before being drawn back into the scrolls and leaving Lee to destroy the wall in one kick.
"Youth!" Lee kicked the arena as Team 9 were sent flying into the air with the ground throwing them up. Lee kicked the air to boost himself up before landing more blows on Team 9.
"Cha!" Sakura ran into fight before hitting the three Iwa-nin onto the floor, severely weakening them.
On the other side of the arena, Team 3 and Team 25 had made a pact to team up on the three Kiri-nin. Team 3 went into the fight first, throwing kunai and picking them up from the floor in a bid to end their opponents.
Mikuro grabbed a stray mace randomly lying on the floor before blocking an incoming kunai and returning a blow to Horse. "Wind Style: Wind Blades!" Horse used the ever-growing storm and wind manipulation to create several blades of the sharp wind which she sent towards Mikuro.
Hiora saw her teammate in need before casting her defensive barrier. "Water Style: Water Wall!" The wind rendered the defence useless as they cut through the wall with ease, still on their path towards Mikuro.
She flickered out of the way at the cost of a chunk of her chakra. She wiped her lips before blocking an incoming strike from Monkey who appeared behind her.
"Water Style: Water Prison Jutsu!" Monkey stop mid-air before being trapped inside an orb of water, Mikuro's hand holding the boy captive.
Hiora and Mikuro laughed before threatening Team 25. "If you want your teammate back, how about you surrender already? Surely you don't want them to die-"
Mikuro coughed out blood as Horse suddenly appeared in front of her and hit her straight in the stomach. The two met eyes, one steel gaze upon another before Mikuro collapsed to the ground, the water prison dropping.
"You're out," said Horse, before helping up her Kumo friend in their temporary alliance.
"Mikuro of Kirigakure's Team 13 is out!" declared Darui as the girl was taken out.
Team 3 and 25 launched their attack again on Team 13, with the two swords Kiba blocking most of the attacks and with Hiora creating the hidden mist, although a bit late.
Back over to the other side, the team of Iwa was on their last legs with Lee constantly bombarding them with taijutsu, along with Tenten and her weapons.
The Iwa-nin had put a decent defence with their ninjutsu, but nearly no retaliation in their taijutsu skills. Lee had destroyed every single defensive barrier they put, be it the mountain jutsu, the mud walls or anything they came up with.
"Earth Style: Earth Dome Prison!" called out Itsuki as the dome surrounded Team Gai in a final bid. Itsuki smiled weakly before grinning. The dome would absorb their chakra, and then... they'd be free to attack.
Ichika and Akiara made note of this before surrounding the dome in a triangle, ready to strike. Inside, the dome... Team Gai was... going to get out.
"Sakura-san, if you may?"
"CHA!" The rock dome ruptured with the shock wave spreading out through the arena. Rocks and debris flew everywhere, with Itsuki in the path of a flying rock. The Iwa-nin was sent back and knocked out before Darui declared it.
"Itsuki of Iwagakure's Team 9 is out!"
Ichika and Akiara grit their teeth before grabbing a kunai strewn across the floor and charging into fight. If they were going down, so would at least one of their opponents! They both had their one target, Tenten.
The weapons user saw this coming and brought out her attacking scroll before letting loose a storm of weapons, effectively diminishing any last hope Team 9 had. The scroll loosely wrapped around her as it flapped in the wind.
Maces, kunai, shuriken and the such started to get thrown to the ground as the remaining Iwa-nin deflected in last hopes. The two screamed before bringing kunai in down in a bid before being thrown to the arena wall by one simple kick of air from Lee.
"Ichika and Akiara of Iwagakure's Team 9 is out! Team 9 is officially out of the final round with thirty-eight minutes remaining!"
Konoha now turned their eyes onto the remaining battle, with Suna now breaking away from Kumo and the true match coming out.
"Don't rush in. Let them wear themselves out so we can finish them later," commanded Sakura to Lee who was about to go into fight. The blue aura disappeared, with Lee turning back to normal. The team merely stood and watched the fight, although still having their guard up.
"Plasma Style: Lion's Fist!" The red and yellow chakra surrounded Tiger's right fist, before forming the lion's mane. The boy jumped towards Ram sitting in the back who jumped out and fired a water jutsu towards him. Ram continued dodging Tiger's blows before looking back and seeing Hiora joining in the fight. She'd have to go defensive.
"Water Style: Whirlpool's Nest!" The barrier of water rose up around as Tiger and Hiora released their relentless attacks to get in. The two attackers grit their teeth, knowing they wouldn't before engaging in a taijutsu match with their opponent.
Rat was currently fighting Horse, but with only one current blow from a stray positive orb. Horse had the upper hand in this fight but was starting to lose her stamina. The two exchanged a few more blows before backing off and analysing the other's move.
"Sorry Kumo, but your time is up! Wind Style: Wind Shuriken!" The fast spinning wind shuriken appeared above Dog's head before she threw it at Monkey who just barely jumped above it.
"Well you missed! Wind Style-"
"Who said I missed?" The shuriken curved backwards as Monkey barely registered the attack coming towards him. "Got you!"
Monkey only disappeared in a poof of smoke as a rock appeared in his place, being cut clean in half as Monkey appeared slightly further away form the arena. "Now, who said you got me?"
"Tch, imbecile."
"Lightning Style: Negative Charges!" The same orbs formed for its counterpart, except a '-' symbol was there in place of the '+'. Rat narrowed his eyes at Horse before commanding his attack to her.
Horse got ready to dodge and jumped, only to be dragged towards the incoming orbs. She mentally groaned at being hit by such an attack like this. While she had never really sparred with Rat much at Myoboku, she knew this attack well. The thrill of battle can be damaging sometimes.
The orbs made contact before exploding and sending Horse backwards. Burn marks and bruises covered her body in an unruly fashion. She sent a death warning towards Rat before taking off at speed. Rat wasn't too surprised at this but pretended he was and allowed himself to get kicked forward.
"Lightning Style: Charged Voltage!" The sparks appeared again between Rat's hands before giving off a final attack towards Horse. She smiled before replacing herself with a chunk of rock and ending Rat with a quick chop to the neck, like most things do.
"Neraka of Kumogakure's Team 25 is out! Thirty-five minutes remaining!"
Ne = Rat
"Lightning Blade Jutsu: Thunderstorm!" The sky rumbled again before striking down in the arena, the ground being torn apart by the ferocious strikes and almost hitting the arena stands. "Lightning Blade Jutsu: Thunderbolt!"
Ameakuri brought both of the swords up before lightning flashed all around her, shocking both Monkey and Dog who had turned their attention onto the swords woman. Ameakuri threw both of the swords past one another at her two attackers, for them to dodge to the side but get struck by the surrounding electrical force.
Electricity crackled through the two's body before Monkey attacked Dog once more, hurling another wind jutsu towards her. She subsequently blocked by bringing up a water wall and rushing towards one of the twin swords.
Ameakuri took this chance to flicker to the other sword as the two ladies eyed each other. One of them may not be used to wielding the sword but it was worth a try.
"Water Style: Water Bullets!" Ameakuri blew out before fast-paced pellets of water rushed through the air, with Dog taking this chance to test out the sword. She cut a few of the bullets before one managed to sneak past the defence and hit her in the side.
Dog skidded back before casting her other attack, Wind Style: Air Bullets. The two returned fire with each of the swords blocking most of the attack before Ram intervened and sent a water dragon towards the sword impostor.
Hiora and Ameakuri stood side by side, along with Monkey and Ram and all of Team 3. Then they noticed, where was Konoha?
Thirty-one minutes remaining in the Jonin Exam Finals!
=Unknown Location=
"So then, it's time to take it huh?"
"How can we even take it when we don't know where it is? Urashiki, you haven't found it yet?" questioned the obvious leader of the group.
"It's somewhere around this place called 'Sunagakure' but it's empty empty sand! Also may I remind you, it's camouflaged!" the named Urashiki retorted. "Listen, I say we just go and nicely ask them where to find it!"
"Are you that naive?" scoffed the largest. "It's not like they'll hand over one of the most powerful beings on this garden over!"
"Oh I'm sorry, would you like to do it, Kinshiki?" exclaimed Urashiki, banging their fist down and activating their dojutsu at that instant.
"Insolent bastard!" The one know as Kinshiki suddenly had a massive red, glowing axe in their hand and was on their edge. They would kill Urashiki if they had to-
"Shut up you two!" roared their leader, obviously annoyed at them. "We are going to walk in and demand that they tell us where the damn beast is!"
"So we do show ourselves!" pointed out Urashiki. "You lied Momoshiki!"
"Shut up and let's get out of here."
So... How'd I do? Good? Bad? Awful? Trash? Amazing? Tell me!
Uhh woo hoo? I updated in a span of less than a week? Impossible, right? Well, I'm excited. I've got a big plan and you guys have probably guessed it already since I'm awful at hiding thing so ignore that-
Yeah. You'll get it. Same old, same old but after that... I've got some ideas although not sure how to perfectly use them or if they're good enough. Eh, expect a chapter soon.
If you have any suggestions, let me know and I'll incorporate them if I like them!
And that's all for now!
See you later: Ja ne!
