Notice: I do not own Naruto, and make no claims of copyright on the
characters who are not my property. Original characters, however, are mine.
Author's Notes: Finally, I get to one of the fights that I've wanted to do since well before I started writing the whole exam arc. This one should be hopefully better than Gosain vs. Nemari, which was the last truly important bout. It's a really important chapter for Shiren, and one that really tries to show off my vision for her character. Strong female characters are rare in the Naruto universe, and I've struggled to make Shiren something more than an accessory like Sakura or TenTen. This should be the beginning of her really coming into her own.
So anyway, thanks to all reviewers and I hope to hear from you about this chapter!
Lady From Shadows
It would prove to be a long hour, four combatants upon the field, three who had fought one battle, and one who had fought two that had not lasted even the length of the shortest of those others. They were rested and ready, their abilities still untested, but the portents had gathered. The crowd was busy, speculating, wondering, and placing bets. They circled around Draci Xi slowly, as he did not move from the edge of the stands, only watching. He heard the words, the proclamations that Tonetero was a sure winner, the carefully stockpiled hope in Tsukabe Ota, the scion of the home village, to champion stone in its chuunin exam. He had performed well, but Neji was now regarded with no small fear, for having defeated his opponents with such terrifying ease. Even Gosain had challenged Ota, and many were quickly realizing that it had not been Gosain, but Neji that led the team.
Both fights interested Xi, for he was quite unsure of either outcome. The stone ninja is a strong one, and I have hobbled Neji. Will he be able to find a way to pierce that armor with out the power of the dragon? It was uncertain, and Xi was interested to see. Prove that my confidence in you is truly well placed Neji, prove that you can overcome my restriction. Even with all the possibilities upon Neji's match however, it was the other that interested Xi far more, and in this his hopes and fears were different than those of many crowd members. Senirai Shiren, he thought as he glanced toward the box where the Kages observed, catching the steadfast visage of Raikage, and seeing the other ninja return his gaze, though nothing could be read in the faces from this distance. I made a promise, Xi recalled, one I am not sure why I made, but the decision lies in your hands, soldier. Will Shiren become a chuunin or not? Will you break the promises you made to so may others, override the politics for the sake of soldiery? Xi knew the Raikage, they were of similar ages, had fought together as ANBU, had met in a chuunin exam once, and of course, eight years ago they had been caught in the stormy fate of lightning. For the sake of the strength of Cloud, to add another good soldier to the ranks, you would break those old promises that were forced upon you because of our actions, but can Shiren prove herself enough for you? This was the question that haunted Xi. The first fight had not been enough, he knew. Indeed, the dragon ninja believed almost absolutely that a victory over Tonetero would be necessary in order to impress the fact enough that Raikage could hold the evidence up to the clans, to force them to deny Shiren the rights of chuunin rank. How can she win against this one's powers? That answer Xi did not have. The maddening bloodline that defends and strikes, the two-faced power of the thorn, and coated in the blood of this mad child. What strength will break through it?
So Xi stood and waited, worried for another as he rarely had ever been, for the dragon ninja the hour must pass as quickly as possible.
Likewise the other dragon ninja, confined to the small waiting room, found himself wishing the time would fly by. He sat next to Shiren, having joined her the moment he returned, but they did not speak for some time. His opponent, Tsukabe Ota, sat in one corner of the room and stared clear across its length at the other corner, at Tonetero. He is not focused on me at all, Neji had recognized instantly. He had also discovered the same was true about himself. The powerful stone ninja barely brushed Neji's thoughts as he looked at Shiren out of the corner of his eye.
It was Shiren who eventually broke the silence. "Tomorrow." She began, and then paused. She continued a moment later, finding her words. "Tomorrow, when we go to the hospital to visit Gosain. I think I would like to visit Kei as well." Shiren turned to Neji, and looked into his pupil- less eyes. "Neji, I want you to come with me."
The request so startled Neji that he responded without thinking. "I will do that." He said instantly, and then his eyes went wide.
"Thank you." Shiren told him and smiled, a strange image in her dark eyes. "Neji," She asked, voice soft and tentative. "What will you do if I am in the hospital as well? If I fail, and do not become a dragon ninja?"
"I will come and see you regardless." Neji said swiftly. "And I will regretfully say my goodbyes at the last moment I must." He looked down at Shiren, seeing her dusky face and the strange sadness there. "Shiren," He said somewhat unsteadily. "I would not like to see you hurt, and even less so to see you go. We..." Neji paused, searching for words.
"We are a team." Shiren finished for him. "Don't worry Neji," She said firmly. "I don't intend to lose. This is my chance, it won't pass me by." She paused again, and continued in a dark and somber tone. "After today I won't be lost in the shadows anymore, and I made a promise, one that I can't break."
Though he was tempted to say similar words as he had said to Gosain, to not forget that this was an exam, Neji swallowed them there, sensing that this was far more than an exam to Shiren. "I believe in your success. Completely."
Shiren smiled at him. "Then I can't possibly lose." She placed her right hand over his for the barest of moments. "I'm glad you said that."
Then she pulled her hand away, and said nothing more for the rest of the hour.
Of the four ninja who remained, Tonetero had the most difficultly waiting. He stared for a long time at Shiren, who refused to return his gaze, and at Ota, whose gaze was as unbreakable as a mountainside. Fed up with this he stood and walked over to Ota, apparently intending to say something.
Examiner Acade interposed himself between them then. The special jounin's stance was not without fear, but his eyes were stern, and filled with something that could only be described as hatred. "You will sit down." He told Tonetero. "Any further disruptions and I will have Tsuchikage eject you from this exam."
"Heh." Tonetero muttered. "Go ahead and hide behind your Kage, Examiner. I'll do as I please." He proclaimed, but he sat down.
It took all too long for Neji's wishes, but when the hour ended, it seemed like the world was coming to a close.
Shiren and Tonetero passed down onto the field, both jumping, neither bothering to take the tunnel.
The crowd hushed as the ninja took the field and the examiner stood between them. This was the first of the semi-finals, a fight of great importance; whomsoever won here would face the other winner in the final bout to determine the victor in this chuunin exam, a position of great prestige for the country that won it. Who would it be? They all expected the Grass ninja would move on, but many hoped that Cloud would prove the stronger nation, and two of those who wished such a thing wore the robes of the Kage.
Tonetero stood relaxed, ready. He wore a viscous smile of glee and hatred. His thorns twitched in the bare wind, hungry for blood. "You were the one who spoke to Kei. I look forward to smashing you, it will be one last thing to tell her before she dies."
Don't underestimate Shiren you bastard! Two dragon ninja shared the same thought as they looked on.
Shiren, the lithe contrast to her plant-encrusted enemy, simply ignored the comment, and nodded her head to the examiner in readiness. I cannot stop here. I will be a chuunin!
Acade glanced at each ninja, first at Tonetero, his gaze filled with anger, and then more lightly at Shiren, and there was almost encouragement in the Stone ninja's face. "The first match of the Semifinals: Senirai Shiren of Cloud to face Tonetero of Grass." And there Acade snubbed Tonetero by announcing Shiren's name first.
Tonetero growled.
"Begin!"
Shiren took a single step to the left.
A torrent of thorns slashed through the place she had stood a moment before. Tonetero scowled at her. "How irritating." He spat. "I was going to break your teammate's record."
Keep underestimating me and I'll find an opening in that wall. Shiren thought, and she pulled out her weapons. One kunai in each hand she dropped into a low stance. She did not bother to speak, but simply attacked.
Jinnen. Neji watched. The techniques are very fast, and Shiren's speed has improved, but I think the thorns are still faster. Damn!
Long thorns sprouted from Tonetero's hands as he met Shiren's attack, wood and metal met, and struck off. Shiren slashed aside both blocks with her right hand, and struck in with her left, only to be blocked by a thorn that sprouted from Tonetero's midsection.
She leapt up in a quick spin that launched her over Tonetero and came down behind him. He could not turn in time, but a forest of thorns spouted from his back and Shiren had barely time to ward them off and avoid being impaled on the wooden spikes.
"Enough." Tonetero shouted. Thorns burst out from his body in every direction.
They impacted at Shiren with great force; even with her arms up in a strong guard she was hurled back, and felt those sharp barbs strike her again and again. Tonetero turned around to face her moments later. Shiren was bleeding from many wounds, but the cuts were not serious. She threw her kunai at him to buy time to make some distance, and moved back toward the stadium wall.
I guess close combat isn't going to work. She thought, and noted that Tonetero easily slapped aside her kunai with his thorns, even though the attacks were well thrown. Simple ranged attacks are useless as well, so I shouldn't bother with Spark Stars except as a defense. Well, maybe as a distraction. Let's see if you can block attacks from all sides monster.
"Surely that isn't all you have to use?" Tonetero mocked. "You beat the other Cloud ninja so easily I thought you might at least be as useless as Kei. Or are you even more pathetic than she is?"
Only fools talk while they fight! "Lightning Element: Multiple Spark Star no Jutsu!" Shiren launched the horde of weapons into the air, and following her hands seals they assembled into the arching lightning stars, six shuriken centered around a kunai, and four of these all told, directed by her commands. They streaked in at Tonetero.
"Useless!" He spat, and thorns flew outward in a circling wall all about him.
Sparking stars impacted the thorns, and flames burst out over the examination field from the encounter, but kunai and shuriken flew aside to slam into the ground as Tonetero blocked all the missiles lazily. His thorns burrowed into the ground before coming back to hide in his body, extinguished. His expression showed a great boredom and disappointment.
Idiot! That was a ruse! Shiren decided, as she ran right, forming the hand seals. They're all around you now. She reached into her shuriken pouch and pulled out two little stars, and threw them.
"What are you aiming at lightning girl?" Tonetero laughed, seeing that the weapons were not even coming near him.
Then they struck two of the kunai that lay buried in the dirt from the last attack. "Lightning Element: Charged Spark Missiles!" A spark ignited when those shuriken struck kunai, and it leapt about, striking all the fallen missiles, and propelling every last one into the air.
Better than before, she lifted them all. Neji watched, impressed by Shiren's growth, and hoping that Tonetero could not block that array of missiles coming from all sides now.
The Grass ninja was not without a few moves of his own though. "Thorn Rain!" He formed a hand seal and the thorns he had for hair shot off his head and arched back down, forming a rain of thorns that drove the weapons to the ground. "You ruined my hair." He glared balefully at Shiren, his face looking even more unnatural from the perfect pink skin that covered the top of his head. "I'll kill you!"
This is bad! Shiren reacted quickly. I have to dodge!
"Thorn Lash!" The voice of Tonetero was a raw scream, as a stream of thorns cascaded into a hellish whip and snapped at Shiren. She rolled back, tumbling free with swiftness, but those thorns moved faster than anyone could roll, and she was lifted off the ground and slash over the side, to come rolling to a stop some distance away.
Shiren! Neji cringed silently. Get up, please, it shouldn't end here.
Shiren, lying on the ground, paused only a moment before rolling right and coming to her knees. "Ouch." She cringed. That really stings, and my side is bleeding. I have to find a way to get past his guard; I can't take more punishment like that. She paused for thought a moment.
"Oh, so you can still fight?" Tonetero laughed, seemingly more composed. "Maybe you're better than Kei after all, even if you're still worthless."
All my attacks have been dispersed, but Kei used single strong attacks and failed to penetrate as well, so that won't work. As she latched onto a possibility Shiren drew a shuriken out in her right hand, and took it in a strange hold.
That motion, Xi looked down at Shiren intently. When did she learn that jutsu? Can she use it repeatedly?
Shiren gathered her chakra as Tonetero looked on, ready for her to try anything. "Lightning Shuriken!"
The shuriken flew from Shiren's hand, covered in chakra that formed into glowing blue charge. She did not leave the attack alone, but followed it with another, and another, one after another the shuriken came, a steady stream of missiles.
It could work, it could work, Neji hoped desperately, seeing Shiren's strategy. You're great Shiren, to throw so many imbued missiles one after another like that without making a mistake.
Tonetero put up a hand and thorns streaked out to meet the shuriken. The first thorn hit the first missile...
An explosion shook the ground and kicked up dust, but another explosion followed immediately afterward, as one after another the lighting shuriken detonated their blasts of charge against the screen of thorns.
Come on, go through, go through damn it! Shiren gritted her teeth, ten shuriken, eleven, twelve, thirteen, and then... I'm out! Damn! Go through, please, go through!
Thirteen explosions split the stadium with great outbursts of voltage, enough to raise hairs on necks in the highest rows of the stands, and make the stadium reek of ozone. The dust spun about wildly in disrupted and shattered air currents, concealing both combatants from the crowd.
"Byakugan!" Neji could not wait, but stared through the dust, searching for Shiren and her foe. High above him Xi called upon the dragon's eyes for the same purpose. They could not wait.
Therefore, the two dragon ninja knew even before Shiren, the outcome.
Tonetero stood unscathed in the middle of the stadium. "Really," He said condescendingly to Shiren as the dust clears. "You think a few blasts will break my screen of thorns? They heal constantly and respond to my very will. And now what can you do? You used all your missiles up in that last barrage. Will you come here and let me poke you? Or will you be a coward and give up?"
Shiren...Neji gripped the iron rail hard enough to scour it slightly from chakra that leaked out.
I can't give up, I won't! Shiren resolved. I will not lose to you, you monster! But how can I get through? She almost despaired. There's no way to penetrate a guard that responds faster than I can possibly move!
"Perhaps you need some motivation." Tonetero laughed. "Thorn Lash!" The stream of thorns came in from high above this time, and though Shiren raised her arms to block in struck her full on.
"Gaah!" Shiren grunted as the impact took her, slamming her to the ground. Blood seeped out from scores of slashes on her arms and legs; her clothes were ripped and tattered, but she stood up again. I'm not done yet! She determined. There must be a way. I have to find it! I promised her that I would prove we are not the weaker ones. She held that thought for a moment. I promised myself as well, that I would prove I have the strength to stand beside you Neji, to be a dragon ninja. Her eyes clouded with tears. I will keep that promise; I will be a dragon ninja! Suddenly those words struck Shiren. A dragon ninja...
Tonetero saw the movement. "Oh, so you have one last trick?"
"Not a trick." Shiren said to him, her voice like iron. "And I didn't use up all my weapons." She gave him a horrifying grin, one that for a second wiped the cruel smile off Tonetero's face, for he saw Shiren's eyes, and they promised death.
Her right hand whipped down; to the low kunai holster she wore, which contained the weapons she never drew upon. She flicked her wrist and both kunai flew into the air. They came down easily, falling one into each hand, as Shiren shifted her right leg forward, her stance collapsing down lower, compacted with gathered energy. The kunai in her right hand held out and pointed upwards, the one in her left held in and pointed down.
That stance is...Neji and Xi shared the same thought. Xi looked on in silence in that instant, and from the corner of his eye saw the Raikage stand up and look down to the field with a shocked expression. Neji simply looked down at Shiren, and saw the chakra flowing through her veins. Shiren, I believe in your strength for this!
Now! One chance! Shiren launched herself forward. "Hidden Cloud Style: Thunder and Lightning Strike!"
Full tilt she ran, feeling the chakra move within, and at the moment she launched herself upward, pressing first one way and then the other, her movements so fast they were all but impossible to follow, and Tonetero's head swerved around searching, as the move executed.
"From above!" Thorns dashed there in a solid swarm, to block the kunai coming down.
A thunderclap shook the stadium as the kunai met the thorns, and the air seemed to crack above Tonetero's head. "Ha! Stopped you!"
Those were the last words Tonetero spoke as the lightning swift pivot brought Shiren down so her right arm plunged the kunai into his chest and through his heart. Tonetero's eyes went dark and his body collapsed to the ground, thorns falling like heavy rain all around.
Acade was there in an instant, but it only took one look at Tonetero's body. "You killed him." The words were sad and empty.
A kunai streaked in from high above, only to be deflected away from Shiren mere feet from her back. The Raikage stood there on the examination field, his sword drawn even in his blue-bordered Kage robes and hat. "I will ask the head ninja of Grass if she wishes to start a war over this matter." He said coldly, his voice that of one used to giving battlefield commands, and heard clearly throughout the stadium.
A scowling female ninja in the garb of Hidden Grass glared down from above at Raikage, a kunai held bare in her hand. She did not move.
"I would ask my esteemed colleagues from the other hidden villages to sit down and put their weapons away." Came the gravelly voice of Tsuchikage, the old man stood up on the high dais. "The next person to draw a weapon or attack another in this stadium other than the exam candidates will not be spared the full justice of Hidden Stone. This exam is not without the possibility of death, and it must be accepted when it comes. Senirai Shiren of Hidden Cloud has won this match and will compete in the finals. Get her wounds treated and make ready for the next match. Examiner! See to it!"
"Yes, Tsuchikage-sama!" Acade answered and saluted. He motioned for the medical team to come forward.
For Shiren, the win came with great surprise. So, it worked. She thought. I was finally able to use that move. Will it be enough? She wondered.
Before she allowed the medics to take her, however, Shiren looked up at the stands. There Neji stood, watching. He smiled down at her, congratulating her without words. And tiredly, but feeling warmth within, she returned his smile. Thank you, Neji.
Author's Notes: Finally, I get to one of the fights that I've wanted to do since well before I started writing the whole exam arc. This one should be hopefully better than Gosain vs. Nemari, which was the last truly important bout. It's a really important chapter for Shiren, and one that really tries to show off my vision for her character. Strong female characters are rare in the Naruto universe, and I've struggled to make Shiren something more than an accessory like Sakura or TenTen. This should be the beginning of her really coming into her own.
So anyway, thanks to all reviewers and I hope to hear from you about this chapter!
Lady From Shadows
It would prove to be a long hour, four combatants upon the field, three who had fought one battle, and one who had fought two that had not lasted even the length of the shortest of those others. They were rested and ready, their abilities still untested, but the portents had gathered. The crowd was busy, speculating, wondering, and placing bets. They circled around Draci Xi slowly, as he did not move from the edge of the stands, only watching. He heard the words, the proclamations that Tonetero was a sure winner, the carefully stockpiled hope in Tsukabe Ota, the scion of the home village, to champion stone in its chuunin exam. He had performed well, but Neji was now regarded with no small fear, for having defeated his opponents with such terrifying ease. Even Gosain had challenged Ota, and many were quickly realizing that it had not been Gosain, but Neji that led the team.
Both fights interested Xi, for he was quite unsure of either outcome. The stone ninja is a strong one, and I have hobbled Neji. Will he be able to find a way to pierce that armor with out the power of the dragon? It was uncertain, and Xi was interested to see. Prove that my confidence in you is truly well placed Neji, prove that you can overcome my restriction. Even with all the possibilities upon Neji's match however, it was the other that interested Xi far more, and in this his hopes and fears were different than those of many crowd members. Senirai Shiren, he thought as he glanced toward the box where the Kages observed, catching the steadfast visage of Raikage, and seeing the other ninja return his gaze, though nothing could be read in the faces from this distance. I made a promise, Xi recalled, one I am not sure why I made, but the decision lies in your hands, soldier. Will Shiren become a chuunin or not? Will you break the promises you made to so may others, override the politics for the sake of soldiery? Xi knew the Raikage, they were of similar ages, had fought together as ANBU, had met in a chuunin exam once, and of course, eight years ago they had been caught in the stormy fate of lightning. For the sake of the strength of Cloud, to add another good soldier to the ranks, you would break those old promises that were forced upon you because of our actions, but can Shiren prove herself enough for you? This was the question that haunted Xi. The first fight had not been enough, he knew. Indeed, the dragon ninja believed almost absolutely that a victory over Tonetero would be necessary in order to impress the fact enough that Raikage could hold the evidence up to the clans, to force them to deny Shiren the rights of chuunin rank. How can she win against this one's powers? That answer Xi did not have. The maddening bloodline that defends and strikes, the two-faced power of the thorn, and coated in the blood of this mad child. What strength will break through it?
So Xi stood and waited, worried for another as he rarely had ever been, for the dragon ninja the hour must pass as quickly as possible.
Likewise the other dragon ninja, confined to the small waiting room, found himself wishing the time would fly by. He sat next to Shiren, having joined her the moment he returned, but they did not speak for some time. His opponent, Tsukabe Ota, sat in one corner of the room and stared clear across its length at the other corner, at Tonetero. He is not focused on me at all, Neji had recognized instantly. He had also discovered the same was true about himself. The powerful stone ninja barely brushed Neji's thoughts as he looked at Shiren out of the corner of his eye.
It was Shiren who eventually broke the silence. "Tomorrow." She began, and then paused. She continued a moment later, finding her words. "Tomorrow, when we go to the hospital to visit Gosain. I think I would like to visit Kei as well." Shiren turned to Neji, and looked into his pupil- less eyes. "Neji, I want you to come with me."
The request so startled Neji that he responded without thinking. "I will do that." He said instantly, and then his eyes went wide.
"Thank you." Shiren told him and smiled, a strange image in her dark eyes. "Neji," She asked, voice soft and tentative. "What will you do if I am in the hospital as well? If I fail, and do not become a dragon ninja?"
"I will come and see you regardless." Neji said swiftly. "And I will regretfully say my goodbyes at the last moment I must." He looked down at Shiren, seeing her dusky face and the strange sadness there. "Shiren," He said somewhat unsteadily. "I would not like to see you hurt, and even less so to see you go. We..." Neji paused, searching for words.
"We are a team." Shiren finished for him. "Don't worry Neji," She said firmly. "I don't intend to lose. This is my chance, it won't pass me by." She paused again, and continued in a dark and somber tone. "After today I won't be lost in the shadows anymore, and I made a promise, one that I can't break."
Though he was tempted to say similar words as he had said to Gosain, to not forget that this was an exam, Neji swallowed them there, sensing that this was far more than an exam to Shiren. "I believe in your success. Completely."
Shiren smiled at him. "Then I can't possibly lose." She placed her right hand over his for the barest of moments. "I'm glad you said that."
Then she pulled her hand away, and said nothing more for the rest of the hour.
Of the four ninja who remained, Tonetero had the most difficultly waiting. He stared for a long time at Shiren, who refused to return his gaze, and at Ota, whose gaze was as unbreakable as a mountainside. Fed up with this he stood and walked over to Ota, apparently intending to say something.
Examiner Acade interposed himself between them then. The special jounin's stance was not without fear, but his eyes were stern, and filled with something that could only be described as hatred. "You will sit down." He told Tonetero. "Any further disruptions and I will have Tsuchikage eject you from this exam."
"Heh." Tonetero muttered. "Go ahead and hide behind your Kage, Examiner. I'll do as I please." He proclaimed, but he sat down.
It took all too long for Neji's wishes, but when the hour ended, it seemed like the world was coming to a close.
Shiren and Tonetero passed down onto the field, both jumping, neither bothering to take the tunnel.
The crowd hushed as the ninja took the field and the examiner stood between them. This was the first of the semi-finals, a fight of great importance; whomsoever won here would face the other winner in the final bout to determine the victor in this chuunin exam, a position of great prestige for the country that won it. Who would it be? They all expected the Grass ninja would move on, but many hoped that Cloud would prove the stronger nation, and two of those who wished such a thing wore the robes of the Kage.
Tonetero stood relaxed, ready. He wore a viscous smile of glee and hatred. His thorns twitched in the bare wind, hungry for blood. "You were the one who spoke to Kei. I look forward to smashing you, it will be one last thing to tell her before she dies."
Don't underestimate Shiren you bastard! Two dragon ninja shared the same thought as they looked on.
Shiren, the lithe contrast to her plant-encrusted enemy, simply ignored the comment, and nodded her head to the examiner in readiness. I cannot stop here. I will be a chuunin!
Acade glanced at each ninja, first at Tonetero, his gaze filled with anger, and then more lightly at Shiren, and there was almost encouragement in the Stone ninja's face. "The first match of the Semifinals: Senirai Shiren of Cloud to face Tonetero of Grass." And there Acade snubbed Tonetero by announcing Shiren's name first.
Tonetero growled.
"Begin!"
Shiren took a single step to the left.
A torrent of thorns slashed through the place she had stood a moment before. Tonetero scowled at her. "How irritating." He spat. "I was going to break your teammate's record."
Keep underestimating me and I'll find an opening in that wall. Shiren thought, and she pulled out her weapons. One kunai in each hand she dropped into a low stance. She did not bother to speak, but simply attacked.
Jinnen. Neji watched. The techniques are very fast, and Shiren's speed has improved, but I think the thorns are still faster. Damn!
Long thorns sprouted from Tonetero's hands as he met Shiren's attack, wood and metal met, and struck off. Shiren slashed aside both blocks with her right hand, and struck in with her left, only to be blocked by a thorn that sprouted from Tonetero's midsection.
She leapt up in a quick spin that launched her over Tonetero and came down behind him. He could not turn in time, but a forest of thorns spouted from his back and Shiren had barely time to ward them off and avoid being impaled on the wooden spikes.
"Enough." Tonetero shouted. Thorns burst out from his body in every direction.
They impacted at Shiren with great force; even with her arms up in a strong guard she was hurled back, and felt those sharp barbs strike her again and again. Tonetero turned around to face her moments later. Shiren was bleeding from many wounds, but the cuts were not serious. She threw her kunai at him to buy time to make some distance, and moved back toward the stadium wall.
I guess close combat isn't going to work. She thought, and noted that Tonetero easily slapped aside her kunai with his thorns, even though the attacks were well thrown. Simple ranged attacks are useless as well, so I shouldn't bother with Spark Stars except as a defense. Well, maybe as a distraction. Let's see if you can block attacks from all sides monster.
"Surely that isn't all you have to use?" Tonetero mocked. "You beat the other Cloud ninja so easily I thought you might at least be as useless as Kei. Or are you even more pathetic than she is?"
Only fools talk while they fight! "Lightning Element: Multiple Spark Star no Jutsu!" Shiren launched the horde of weapons into the air, and following her hands seals they assembled into the arching lightning stars, six shuriken centered around a kunai, and four of these all told, directed by her commands. They streaked in at Tonetero.
"Useless!" He spat, and thorns flew outward in a circling wall all about him.
Sparking stars impacted the thorns, and flames burst out over the examination field from the encounter, but kunai and shuriken flew aside to slam into the ground as Tonetero blocked all the missiles lazily. His thorns burrowed into the ground before coming back to hide in his body, extinguished. His expression showed a great boredom and disappointment.
Idiot! That was a ruse! Shiren decided, as she ran right, forming the hand seals. They're all around you now. She reached into her shuriken pouch and pulled out two little stars, and threw them.
"What are you aiming at lightning girl?" Tonetero laughed, seeing that the weapons were not even coming near him.
Then they struck two of the kunai that lay buried in the dirt from the last attack. "Lightning Element: Charged Spark Missiles!" A spark ignited when those shuriken struck kunai, and it leapt about, striking all the fallen missiles, and propelling every last one into the air.
Better than before, she lifted them all. Neji watched, impressed by Shiren's growth, and hoping that Tonetero could not block that array of missiles coming from all sides now.
The Grass ninja was not without a few moves of his own though. "Thorn Rain!" He formed a hand seal and the thorns he had for hair shot off his head and arched back down, forming a rain of thorns that drove the weapons to the ground. "You ruined my hair." He glared balefully at Shiren, his face looking even more unnatural from the perfect pink skin that covered the top of his head. "I'll kill you!"
This is bad! Shiren reacted quickly. I have to dodge!
"Thorn Lash!" The voice of Tonetero was a raw scream, as a stream of thorns cascaded into a hellish whip and snapped at Shiren. She rolled back, tumbling free with swiftness, but those thorns moved faster than anyone could roll, and she was lifted off the ground and slash over the side, to come rolling to a stop some distance away.
Shiren! Neji cringed silently. Get up, please, it shouldn't end here.
Shiren, lying on the ground, paused only a moment before rolling right and coming to her knees. "Ouch." She cringed. That really stings, and my side is bleeding. I have to find a way to get past his guard; I can't take more punishment like that. She paused for thought a moment.
"Oh, so you can still fight?" Tonetero laughed, seemingly more composed. "Maybe you're better than Kei after all, even if you're still worthless."
All my attacks have been dispersed, but Kei used single strong attacks and failed to penetrate as well, so that won't work. As she latched onto a possibility Shiren drew a shuriken out in her right hand, and took it in a strange hold.
That motion, Xi looked down at Shiren intently. When did she learn that jutsu? Can she use it repeatedly?
Shiren gathered her chakra as Tonetero looked on, ready for her to try anything. "Lightning Shuriken!"
The shuriken flew from Shiren's hand, covered in chakra that formed into glowing blue charge. She did not leave the attack alone, but followed it with another, and another, one after another the shuriken came, a steady stream of missiles.
It could work, it could work, Neji hoped desperately, seeing Shiren's strategy. You're great Shiren, to throw so many imbued missiles one after another like that without making a mistake.
Tonetero put up a hand and thorns streaked out to meet the shuriken. The first thorn hit the first missile...
An explosion shook the ground and kicked up dust, but another explosion followed immediately afterward, as one after another the lighting shuriken detonated their blasts of charge against the screen of thorns.
Come on, go through, go through damn it! Shiren gritted her teeth, ten shuriken, eleven, twelve, thirteen, and then... I'm out! Damn! Go through, please, go through!
Thirteen explosions split the stadium with great outbursts of voltage, enough to raise hairs on necks in the highest rows of the stands, and make the stadium reek of ozone. The dust spun about wildly in disrupted and shattered air currents, concealing both combatants from the crowd.
"Byakugan!" Neji could not wait, but stared through the dust, searching for Shiren and her foe. High above him Xi called upon the dragon's eyes for the same purpose. They could not wait.
Therefore, the two dragon ninja knew even before Shiren, the outcome.
Tonetero stood unscathed in the middle of the stadium. "Really," He said condescendingly to Shiren as the dust clears. "You think a few blasts will break my screen of thorns? They heal constantly and respond to my very will. And now what can you do? You used all your missiles up in that last barrage. Will you come here and let me poke you? Or will you be a coward and give up?"
Shiren...Neji gripped the iron rail hard enough to scour it slightly from chakra that leaked out.
I can't give up, I won't! Shiren resolved. I will not lose to you, you monster! But how can I get through? She almost despaired. There's no way to penetrate a guard that responds faster than I can possibly move!
"Perhaps you need some motivation." Tonetero laughed. "Thorn Lash!" The stream of thorns came in from high above this time, and though Shiren raised her arms to block in struck her full on.
"Gaah!" Shiren grunted as the impact took her, slamming her to the ground. Blood seeped out from scores of slashes on her arms and legs; her clothes were ripped and tattered, but she stood up again. I'm not done yet! She determined. There must be a way. I have to find it! I promised her that I would prove we are not the weaker ones. She held that thought for a moment. I promised myself as well, that I would prove I have the strength to stand beside you Neji, to be a dragon ninja. Her eyes clouded with tears. I will keep that promise; I will be a dragon ninja! Suddenly those words struck Shiren. A dragon ninja...
Tonetero saw the movement. "Oh, so you have one last trick?"
"Not a trick." Shiren said to him, her voice like iron. "And I didn't use up all my weapons." She gave him a horrifying grin, one that for a second wiped the cruel smile off Tonetero's face, for he saw Shiren's eyes, and they promised death.
Her right hand whipped down; to the low kunai holster she wore, which contained the weapons she never drew upon. She flicked her wrist and both kunai flew into the air. They came down easily, falling one into each hand, as Shiren shifted her right leg forward, her stance collapsing down lower, compacted with gathered energy. The kunai in her right hand held out and pointed upwards, the one in her left held in and pointed down.
That stance is...Neji and Xi shared the same thought. Xi looked on in silence in that instant, and from the corner of his eye saw the Raikage stand up and look down to the field with a shocked expression. Neji simply looked down at Shiren, and saw the chakra flowing through her veins. Shiren, I believe in your strength for this!
Now! One chance! Shiren launched herself forward. "Hidden Cloud Style: Thunder and Lightning Strike!"
Full tilt she ran, feeling the chakra move within, and at the moment she launched herself upward, pressing first one way and then the other, her movements so fast they were all but impossible to follow, and Tonetero's head swerved around searching, as the move executed.
"From above!" Thorns dashed there in a solid swarm, to block the kunai coming down.
A thunderclap shook the stadium as the kunai met the thorns, and the air seemed to crack above Tonetero's head. "Ha! Stopped you!"
Those were the last words Tonetero spoke as the lightning swift pivot brought Shiren down so her right arm plunged the kunai into his chest and through his heart. Tonetero's eyes went dark and his body collapsed to the ground, thorns falling like heavy rain all around.
Acade was there in an instant, but it only took one look at Tonetero's body. "You killed him." The words were sad and empty.
A kunai streaked in from high above, only to be deflected away from Shiren mere feet from her back. The Raikage stood there on the examination field, his sword drawn even in his blue-bordered Kage robes and hat. "I will ask the head ninja of Grass if she wishes to start a war over this matter." He said coldly, his voice that of one used to giving battlefield commands, and heard clearly throughout the stadium.
A scowling female ninja in the garb of Hidden Grass glared down from above at Raikage, a kunai held bare in her hand. She did not move.
"I would ask my esteemed colleagues from the other hidden villages to sit down and put their weapons away." Came the gravelly voice of Tsuchikage, the old man stood up on the high dais. "The next person to draw a weapon or attack another in this stadium other than the exam candidates will not be spared the full justice of Hidden Stone. This exam is not without the possibility of death, and it must be accepted when it comes. Senirai Shiren of Hidden Cloud has won this match and will compete in the finals. Get her wounds treated and make ready for the next match. Examiner! See to it!"
"Yes, Tsuchikage-sama!" Acade answered and saluted. He motioned for the medical team to come forward.
For Shiren, the win came with great surprise. So, it worked. She thought. I was finally able to use that move. Will it be enough? She wondered.
Before she allowed the medics to take her, however, Shiren looked up at the stands. There Neji stood, watching. He smiled down at her, congratulating her without words. And tiredly, but feeling warmth within, she returned his smile. Thank you, Neji.