The Shadow Wars
Chapter 21
The rest of the preliminaries went smooth enough. After the slight shocker between Sakura and Hinata, the rest of the matches were pretty tame. In fact, Naruto and Sakura mostly sat in their chairs, paying more attention to each other than the fighters. Most of them were barely Genin-level strength-wise, and were often not too confident in their one-on-one combat abilities. Because of this, the matches often lasted for a long time without much payoff. In fact, it seemed that the only people in the tournament who had a chance of emerging the winner was Yokure, Naruto, and Sakura. Even Sarate, Yokure's partner, had lost her match, though it was played much better than most of the other fights.
Finally, it was time for the quarter-finals, in which sixteen fighters were left. When they drew, neither of the three likely winners were put against each other, which caused some minor annoyance to the audience.
"Today's match is Yokure versus Kiba!" the announcer said. "Ready, begin!"
Immediately, Kiba took a defensive stance. He had seen Yokure's fight against Neji, and knew that winning this depended on his ability to drain Yokure, and that meant tactics he had never used before. Suddenly, Yokure charged at Kiba, all the while doing hand seals, ones that Kiba had never seen before.
"Ninpou: Kaiboo Suru no Jutsu!" Yokure said (that means Ninja skill: Dissection Technique.) Immediately, his right hand transformed into a scalpel. He swung it at Kiba, and cut a small gash in the latter's right arm.
"Ninpou: Yajuu Henge!" Kiba said, and instantly changed into a large bear.
From that point on, both shinobi were desperately fighting, trying to land a finishing blow on the other. Whenever they broke off, both fighters were increasingly battered. Kiba had a broken arm, while Yokure was badly cut. Both were panting frantically, trying to catch their breath before rushing back in.
Suddenly, both the Kaiboo Suru no Jutsu and the Yajuu Henge wore off, and both were now in their usual form. Both were standing, and it was clear that the fight would not end in a kill, and that there would be no more action.
Suddenly, Kiba fell over, eyes closed. It was over, and Kiba had lost the match.
After the fight, Kiba had been sitting on his bed soberly, trying to figure out what he had done wrong. Of course, the Yajuu Henge was very strenuous, but he had been able to hold it much longer in much more dangerous fights against Naruto and Sasuke. What had been so dangerous about Yokure that kept Kiba from using his full strength? Sure, Yokure seemed frail, but Kiba had never allowed the weakness of his enemies to hold him back.
A few hours after the fight, Tsunade visited Sasuke to try to comfort him. Sasuke had been moaning and screaming throughout every one of Yokure's fights. Tsunade knew something was wrong, and was determined to find out what it was.
"How are you feeling, Sasuke?" Tsunade asked solemnly, immediately telling Sasuke that her visit would not be just to talk designed to comfort.
"I've been... Feeling a lot... Of pain lately. The... doctors tell... me..." Sasuke said, drifting off into a stupor.
"Sasuke, I need to know. Why have you been screaming and moaning?" Tsunade asked.
"I... don't know. Scary visions... People... People dying... Shuriken and kunai flying everywhere... And an eye... A cold, red eye!" Sasuke said, instinctively activating his Sharingan. Normally, his was bright and full of energy. Now, it was weakly whirling, trying to copy the movements of the air and failing.
Suddenly, Tsunade jumped onto Sasuke. Above her, a kunai with an exploding note attached to it flew, impaling the wall. Tsunade saw that it was on fire.
"Get down!" Tsunade shouted, throwing Sasuke's bed to the ground. The exploding note burned out and exploded, sending both Tsunade and Sasuke out the window. Tsunade, seeing that Sasuke was far away, began doing hand seals rapidly, trying to slow both her fall and Sasuke's fall. But it was like trying to stop two avalanches with a stick, for her chakra was exhausted after using the Healing technique for three days non-stop.
Meanwhile, on the roof, a cloaked figure with white, bulb-like eyes began talking.
"The targets Tsunade and Uchiha Sasuke are dead." It said, jumping away.
"Oh, no..." thought Tsunade, surveying the damage. All around them lay broken glass, and she knew that at least one shard had pierced Sasuke. Her arms and legs were full of glass shards. There was a huge, gaping hole in the hospital wall, that had engulfed two rooms. Blood was all over the ground.
Suddenly, the same cloaked figure that was on the roof jumped down. Glaring intently at Tsunade, he said, in a deep, menacing voice, "I see that you survived. Not for long." Upon saying that, he drew a long kunai from his pocket. It was three inches longer than normal, and there was a purple liquid covering it that Tsunade suspected was poison.
Frantically, Tsunade tried to stand up, but it was no use. The glass in her leg had severed several muscles. Immediately, she turned her attention to Sasuke.
"If we are to survive, I have to heal Sasuke's paralysis." Thought Tsunade, rapidly readying her Healing technique. She knew that she had little time, and was glaring nervously at the kunai. Luckily, the figure was too busy taunting her to notice the hand seals. She heard none of it, and didn't want to hear. All she cared about was getting Sasuke in fighting condition. It was obvious to her what Sasuke's vision meant. She knew that he was advancing to the third stage of Sharingan, one that had not been seen for six generations of Uchiha.
Will Tsunade be able to heal Sasuke? And what is this "third stage of Sharingan?"
A/N: I hope this chapter made up for the long delay. I had a lot of personal situations, and wasn't in the mood to continue. I assure you that the next chapter will be very intense.